Fannin County Folks & Facts Page: 158
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Hospital board He was a chartr member of the nham
Hotary Club and ne Bunham Go Club. He a ate o
tne Masonic Lodge, Knighs Tempar, Knight f y and
Woodmen of the World. He wa a firrely ya Demortnd
served his party on the county, state and rnatonal Iee A
close friend and confidant Sam Rayburn, he served as
campaign manager for his early congressional races. He
was named by Rayburn as chairman of the Rayburn Founda-
tion. On one occasion, Rayburn made ths tribute Judge
Cunningham has served his generation well and has intl
enced generations to come., He died February 1, 19b6 and
is buried in Willow Wild Cemetery.
Cornelia McClellan Cunningham, because of the marriage
of her aunt and his uncle, grew up as a member of the same
family group as her husband. She was the daughter of Eu-
gene David McClellan and Alice Hunt McClellan. (See E. D.
McClellan.) Cornelia was an accomplished musician and it is
said that she inherited her musical talent from her mother.
As organist she served the First Christian Church for 32
years. She received musical training in Bonham at the old
Carlton College and later in Dallas and St. Louis. She was a
composer and teacher. She was active in musical, literary
and other cultural and social affairs in Bonham during her
lifetime. She was an interested member of the Daught-ers of
the Republic of Texas which placed a memorial marker at
her grave in Willow Wild Cemetery. Her death occurred Jan-
uary 3, 1962.
The daughter of this couple, Mrs. Virginia Cunningham
Stocks, lives in Bonham. Their son, Henry Allen Jr., a gradu-
ate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, was
a colonel in the United States army. In 1967 he died in Wal-
ter Reed Hospital while on active duty and was buried with
full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. Grand-
children are Mrs. Vick L. Gotcher (Lydia Stocks) of Sherman
and Henry Allen Cunningham Ill of Hampton, Virginia.
Great-grandchildren are Vicki Lynn Gotcher and John An-
drew Gotcher of Sherman. BY VIRGINIA CUNNINGHAM
STOCKSJudge and Mrs. H. A. Cunningham
JOHN CUNNINGHAM
The following is an excerpt from Texas Legislature and
State Officials, published in 1901:
"The subject of this sketch is a physician and farmer, and
was born in Trigg County, Kentucky September 21, 1836.
Dr. Cunningham obtained his literary training in the com-
mon schools of Kentucky and at Bethel College of Russell-
ville, Kentucky. He attended St. Louis (Missouri) Medical Col-
lege and also the Galveston Medical College, from which
latter institution he received his second medical diploma in
1873. He practiced medicine in Trigg County, Kentucky until
the breaking out of the Civil War, when he helped to organ-
ize and was elected first lieutenant of Company "C" of the
4th Kentucky Infantry. His company was a part of Gen. John
C. Breckenridge's brigade which, besides other severe en-
gagements, fought two days in the battle of Shiloh. He came
158Dr. John Cunningham Family
to Texas after the war in 1867, a moneyless tramp, and
walked from Jefferson to Kentuckytown, now in Grayson
County. He located near the present town of Ravenna where
he has been practicing medicine ever since. He now owns
and runs several farms in that section. He has been road
overseer, school trustee and also alderman and mayor of
Ravenna. He is an earnest Democrat and served in the 13th
House of Representatives of 1873 as well as the 27th Texas
legislature. He was married to Miss Fannie Agnew, daughter
of Allen Agnew of Fannin County, and there were three chil-
dren born to this union: Henry Allen, Annie Laurie and Wil-
liam Murray.
"Dr. Cunningham is one of the links which bind us to a
glorious past. He is an affable gentleman, ripe with honors,
experience and wisdom, and his devotion to principle and
duty as a member of the 27th legislature is but a continua-
tion of his life history which has so endeared him to his peo-
ple."
Dr. Cunningham's name appears on the Confederate
monument on the Fannin County courthouse square, as
chairman of the committee which made the monument pos-
sible. He died in Ravenna in 1922.
Dr. Cunningham told a story about how Ravenna received
its name. According to him, it fell to his lot to make applica-
tion to Washington, D.C. for a post office and because of the
ravines in that area the name of "Ravinia" was chosen. Dr.
Cunningham said, "Due to my miserable handwriting, the
name came back as "Ravenna" and it has remained "Rav-
enna" ever since." (See Henry Allen Cunningham history.)
BY VIRGINIA CUNNINGHAM STOCKS
JAMES WATSON DABNEY
Mr. and Mrs. James Watson Dabney came to Bonham in
1881 from New Orleans, bringing with them their three chil-
dren Sallie, Warwick and Kate. A short time later they were
joined by Mrs. Dabney's mother, Mrs. Maria Jefferson Carr
Swayze. Mrs. Swayze, nee Maria Jefferson Carr, was the
great-niece of Thomas Jefferson and had been christened by
him for his favorite daughter Maria. The Carr family seat
was Dun Lora, a 5000-acre estate in Albemarle County, Vir-
ginia only a few miles from Jefferson's Monticello. The
Carrs, the Jeffersons and the Dabneys were all closely in-
terrelated. Dabney Carr had married Thomas Jefferson's sis-1
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Bonham Public Library. Fannin County Folks & Facts, book, 1977; Bonham, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1151234/m1/170/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Fannin County Historical Commission.