As a member of the Dungan family, I have always been interested in family history and ancestry. I was fortunate enough to grow up in the Northern Neck of Virginia, an area rich in early American history. Many family members still lived in the area, especially Northumberland County, and we often visited them, particularly the older generations. These wonderful people were generous in sharing their stories, and provided a glimpse into a way of life that has largely receded into the mists of history. These loved ones have long since passed, and the older generation now consists my father, Bernard Dungan, his sister, May Hale, and their late cousin's wife, Pauline Turner. They are among the last generation that can give a first-hand account of the earlier ways, and can share not only their stories, but those passed down to them.
There is a Dungan family cemetery near Callao, in Northumberland County, in which the earliest Dungans of Northumberland County are buried. There are only five marked graves, but as many as seventy unmarked graves, with the last burials believed to have taken place in the early 1900's. In recent years, my father has undertaken the task of maintaining and preserving the family cemetery, and has devoted countless hours to its preservation. His efforts renewed my interest in the family history, and in helping him preserve that history for the younger generations.
And so, a few months before his 75th birthday, I began the task of researching the family history, intending to present him with the results as a birthday gift. Specifically, I hoped to identify the names of those buried in the unmarked graves. I joined Ancestry.com for a three-month period, thinking that would be plenty of time to complete the project. And I was able to learn quite a bit in time for his birthday. However that was over a year ago, and I am still researching.
Researching the Dungans led quite naturally to his mother's family, the Swanns, then to his grandparents' families, and so on. The journey has led to so many Northern Neck families -- Kent, Hall, Winstead, Curren, French, Clarke, Fulks, Haynie, Landsell, Pierce, Dodson, Carter . . . as many as eight generations on this side of the Atlantic, many more on the other, and at least one Native American family.
In most cases I have been able to trace each Dungan and Swann ancestor back to their arrival in America, and it has been a fascinating journey. In almost every case, the first immigrants settled immediately in Virginia, with, ironically, the Dungans being an exception -- they were relative latecomers to the Northern Neck, arriving from Pennsylvania in the late 1700's. Virtually everyone else settled in the Northern Neck before the Revolutionary War, and many of their descendants remain there today. It is, after all, known as "the land of pleasant living"!
So this blog is an attempt to share some of their stories. It began as the Dungan's story, but has evolved in something much larger. It even led to researching my mother's family history, the Bradshaws of Nelson County, Virginia. And much to my delight, her family's story leads back to -- where else? -- the Northern Neck!
