[p. 455] one of North Beaver Township's representative citizens, resides on his excellent farm of fifty acres, which lies on the Small's Ferry road, just south of the Mount Jackson-Petersburg lower road. He was born on this farm in North Beaver Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, May 6, 1857, and is a son of Hon. Thomas and Cynthia (Hamill) Dungan.
The late Hon. Thomas Dungan was one of Lawrence County's prominent men and was a leading factor in public life for a number of years. He was born in Holliday's Cove, W. Va., and was a son of Robert Dungan. Thomas Dungan came to Western Pennsylvania a young and ambitious man. He settled on land which is now the site of Mount Air, which farm he sold in 1856 and moved on the farm which is now owned by his son, Horace R. His occupation through life was farming, but public affairs claimed a large measure of his attention. He was the first representative sent from Lawrence County to the General Assembly and served two terms, and he secured the charter for the courthouse and the old cemetery at New Castle. He died on the present farm July 10, 1873, aged seventy-five years. He was married (first) to Jane Witherspoon and (second) to Cynthia Hamill. The latter was a daughter of Nathaniel Hamill, who was a soldier in the War of 1812. The second Mrs. Dungan died April 21, 1903 having been the mother of four children, namely: Alonzo H., who died in boyhood; Horace R., Emmet Wilson, residing at Mount Air, and Charles, who died in California. There were eleven children born to Thomas Dungan by his first marriage: Mollie, who died in the spring of 1908, was the wife of James McLaughlin; Harriet, deceased, was the wife of William Davidson; Thomas Stephen, deceased; Deborah, deceased, was the wife of William Miller; Betsey Jane, deceased; Robert H., residing at Mechanicstown, Ohio; William W., residing at Hastings, Neb.; George, residing at Hastings; John Mitchell, residing at New Castle; Quinton Albert, residing at Lincoln, Neb., and Thomas Edwin, who died in infancy.
The old home farm has always been Mr. Dungan's home and he has given his attention to cultivating its acres and improving its natural advantages ever since he reached manhood. He is a member of the Bethel United Presbyterian Church, and it was his great-grandfather, John Lackey, who donated the land on which this church stands. Mr. Dungan's immediate family and its connections have all been people of high standing and usefulness in this section for many years.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
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