Fred L. Dunning
Fred L. Dunning, painter, Kent, was born in Brimfield Township, this county, May 23, 1833, son of Samuel L. and Susan H. (Bostwick) Dunning. His paternal grandfather was Squire Dunning, formerly of New England, who settled in Ravenna Township, this county, about 1824, where he lived and died. He had four children: Almon S., Samuel L. (deceased), Almira (Mrs. E. Moulton) and Eliza (deceased). The maternal grandfather of our subject was Ashbel Bostwick, also from New England, who came to Ravenna Township about 1827, where he is said to have built the first frame house. Samuel L. Dunning, the father of our subject, was married December 25, 1830, and the same year settled in Brimfield Township, this county. He was a carpenter by trade, though interested in farming, and always owned a farm until a short time before his death. In 1842 he located in Franklin Mills (now Kent), this county, and manufactured plows, being chiefly engaged in that business for many years. He died January 31, 1858, in his fiftieth year, and his widow September 30, 1880, at the age of sixty-five. They had six children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the only one now living. He received a limited ediication in the common schools, and when fourteen years of age entered his father's foundry, where he worked until 1862. He served three years in the late war of the Rebellion, enlisting August 2, 1862, in Company F, Forty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was mustered into the service as Corporal, but was promoted to Second Lieutenant, then First Lieutenant, and finally Captain. He was at the siege of Knoxville, Tenn., twenty-two days, under the command of Gen. Burnside, and surrounded by Longstreet's army, in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, Tenn., and in all the engagements in which his regiment participated. For a time his regiment was mounted and detailed as the advance scouts of Burnside's army, with orders to never lose sight of the Rebels, and were sometimes twenty miles ahead of the army. He was with Sherman at Atlanta, Ga., then under Gen. Thomas till the close of the war, and was honorably discharged at Camp Harker, Tenn., August 12, 1865, when he returned to Kent, since which time he has followed painting as an occupation in the car shops of that city. His first wife was Ann M. Fessenden, of Kent, by whom he had two children: Ella M. (Mrs. Arthur Olin), and Cora (deceased). His second wife was Clara Fowler, and his present wife is Ellen, daughter of Hiram and Clarissa (Meacham) Spencer, of Suffield. this county. In politics Capt. Dunning is a stanch Republican. He is an active member of the K. of H. and the G. A. R.
From History of Portage County, Ohio, Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885