Judge Isaac Dunn

    Judge Isaac Dunn, Lawrenceburgh, one of the earliest pioneers of the Miami County, and one of the most successful merchants of Lawrenceburgh, was born in New Jersey, September 25, 1782, and immigrated to the Western country with his parents, Capt. Hugh Dunn and wife, and three brothers and one sister. Their family boat, after being fired into by the Indians, and partly wrecked in a storm, arrived at Columbia, December 15, 1788,  just twenty-seven days after the first settlement had been made between the Miamis by Benjamin Stites. After a sojourn of five years at Columbia, in March, 1798, their household goods were put on board of two canoes lashed together, and the family removed to the mouth of the Great Miami, where they found Joseph Hayes and others at a well fortified station. Capt. Dunn located his station and blockhouse on the northwest side of the hill just north of the mouth of the Great Miami. At this station, besides Capt. Dunn's family, the persons now remembered were Joseph Kitchel, Joseph Randolph, Isaac Mills, Benjamin Cox and Thomas Walters. In the spring of 1796, Capt. Dunn removed to the west side of the Great Miami and settled near where Elizabethtown now is.  He had been a Revolutionary soldier, and lost his property by the depreciation of the continental currency. He died in 1804, and his wife died in 1810. Judge Isaac Dunn was truly a self made man; having no opportunities for a scholastic education he became a fair scholar, read much, was a good scribe and a ready reckoner.

    In 1804 he was married to Miss Frances Piatt, daughter of Capt. Jacob Piatt, of Boone County, Kentucky. She died in 1840. In 1806, he commenced the mercantile business in Lawrenceburgh with John R. Beaty, and Stephen Ludlow. In a few years Beaty removed to Brookville, and Dunn & Ludlow continued the business at Lawrenceburg until 1819. In 1812 he was appointed by the governor a judge of the court of Dearborn County, and served in that capacity until 1817. He was also elected an associate judge under the State Government, and served in that office for over sixteen years. He was elected a member of the fourth Territorial Legislature, and served as Speaker of the House in that body. In 1820 he became president of the Branch of the Farmers and Mechanics Bank, of Indiana. In company with others he started, at New Lawrenceburgh, the first woolen factory in   the State. He made several trips to New Orleans, sometimes coming home on foot through Indian nations. He made several trips to Philadelphia on horseback, to purchase goods for his store. He was commissioned postmaster of Lawrenceburgh in 1813, and held that position for sixteen years.

    In 1843 he was married to his second wife, Mrs. Harriet Hunter, widow of Maj. James W. Hunter. He joined the Methodist Church in 1811. In politics he was an old line Whig, and afterward a Republican. Finally, after a long, active and useful life, he died July 17, 1870, in the eighty-eighth year of his age.

Source: History of Dearborn and Ohio Counties, Indiana by F.E. Weakley & Co., 1885.