Senator Warren S. Dungan View All Years

MR. PRESIDENT—Your committee appointed to prepare resolutions commemorating the life, character and public services of Warren S. Dungan beg leave to submit the following report:

WARREN S. DUNGAN.

Warren S. Dungan, of Chariton, Lucas County, Iowa, was a member of the Senate in the Ninth and Ninth Extra General Assemblies, a member of the House in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth General Assemblies, and again a member of the Senate in the Twenty-second and Twenty-third General Assemblies.

He was Lieutenant Governor under Frank D. Jackson, from 1894 to 1896, and president of this Senate during the session of the Twenty-fifth General Assembly.

Colonel Dungan, as he was familiarly known, was born of Scotch-Irish parentage on September 12, 1822, and died May 9, 1913. He was an active and prominent member of the Sons of the American Revolution, his grandfather, Wm. McFarren, being an ensign in the war of the Revolution, and his great-grandfather, John Scott, was commissary general of the Pennsylvania line. In 1851 he went to Panola, Mississippi, and taught school for a period of three years. While thus engaged, he took up the study of law, returning in 1855 to his native state, Pennsylvania, and entered the law office of Roberts & Quay, the latter member of the firm being the well known United States Senator Quay from that state. In April, 1856, he was admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania, and immediately afterward he moved to Iowa and located in Chariton, where he resided until his death, a period of over fifty-seven years.

At the beginning of the Civil war, he resigned his seat in the state senate and recruited a military company, being himself sworn in as a private. He later became the captain of this company, and was assigned to the 34th Iowa Infantry as Company K. On September 27, 1862, he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel, in which capacity he served until May 25, 1865, when he was made Brevet-Colonel of Volunteers for valiant service rendered at the battle of Ft. Blakely. The Confederate battery in this engagement was named in his honor, being entirely made up of young men who had been students under him in the school that he had formerly taught at Panola, Mississippi. At the close of the war he returned to Chariton and resumed his law practice, becoming recognized as one of the leading attorneys in the southern part of the state.

Colonel Dungan was a man whom his fellow citizens and neighbors delighted to honor. He was a life-long member of the Republican party and was prominently identified with its history during the past fifty years in this state. He was active in religious affairs and in all those movements that had for their purpose the betterment of the community and the uplifting of mankind. He was an able orator, and his services at soldiers’ reunions and public gatherings were always in demand. He was greatly interested in the early history of Lucas County and Iowa, and gathered much information and data of inestimable value. His life was an inspiration to those who knew him best. He had the misfortune to lose his wife in 1859, and had the great responsibility of rearing a family of seven children imposed upon him in addition to his other numerous activities as a citizen. His home life, surrounded by his daughters, was a model of domestic simplicity. He was a most exemplary citizen, respected and honored by all who knew him, and he leaves behind him the priceless heritage of a good, clean record and an honorable name. His many noble and kindly deeds will be gratefully remembered, and his memory will be cherished by all. The State of Iowa has lost a citizen whose influence in life cannot help but shed luster upon the pages of history, and the future citizenship of Iowa will have been bettered because of the example of this well lived and honorable life.

Resolved, That the Senate of Iowa is deeply appreciative of the loss the state and community in which he lived has sustained in the loss of this honored and respected citizen who contributed so much to the nation and his adopted state.

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be spread upon the Journal of the Senate and an engrossed copy be transmitted to the family of the deceased.

JOHN H. DARRAH,

JOHN T. CLARKSON,

L. E. CRIST,

Committee.

The resolutions were adopted unanimously by a rising vote.