The Dunsford Family: A Long Line of "Mediocrity"

The Dunsford family was "remarkable for a long mediocrity of station in the useful employments of life" according to Martin Dunsford (1744-1807). He wrote about the family in his Memoirs of the Family of Dunsford. Like that author, I can trace my Dunsfords back to the small town of Bradninch, in Devon, England, UK.

I have yet to get my hands on a copy of Martin Dunsford's manuscript, but I assume I am a cousin of Martin's. My most direct Dunsford ancestor, my grandmother Margaret Emily Dunsford, was born in St. Louis in 1897. Before she married, she was a forewoman at the Wallace Pencil Company in Maplewood, St. Louis County, Missouri. The building, which bears the company name, is still there, right across from the Maplewood Commons on S. Hanley Road. My grandfather, George Alexander Kienlen, Jr., was a foreman on a different floor of the building. According to my dad, Margaret quit her job once she married.

Margaret's father was James "Harry" Dunsford. He was also born in St. Louis, in 1876. He was a painter, or "whitener." He owned his own business, along with one of his half-brothers. They were poor, but hard-working.  

John Dunsford, the father of Harry, was also a whitener. He was born in Clifton, Bristol, Devon in 1846. He immigrated with his family in 1851. His mother and sisters vanished, which is a mystery I have yet to solve, but his father, John Dunsford, remarried and left a large Dunsford line in St. Louis, Missouri. 

John Dunsford, the father, was baptized in the small town of Cullompton, Devon, around 1820. He was employed as a rope maker in Devon, and also in St. Louis after his arrival. 

John's father, also named John, was a paper maker. This John was born around 1780 and was baptized at Clyst Hydon, Devon. Paper making was a huge industry in Devon. (Note: I found a book a few years ago at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City specifically about paper making in Devon. I recommend reading it if you have any paper making ancestors. I had no idea about the process, and I found it to be very interesting.) 

William Dunsford was the father of John the paper maker. From what I have found so far, he was a carpenter, as were several of his sons. According to my Ancestry.com hints, his father may have been Benjamin Dunsford of Bradninch. This is probably true, but I have yet to prove that definitively. The Bradninch parish records (St. Disens, pictured above - photo from the church website) are not online, except for an index. I'm holding out for the originals. I'm planning to visit Devon this summer, and I can't wait to visit Bradninch and the other towns where my Dunsford and associated ancestors lived.

 It seems our family has continued on with the Dunsford mediocrity, and I'm okay with that. It's people like us who make the world work!