Although not a resident of Grant County for many years previous to his death, the name of Judge Dunn is so indelibly connected with the early annals of the county as to claim a loving remembrance in the chapter of distinguished dead.
     Charles Dunn was born in Bullet County, Ky., December 28, 1799. His father was from Dublin, Ireland, and his mother, Amy Burks, was a native of Virginia. After having received a collegiate education at the best institutions of learning in that State, he commenced reading law with Mr. Worden Pope, of Louisville, continuing his studies with Mr. John Pope, of Frankfort. In 1819, he removed to Illinois, and finished his legal studies with Hon. Nathaniel Pope, then United States District Judge for Illinois, and the following year was admitted to the bar. He commenced the practice of his profession in Jonesboro, Ill., and was married in 1821, to Miss Mary Shrader, of Missouri, the beginning of a companionship extending over fifty-one years. Four sons and one daughter - Mrs. Gov. Dewey - were the fruits of this union.
     The young barrister was soon after appointed Chief Clerk of the Illinois House of Representatives, and in 1829 was appointed by Gov. Edwards Acting Commissioner of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and, with his associates, surveyed and platted the first town of Chicago, the Commissioners superintending the first sale of lots in 1829. The sales were continued during the two succeeding years.
     In 1832, Mr. Dunn entered the service, and was engaged during the Black Hawk war as Captain of a company he raised in Pope County, Ill. Capt. Dunn was severely, and it was thought mortally, wounded in what is now called the town of Dunn, in that county, by a cowardly sentinel, whom he, as officer of the day, was proceeding to relieve. There were three in the company - Capt. Dunn, the Sergeant of the Guard and the relief. When, as they approached the sentinel on duty, in his terror forgetting the customary challenge, fired at the group at a distance of about ten paces, severely wounding Capt. Dunn in the groin. He was taken to Fort Dixon, where he remained until the close of the war.
     He served a short time as Assistant Paymaster, and then resumed the practice of his profession. In 1835, he was elected a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, and served during the session as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
     In 1836, upon the formation of the Territory of Wisconsin, Judge Dunn was appointed Chief Justice of the Territory, his associates being Judge Irvin and Judge Frazier, the latter being shortly after followed by Judge Miller. The bench, as thus composed, remained unchanged until the admission of the State into the Union in 1848. Judge Dunn was always esteemed a sound lawyer and upright judge; he was a man of dignified appearance, and was generally acceptable to the bar and the people of the Territory. His duties were quite onerous, as, during the greater portion of the time he was on the bench, his district was the most populous and important in the Territory, and produced the largest amount of litigation. But, notwithstanding all this, Judge Dunn performed his judicial duties with "ability, fidelity and integrity."
     Of the convention which framed the constitution of the State Judge Dunn was a member, he being made President, pro tem., in the organization of the convention, and afterward appointed Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He took a leading part in the proceedings of that body, and his counsel was influential in shaping many of the provisions of the organic law of our State. As a speaker, he was concise and clear. "There was no eloquence in his manner of speaking, but his argument was strong and convincing. His speeches in this body were frequent but never long. He was always heard with pleasure, and generally with profit by members of the convention."
     During the sessions of 1853, 1854, 1855 and 1856, Judge Dunn represented La Fayette County in the State Senate, serving as Chairman a portion of the time on the Judiciary Committee. In 1856, the Judge was a candidate for Congress against C. C. Washburn, and he was also a candidate for the State Senate in 1870 against Hon. H. S. Magoon, who was elected.
     In politics, Judge Dunn was always an able and true Democrat. A native of Kentucky, he retained Southern ideas of the slavery question, and opposed the Republican organization with all his power. While he was firm in his political faith, he treated his opponents with respect and fairness. In social life Judge Dunn was highly respected, and possessed qualities that rendered him very attractive and popular with his acquaintances. He was pleasant and instructive in conversation, and dignified and courteous at all times. He was without personal eccentricities, yet unlike other men. For years he continued to reside in the old capitol building at Belmont, the original capital of what are now four different States. His home was surrounded with extensive shrubbery and an excellent flower garden. With these, his books and his family, passed his time, when not absent on professional business. He kept his body strong by constant exercise, spending much time with his gun, remaining for days in the woods, camping out in the autumn months. His annual deer-hunt was never adjourned, no matter what stood in the way. He kept his heart young by sunshine and regulated amibiton. Judge Dunn was always averse to money-making outside of his profession, his usual remark being, "I tell you, my dear sir, these money-makers are not happy; my little fees are sufficient to supply my wants, if my friends would not forget to pay me what they borrow." Judge Dunn died on the 7th day of April, 1872, in the seventy-second year of his age, at the residence of his sister, Mrs. David W. Jones, of Mineral Point. At the time of his death, he was the oldest member of the legal profession in the State, and was actively engaged in practice to the last.
     At a meeting of the members of the bar of the Supreme Court, resolutions expressive of the extreme respect and reverence and esteem felt by all for their departed brother were passed, followed by addresses by leading members. At a meeting of the bar of the State, the Hon. E. G. Ryan (so soon to join his great cotemporary) said: "It was Judge Dunn's lot in life to fill many stations, professional and lay, executive, legislative and judicial. So far as I know or have been able to learn, these sought him rather than he them. He certainly intruded himself into none of them. There was a modesty in the man which was rare in its generation. I think that his own estimate of his own powers was below, not above the estimate of all who knew him well. And he was a thoroughly earnest man. He filled all his offices with a singular fidelity and zeal, as if each in its turn were the chief end of his life. To say that he filled them with ability would be faint praise. He did not achieve success in them by just escaping failure. He was a faithful officer; his offices were never below him, but he was always above them. None of them gave opportunity of showing all that he was, of calling out the strength that was in him. They were all respectable, some of them were high. But his intellect, his culture, his general capacity, towered far above any station he ever occupied. We mourn for the untried powers which died out of the world with the young. Let us mourn for the world when it suffers great powers to die, unused in its service with the old.
     "In his life Judge Dunn saw many men around him reach stations which he did not reach. Some of them rose worthily and usefully. Some rose only to show their own unfitness. With like pliancy or like artifice he, too, might have risen where his inferiors rose. But he was above these, and, standing below on the solid level of his own life and character, he ranked the superior of the most and the equal of any of his cotemporaries. He might have ennobled many positions filled by them - none of them could have ennobled him.
     "His character was solid, strong and resolute, but not stern or harsh. His stronger qualities were softened by great sense of humor and great kindness of heart. He was generous and trustful to a fault. His foible, for, like all born of woman, he had them, all arose from his genial character, the warmth of his heart and the kindness of his temper. Strong in character among the strongest, he was, in carriage and manner, gentle among the gentlest. His culture was of a high order in and out of his profession. His knowledge of men and things, of the world and its ways, was profound. There were singularly combined in him the sagacity of a man of the world and the personal simplicity of a child. His sense of self-respect was unerring, and never deserted, never betrayed him. It is little to say that he was the soul of honor. He could be nothing that is false or mean. He did not know what treason was. That which he believed, that which he loved, that to which he gave his faith, were parts of himself. He could not desert faith, or friend, or duty, without betraying his own life. Dishonor in him would have been moral suicide."
     Hon. George B. Smith said, in a few remarks, "On the formation of our State government, he retired from the bench, and, from that time to his death, he was engaged in the practice of his profession. His high character as a jurist secured for him an extensive practice in the western part of the State, and his benevolent and pure character made him, at all times and in all respects, the counselor and friend of a large circle of acquaintances. Although he died in the fullness of years, he died deeply regretted by all who knew him."
     To conclude, in the language of another biographer, "He was endowed with moral and physical courage in a high degree; he was polite and condescending but no compromiser. For one-half of a century he has made history.