Dunn-Ransom Home
Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A native of Kentucky, Ewing Eric Dunn (1835-1917) came to Texas in 1850. He served as Navarro County deputy sheriff, 1854-1858, and joined the Confederate army during the Civil War. In 1866 he built the first portion of this frame house. Dunn was county sheriff from 1876 to 1884. S. M. Ransom, a grocer, enlarged the residence in 1890 and added the wraparound porch, fish scale shingling, and stained glass. Five generations of the Ransom family lived here. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Kentucky-born Ewing Eric Dunn came to Texas in 1850, served as a county deputy sheriff, then fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War before building the first part of this frame house in 1866. He went on to serve as Navarro County sheriff from 1876 to 1884. Grocer S. M. Ransom enlarged the home in 1890, adding the wraparound porch, fish-scale shingling, and stained glass that five generations of the Ransom family enjoyed.
Why it matters
The Dunn-Ransom Home traces one family's arc from Civil War service through Gilded Age prosperity, preserving the layered architecture and lives of a Texas county's early leaders.
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Related people
- · Ewing Eric Dunn
- · S. M. Ransom
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Roger Q. Mills Home
Corsicana, TX
This Corsicana home was long the residence of Roger Quarles Mills, who came from Kentucky in 1852, served as a colonel in the Civil War, and then represented Texas in Congress and the U.S. Senate for 27 years. He began the house in 1856 using logs from an 1847 cabin on the site and finished it in 1875. Its broad verandas and carriage lamps recall the plantation era.
Colonel Roger Q. Mills
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Roger Q. Mills came to Texas from Kentucky in 1849 and rose as a civic and political leader in Navarro County. He joined the call for secession in 1861 and served the Confederacy as a colonel in the 3rd Texas Cavalry and 10th Texas Infantry, taking wounds in battles across Tennessee and Georgia. After the war he helped lead the movement to end Reconstruction in Texas and served two decades in Congress, authoring the Mills Tariff Bill before entering the U.S. Senate.
Judge E. J. Simkins House
Corsicana, TX
Eldred James Simkins came to Corsicana from South Carolina in 1871, a Confederate veteran of four years' service whose brother was credited with firing the first shot on Fort Sumter. Building the first rooms of this house in 1873, he rose to prominence as a lawyer, University of Texas regent, state senator, and judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. He helped draft the law creating the Texas Railroad Commission and authored a respected work on jurisprudence.
Corsicana in 1860-1872
Corsicana, TX
Corsicana threw itself into the Southern cause: after the 1860 election, citizens hauled down the U.S. flag over the courthouse, and by 1861 recruiters were beating drums on the square, sending some 450 Navarro County men to war under officers like Cols. Roger Q. Mills and Clinton Winkler. A Confederate quartermaster depot rose on this corner, stocked with help from women, children, and old men. After the 1865 surrender, Federal troops camped here — and a sixteen-year-old John Wesley Hardin, not yet the famous gunman, clashed with soldiers nearby.