From their home in Texas around 1888 at 31 years of age, Thomas and Julia Dungey packed a wagon and with their three children, started the trip to Oregon. You can imagine the ordeal these English transplants had to endure on their very long journey to their new home in Galls Creek, twenty miles north of the California border. But keep in mind, Tom had traveled to the U.S. in 1876 when he was 19 years old.
Ada was born along the way, reported to be as they traveled through New Mexico. Nonnie spoke of being told by her parents that shortly after Ada’s birth they were stopped by Indians with war paint on their face. They were allowed to pass. Maybe the natives felt sympathy for this family, Nonnie related? But soon after they continued on the trail, they found some men hanging from a tree that Tom figured must have crossed the tribe’s boundaries somehow.
The family settled in Gold Hill, Oregon, on Galls Creek. Gold Hill was close to Jacksonville which had grown quickly to become one of the larger centers of the “California” gold rush. Nonnie said her father had established some claims in the area around Galls Creek. We found some record of that in reprints of the local Gold Hill newspaper at the time, now in the museum there.
Chuck said Nonnie told him Tom later used his shotgun to fire some traces of gold into the mine wall when they finally gave up and sold the claims to the newly arrived Easterners.
Tom was joined in the area by his brother Walter H. Dungey, who also came over from England. His family appears to still have some residents around the Gold Hill area. (The local museum person said she grew up in the area and the Dungeys had a bit of a reputation!)
George found a handwritten, difficult to read poem mixed in with his mother Marvene’s old photos. The untitled, unsigned poem was written as if by Tom Dungey about this journey and his ordeals. It is actually quite impressive and tells the story well. (See it here)
Another newspaper article recounted how local Tom Dungey had accidentally shot his dog when trying to kill a cougar.
1 Galls Creek Placers Mine, Galls Creek Gold Mine