Benjamin Franklin Dunning (June 7, 1856 – June 4, 1940) was an American builder who was prominent in the 19th and 20th centuries. His most notable work was Casco Castle in Maine.
Life and career
Dunning, known as "Frank" to family and friends, was born on June 7, 1856, in Lisbon, Maine,Portland Press Herald, June 6, 1940 to Jesse Appleton Dunning and Dorcas Anne Greene.Genealogy of the Dunning Family of Brunswick, the Lithgow Family and Thurlow Dunning' s Ancestors in Brunswick and Freeport, Thurlow R. Dunning, Maine State Library (1984)
On August 14, 1880, in Gorham, New Hampshire, he married Adrianne Staples "Addie" Reed, with whom he had seven children, including Thurlow Reed Dunning (born 1897), who was a colonel in the United States Army.Genealogies of the Pennell, George Rogers, Simpson, Given, Spear, Stover, Pettengill, Porter and Potter Families - Thurlow R. Dunning, Maine State Library (1984)
He was the head mason during the construction of Casco Castle, in South Freeport, Maine. It was completed in 1903, but burned down in 1914. Only its stone tower remains.Summer by the Seaside: The Architecture of New England Coastal Resort Hotels, 1820-1950, Bryan Franklin Tolles (2008), p. 155
After living in Freeport, Maine, the family moved to Winchester, Massachusetts, in 1907. Some of the family later returned to Freeport.
Death Dunning died on June 4, 1940, in Danvers, Massachusetts. He was 83. He is buried in Freeport's Woodlawn Cemetery, alongside his wife, who died three years earlier.
Selected notable works Casco Castle, South Freeport, Maine (1903)
References