Charles Dunwody

Major Charles Dunwody (1828-1905) was a Confederate Army veteran, landowner, and influential citizen in the community of Dunwoody.^[1]

Born in 1828, Charles Dunwody was a large landowner and graduated from Franklin College (now the University of Georgia) in 1848. He and his wife, Ellen Rice Dunwody, are buried at the Roswell Presbyterian Cemetery. He died in 1905.^[1]

Major Charles Dunwody also helped bring the railroad which traveled from Chamblee through Dunwoody and on to Roswell (or almost to Roswell, because it stopped on the south side of the river). The railroad bed construction began before the American Civil War and continued several years after. The Roswell Railroad operated between 1881 and 1921. The initial purpose of the railroad was for transportation of goods manufactured in Roswell to be delivered to Atlanta. Many in Dunwoody benefitted from the railroad as well, sending timber and produce on the train to Atlanta.

When the American Civil War broke out, Major Charles Dunwody and Captain Thomas King organized the Roswell Guards, Company H, 7th Regiment Georgia volunteer infantry. They fought at the First Battle of Manassas in July 1861. An injury to Dunwody's hip forced him to resign later that year, but in 1862 he went to a camp of instruction in Calhoun, Georgia.

The most notable fact about the namesake is that the city's official spelling, "Dunwoody" (with two "o"s), is widely believed to stem from a persistent spelling error, either on a post office application or a banking note. Major Dunwody and his family consistently spelled their surname with a single "o" in personal documents and on their grave markers. Official Recognition: The name "Dunwoody" (with two "o"s) became the official name for the community's post office and later for the city when it officially incorporated on December 1, 2008 and Ken Wright Became Mayor. Major Dunwody was an influential figure in the area's growth, involved in rebuilding the Chattahoochee River bridge and completing the Roswell Railroad after the American Civil War. His contributions made him a fitting, if slightly misspelled, namesake for the city.

• A History and Genealogy of the Families of Bellinger and De Veaux and Other Families. Morning News Print. 1895. p. 107.

• Parliamentary Papers 1909-1982 · Volume 66. H.M. Stationery Office. 1914. p. 375.