Who We Are

We are the proud descendants of Mr. Dempsey Gunnels, who was born in 1832 in Laurens County South Carolina, near Greenville. 

Dempsey married Cynthia Arnold, and they had eleven children, in order: Lankford, Clarissa, Laura, Lougenia, Franklin, Emry, Mahaly, Zimery, Silas, Della, and Mary Jane.  Dempsey, Cynthia, and their seven youngest children relocated to Morrilton, Arkansas between 1887 and 1890, leaving the oldest four children in South Carolina. 

Since then, the number of Dempsey and Cynthia's descendants has grown exponentially, and are scattered throughout the United States, to Ohio, Missouri, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, California, New York, Washington D.C., and points beyond.

Some members of this family spell Gunnels with two L's or Gunnells, but the pronounciation is the same, "guh·nuhlz". This spelling started when Franklin Gunnels joined the US Army.  Use of Gunnells began with a mis-spelling of his name by Army representatives, which a portion of this family adopted and still use today.