John Dunlap was born in Lawrence County, Alabama on March 10, 1830, the son of Lewis and Matilda Rose Dunlap. He moved to Lafayette County, Mississippi sometime after 1850 and there met and married Martha M. Hyde on July 29, 1858. John and Martha farmed near Oxford, Mississippi.

In 1861 the Civil War started and John enlisted August 1, 1862 at Ripley, Mississippi in the Confederate States Army, Company E (Buncomb Fighting Cocks), 7th Regiment Mississippi Cavalry under William C. Faulkner. Also known as the First Mississippi Partisan Rangers, the unit engaged the enemy in guerilla warfare. According to John's pension papers, "I was detailed to look after some horses just a few days before the surrender of General Lee, and was out on this when the War closed in 1865".

While he served, Martha and their two small daughters, Mary Elizabeth and Matilda Benny went to live with Martha's parents, William Robert and Betsy Bruce Hyde. Martha couldn't read or write so when she received a letter from John she was so distraught she demanded her father and brothers teach her. She wrote John a letter and even though it was full of mistakes he was very proud of her and carried the letter all through the war.

John and Martha had eleven children and all were born in Mississippi. Their children were Mary Elizabeth, Matilda Benny, John Lewis, Abner Josiah, James Franklin, Martha Marie, William Robert, Benjamin Bruce, Margaret Cordelia, Leona Alice, and an infant son. Three children, John Lewis, Leona Alice and an infant son are buried in Mississippi.

John, Martha, and all their surviving children came to Texas in 1889 by train. They bought a farm in the Cottonwood Community near present day Temple, Texas. John and Martha were members of the Methodist Church in Troy, Texas. John died at the home of his son, Benjamin Bruce Dunlap at age 87, surviving Martha by two years.