Changes

Born in DeSoto Parish, Cunningham was the son of John Hamilton Cunningham (1812-1886), a native of [[South Carolina]], and the former Ann Buie (1814-1850), originally from [[Mississippi]].  He was the fourth of John Cunningham's twelve children by three wives. John Cunningham was a man of many occupations: a physician, merchant, planter, lawyer, and [[Christian]] minister, possibly [[Baptist]]. The family moved in the 1840s to Homer in Claiborne Parish, where John practiced medicine, and the children attended school. In his later years, John Cunningham was briefly a newspaperman, the editor of the ''Robeline Reporter,'' a weekly paper published in the 1880s in [[rural]] Robeline in western Natchitoches Parish.<ref>Alcée Fortier, ed., ''Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form,'' (Volume 3), Century Historical Association, 1914, pp. 112-113.</ref>​

Born in DeSoto Parish, Cunningham was the son of John Hamilton Cunningham (1812-1886), a native of [[South Carolina]], and the former Ann Buie (1814-1850), originally from [[Mississippi]].  He was the fourth of John Cunningham's twelve children by three wives. John Cunningham was a man of many occupations: a physician, merchant, planter, lawyer, and [[Christian]] minister, possibly [[Baptist]]. The family moved in the 1840s to Homer in Claiborne Parish, where John practiced medicine, and the children attended school. In his later years, John Cunningham was briefly a newspaperman, the editor of the ''Robeline Reporter,'' a weekly paper published in the 1880s in [[rural]] Robeline in western Natchitoches Parish.<ref>Alcée Fortier, ed., ''Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form,'' (Volume 3), Century Historical Association, 1914, pp. 112-113.</ref>​

Ann Buie Cunningham died of asthma when Joe was seven years of age. John then married the former Martha Elvia Shields, who became Joe's stepmother. When he was sixteen, Joe Cunningham left home to teach school from 1858 to 1860 in Cloutierville in south Natchitoches Parish. His family moved to Natchitoches, as he prepared to enter the [[Confederate States of America|Confederte Army]] in the [[American Civil War]]. He served in the Second Louisiana Infantry from 1861 to 1865.<ref name=mjc>{{cite web|url=​http://www.genealogy.com/users/m/e/t/Mildred-Methvin/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0108.html|title=Milton Joseph Cunningham|publisher=Genealogy.com|author=Mimi Methvin McManus|date=May 29, 2003|accessdate=October 2, 2014; material no longer accessible on-line}}</ref>​

Ann Buie Cunningham died of asthma when Joe was seven years of age. John then married the former Martha Elvia Shields, who became Joe's stepmother. When he was sixteen, Joe Cunningham left home to teach school from 1858 to 1860 in Cloutierville in south Natchitoches Parish. His family moved to Natchitoches, as he prepared to enter the [[Confederate States of America|Confederte Army]] in the [[American Civil War]]. He served in the Second Louisiana Infantry from 1861 to 1865.<ref name=mjc>Mimi Methvin, "Milton Joseph Cunningham," Genealogy.com, May 29, 2003, accessed October 2, 2014; material no longer on-line}}</ref>​

==Political career==

==Political career==