James Dunham (1758-1829) and Elizabeth Robbins Dunham (1758-1820)

In the spirit of Halloween, when traditionally styled gravestones are popping up on lawns everywhere, I offer the real thing.

Through the magic of findagrave.com, which contains some 65 million cemetery records, I found today photographs of headstones of several early Maine relatives, including the above gravestone of my 4th great-grandparents James Dunham (1758-1829) and Elizabeth Robbins (1758-1820) from the Carmel Village Cemetery in Carmel, Penobscot, Maine. I love the symbol of the hand pointing to the heavens.

The town of Carmel was incorporated June 21, 1811, previous to which it was known as Plantation No. 3, in the third range. The records begin with the report of the meeting held March 2, 1812, at which meeting James was elected field driver.

According to the General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Maine was a “department” of Massachusetts until 1820 when it was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state as part of the Missouri Compromise):

Every field driver shall take up horses, mules, asses, neat cattle, sheep, goats or swine going at large in the public ways, or on common and unimproved land within his town and not under the care of a keeper; and any other inhabitant of the town may take up such cattle or beasts so going at large on Sunday, and for taking up such beasts on said day the field driver or such other inhabitant of the town may in tort recover for each beast the same fees which the field driver is entitled to receive for taking up like beasts.

Isaac Dunham (1787-1856)

Isaac Dunham was the first keeper of the lighthouse at Pemaquid Point, Maine, near Bristol in Lincoln County. After many catastrophic shipwrecks at that place, an act of May 18, 1826 provided $4,000 for the construction of the lighthouse. The lighthouse went into service on November 29, 1827 with Isaac, my first cousin five times removed, appointed as the keeper at a salary of $350 per year.

Isaac was familiar with the nautical lifestyle; he had served as a privateer in the War of 1812 on the ship of his father, Captain Cornelius Dunham (1748-1835), my 4th great-granduncle and brother to James Dunham (1758-1829), my 4th great grandfather, who served in the Revolutionary war. Isaac’s mother was Lydia Atwood (1753-1841). Pemaquid Point was kept lighted by an innovation of Isaac’s — a patented method to keep lamp oil from congealing in the cold Maine winters.

The acclaimed American artist Edward Hopper painted a watercolor of the Pemaquid lighthouse in the summer of 1929 on a Maine trip with his wife, Jo. The lighthouse was restored in 2007-2010 and today some 100,000 people visit it annually. It is the obverse image representing Maine in the State Quarters series.

Isaac Dunham is my first cousin five times removed

Daniel Dunham (1833-?) and His Siblings

As has been noted elsewhere on this blog, my great-great-grandfather Seth Dunham came to California from Maine during the Gold Rush. His parents, James Dunham (b. abt 1788 in Orland, Hancock, Maine) and Elizabeth “Betsy” Gilpatrick (b. 27 May 1795 In Orland) had 10 other children besides Seth. So while I’ve paid much attention to Seth, and to Seth’s grandfather James, it’s time to send out some love to those great-great-granduncles and great-great-grandaunts, Seth’s siblings.

James and Betsy’s first child was Abigail, born 4 Jun 1815 in Orland. On 10 Aug 1836 she would marry Leonard Newcomb, a member of a prominent Maine family, and they would live in Carmel, Penobscot Maine and raise four children there. Abigail died in May 1884.

Their second child, Nancy, also married well. She wed William P. Worthley in Orland on 30 Sep 1834. They would have 10 children.

Othniel was born 19 Feb 1818 in Orland. While Seth would partake in the great adventure of the Gold Rush and Sumner may have also emigrated later to California, Othniel and his younger brother Daniel were caught up in a more tragic national epic: The Civil War. (more…)

James Dunham (1758-1829)

He was not a pirate under Captain Jack Sparrow, but he did sail the seas and served under a another Captain Sparrow, for a very different cause.

My fourth great-grandfather James Dunham was born 12 Sep 1758 in Plympton, Plymouth, Massachusetts, the son of Cornelius Dunham (1716-1766) and Patience Barrows (1724-1807). James was a sailor, and quite an adventurer it seems. His son, James (1788-?), chose a more peaceful life as a farmer in Maine, but the junior James’ son, Seth, my great-great-grandfather, took more after his grandfather; he was a sailor and in 1850 left Maine for the gold fields of California.

I recently came across a hand-written account of the elder James’ adventures during the Revolutionary War. It is a stirring story. He wrote it out at the age of 60 and submitted it to a judge of the Third Eastern Circuit of the Court of Common Pleas of Massachusetts on April 11, 1818 in an attempt to secure a pension for his service in the Revolutionary War. The judge recommended that his petition be granted. Unfortunately, it was denied. An anonymous hand-written notation on his petition states: “Did not serve nine months on the Continental Establishment. Inadmissible.” Then there’s one of those odd 19th-century swashes that are apparently meant to indicate finality, like under my cousin John Hancock’s signature.

Nevertheless, James’ story is riveting. Here it is, transcribed from the original: (more…)

Deacon John Dunham (1589-1668)

The earliest Dunham ancestor to come to North America was John Dunham, a Separatist who fled religious persecution in England by first emigrating to Leiden, Holland, and then to Plymouth Colony. He was my ninth great-grandfather.

He was born about 1589; a record exists that year of his baptism at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Henlow, Bedfordshire. His father was most likely Richard Dunham, who is recorded as being buried in Langford, Bedfordshire, on 19 November 1624, “an old man.” In his will, Richard left his estate to his son John “at his retourne,” for John was then living in Leiden. But John would never return to collect his inheritance.

On 17 August 1612 John had married Susana Kaino in the Church of St. Mary in Clophill, Bedfordshire. It is likely that by this time he was already a Separatist. Today we tend to think of the terms Separatist, Puritan and Pilgrim as practically synonymous. But Deacon John Dunham, while a Pilgrim, was no Puritan; the heirs of the Separatist tradition are today’s Congregationalists.
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