A FAMILY REUNION OF SORTS11

 Brigadier General Henry Dunham's family seems to have suffered a
reversal of fortune in the latter half of the 19th century. The General had
commanded forty companies and five regiments at the celebrations
marking the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument (Dunham
Genealogy p167) and his son Henry had been a successful shoe
manufacturer and inventor. The rest of the General's were not quite so
prominent in Abington society.
 
After the younger Henry's death, his widow Ella became embroiled in
lawsuits against shoe manufacturers who'd copied her husband's inventions.
She and daughter Ida appear on the 1910 Federal Census for Holden
in Worcester County, Massachusetts as renting their home but neither
was employed. Perhaps son Harry B. Dunham paid their rent. According
to the Dunham Genealogy he was a doctor in nearby Rutland, Ma.
Younger son Arthur moved to New York and pursued a career as an
electrical engineer. He married and had two sons.

Brackley Cushing Dunham married  Elizabeth Hunt. There was a Hunt
family that were leading shoe manufacturers in Abington but as of yet I
don't know if she was from that line. I do know that Brackley stayed in
the shoe business but it wasn't in management from what I've been able
to find in the Federal Censuses up to 1910. The couple was childless.
Brackley and Emma are not buried in the Henry Dunham family plot.

Emma Annett Dunham  married Richard L Hunt. I've yet to establish any
ties to either the Hunts of Abington or Brackley's wife Elizabeth Hunt.
Emma and her husband lived in Weymouth, Ma. and they too died
without children.

This brings us to Andrew Jackson Dunham. Andrew followed his father
in serving in the military and the inscription on his gravestone tells us he
served "Civil War Three Years 1st Mass Cav, Also Minute Men T
hree Mos."  In other words, Andrew was in the Massachusetts State
Militia , then enlisted in the regular Union Army. I found his record
over at Ancestry.com in U.S. Civil War Soldiers and Profiles, and
with it, this picture:

Andrew J Dunham enlisted on 15April 1862. He'd been married for
seven years  to Mercie Florence Holcomb and their second daughter
was born the week after he enlisted. Upon his return from the war he
went back to work in the shoe business but then something changed.
Although he was listed as still married on the 1880 Federal Census,
Andrew was living alone except for his housekeeper  Amelia Peterson.
He and his wife may have been in the process of getting a divorce
already because his marital status was given as divorced in the
subsequent Censuses up to 1910. In his final years, Andrew turned to
poultry farming and was an officer in a local association of poultry
farmers.

Andrew's gravestone intrigues me. It gives his year of death as 1917
but The Dunham Genealogy says it was 1910. And although he and
Mercie were divorced they are buried together. Was this the triumph
of a determined woman or the decision of their daughters?

But I found something even more interesting about Andrew Jackson
Dunham and I'll discuss that next!

A FAMILY REUNION OF SORTS10

 I haven't forgotten my new discovered Dunham cousins buried here in
Abington's Mt. Vernon Cemetary. I've been reseaching them on the
internet with success in some cases and not so much in others.

I discovered a few things about General Henry Dunham. Apparently
he was a successful merchant here in Abington and worked his way up
as an officer in the Massachusetts Militia until he achieved the
rank of Brigadier General of the Second Brigade of the First Division of
the Third Regiment of the Light Infantry in the late 1840's. He retired
from that position in 1850.

One interesting note was the discovery of another connection with the
Gurney family. Henry's wife Mary Cushing was the daughter of Sarah
Gurney.

I had more luck researching their son Henry Jr. (He's listed erroneously
as "Hervey Dunham" in The History of the Town of Abington). In a
continuation of the ties between the Dunham family with Charleston,
S.C., he married a girl from there named Ella Bristol and a history of her
ancestry contained the following:

"Ella Bristol, born May 18, 1845. She married,  March 31, 1869, 
Henry Dunham of Abington, Mass., an inventor of leather machinery. 
He died Sept. 22, 1884.


From the Abington Herald:—" In the death of Henry
Dunham, which occurred Monday morning at his home on
Center Avenue, of inflammation of the bowels, the town
of Abington loses one of its most prominent, widely
known, and esteemed citizens. Mr. Dunham was one of
twelve children. His father was Gen. Henry Dunham,
son of Ezra, whose grand-father was Cornelius Dunham,
born in Plymouth in 1724. The name is among the
oldest and most distinguished of the Old Colony names.
The mother of the deceased, still living at the age of eighty-
one, was Mary Cushing, daughter of Col. Brackley Cush-
ing — another old and honored Old Colony family name.
Mr. Dunham began business life as a shoe manufacturer
in the large factory on Lake Street that bears his name.
He retired in 1873, and turned his attention to shoe
machinery, and has given to the world some very important
inventions and improvements in this direction. The
three most important are the Dunham riveting machine,
the toe nail machine, and the Dunham quilting, machine;
a detailed description of all these appeared in the Herald
of Sept. 5. Mr. Dunham made the first quilting nail
ever produced, and is believed to be the originator of
the idea of inserting nails into the sole while off the boot.
The funeral took place at his late residence Thursday
afternoon, Rev. Messrs. Pettee and Warren officiating, with
music by the new church choir. The esteem in which the
deceased was held was attested not only by a profusion
of flowers, but also by the presence of many prominent
citizens of this and other towns. Mr. Dunham leaves a
wife and three children, two boys and a girl."

John E Morris The Bontecou genealogy: A record of the descendants 
of Pierre Bontecou, a Huguenot refugee from France, in the lines 
of his sons (Hartford, Conn. Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard
Company, 1885)  pp179-180

After Henry Dunham Jr's death his widow became involved in several
lawsuits involving infringements on his patents by other shoe
manufacturers.

In the Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910, the cause of his death
is listed as peritonitis and his occupation as "Inventor".




To be continued....

A FAMILY REUNION OF SORTS9

 

Sunday was the coldest day of the year so far but I wanted to
take a quick look around to see if I could find anymore Dunham
family graves sites in Mt. Vernon Cemetery. This time I spent
more time in the front end which is closer to Island Grove Pond.
There might have been a view of the water back in the 19th
century but now it's blocked by the Police Department and the
Highway Department. The older family plots have taller monuments
and some are situated along several hillsides overlooking a fenced
in pond. 


I drove through the older section over narrow gravel roads with
the late afternoon sun blinding me at times, but on the crest of one
of the hills I spotted another Dunham headstone.  I got out of my
car with my camera and walked over to take pictures:

I'd found another branch of the family which I'll blog about later.


On the way out of the cemetery I passed the Henry Dunham family
plot and noticed two broken headstones that I had missed when
I first found it:

These are located at the left rear corner of the lot and I couldn't make
out the names as the light was beginning to fade. I hoped I could
bring them out a bit on the computer but I think I need to go back
earlier in the day on Thursday.

Meanwhile, I've found more information on Henry and his family,


To be continued....

A FAMILY REUNION OF SORTS8

 (First posted on West In New England in 2010)

These are the gravestones in the second Dunham family plot that
I found Thursday at Mt.Vernon Cemetery in Abington:

Henry Dunham. 1835-1884. Located to the left of the front stairs.

A headstone for seven children, Located on the left hand border of the
plot. The inscription at the base reads: "Children of Henry Dunham and
Mary his wife."

Henry Dunham 1800-1878(?)  Located to the right of the stairs.

Mary C Dunham 1805-1880, located right front corner.

Andrew Jackson Dunham and wife Mercie Florence Dunham, located
right side corner.

"Gertie". Located on the right side border.of the plot. Was this a daughter
of Henry and Mary Dunham or of Andrew J. Dunham and his wife?

Sarah M, Dorr and her son Richard Clinton Dorr. Located right side
rear corner. Where is Sarah's husband and what was his name?

Armed with the information from the gravestones I began searching for
information on the family when I got home. First I checked "History
of the town of Abington" and found the following:

"IV. General Henry Dunham, born October 13, 1806; married Mary 

Cushing, born April 2, 1805, daughter of Colonel Brackley Cushing, 

of Abington, April 8, 1826. Their children were—

V. Charles Henry, born October 30, 1827; died June 17, 1832.

V. Brackley Cushing, born September 2, 1829 ; married Elizabeth 

    T. Hunt, November 2, 1859.

V. Sarah Maria, born November 9, 1831; died December 18, 1840.

V. Andrew, born November 25, 1833 ; married Mercy F. Whitcomb, 

     January 20, 1855. Children—

  VI. Sarah Maria, born January 20, 1856 ; 

  VI. Emma Gertrude, born April 23, 1862.

V. Hervey, born October 18, 1835.

V. Mary Cushing, born July 2,1838  died November 23, 1843.

V, Caroline, born January 18, 1841; died September 10, 1841.

V. Emma Annette, born January 1, 1844.

V. Josephine, born June 8, 1846; died September 17, 1846.

V. Susan Ford, born May 20, 1848.

V. Frank, born.May 25, 1850; died September 7, 1850.

V. Annie Poyas, born August 20, 1852; died December 14, 1854."

 ((pp368-369) 

So "Gertie" was Andrew Jackson Dunham's daughter Emma

Gertude and  Sara Dorr was his daughter Sarah Maria. Those 

questions were now answered, but as always with family

research, there were more to come.

To be continued.

A FAMILY REUNION OF SORTS7

 ((First posted on West in New England 3Dec 2010))

Today was my day off and after a walk in Ames Nowell Park I returned
to Mt Vernon Cemetery to see if I could find more Dunham relatives. I
started looking close to the Cornelius Dunham family plot but instead of
Dunhams I found some Packards and Edsons:

My Packard and Edson ancestors are from my Dunham line so I'll be
checking these names out to see if these folks are my relatives and how
we are related. 

Mt Vernon is a good sized cemetery so I decided to work my way
down towards what I think is the older part of it. This direction
leads toward Island Grove Pond is a bit hilly. While it was a bright
day it was chilly and my fingers were cold, so I decided to walk
to the end of the lane I was on, take some pictures and then return to
my car.

I don't know if you can tell how steep the decline is here from this shot.
Thinking that it might show better if I shot a picture facing back up the
hill, I walked down to the end of the hill, then turned and took a shot of
a monument near a tree:

 

I started walking back up the way I'd come, but now I could see the
family name on the monument: Dunham! I started taking pictures of the
headstones around it. When I came home, I researched the names online.

I'd found the family plot of Cornelius Dunham's older brother, Henry
Dunham.


To be continued....