A FAMILY REUNION OF SORTS12

 ((First posted on West in New England in January 2011))

 

The grave site of Henry Dunham and his family sits at the base of a hill
that overlooks a small pond within Mt.Vernon Cemetery. On the crest
of another hill on the opposite side of the pond is a gravestone with the
following names:
Susan M Dunham
   1836-1920
Edward E Dunham
   1835-1919
Melissa H Dunham
   1834-1913

It took me awhile to get around to looking up these Dunham family members.
Cornelius and Henry Dunham were descendants of Ezra Dunham. Susan and
Edward Dunham were descended from George Dunham, Ezra's uncle. Their
father was Jesse Dunham. Melissa was Edward's wife but I haven't as yet
found her maiden name.

Another of Jesse Dunham's sons, George Augustus Dunham, was a Chicago
lawyer and Jesse must have gone west to live with his son because that is
where he died and was buried. I'll have to wait for the snow to melt off
before I start hunting for any more of the family at Mt.Vernon Cemetery.

I thought this would be the last post on the subject for a bit but there's
Captain Cornelius Dunham to discuss and perhapos one other post after
that.

And once the Spring comes, there's the rest of the cemetery to explore!

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....

AFTER THE STORM: MT. VERNON CEMETERY, ABINGTON, MA..

Many of the oldest trees in any neighborhood can be found in the local
cemeteries. Because of their age and height they are at risk in severe
weather and several trees at Mt Vernon Cemetery here in Abington
suffered damage during Tropical Storm Irene.

What was striking about it was the type of damage. Officials had warned
that because of the heavy rain trees would be pulled out by the roots by
the high winds. Such was not the case here where it looks like the trees
were snapped or split by the force of the winds.Luckily it did not
appear that any headstones were damaged by the fallen tree trunks.
I hope the same is true in the other cemeteries I've photographed over the
previous months.

MT. VERNON CEMETERY ABINGTON MA JUL 13TH 2011

The small pond in Mt Vernon Cemetery has become a home for mallard ducks,
Canadian geese, and a Great Blue heron.

REVEREND EZEKIEL DODGE, MT VERNON CEMETERY, ABINGTON, MA

There are many old gravestones at Mt Vernon Cemetery here in Abington but
there are three in particular that attracted my attention several months ago.
They are near the Perry Mausoleum facing across from the Veterans' lot and
are quite large and weathered.

In fact, only one of them is  readable, and that barely:

I tried converted it to a negative which gave me a better view of the inscription,
and this is what I believe it says:

In Memory of the
Rev, Ezekiel Dodge
Second Minster of Ab-
-ington who was Seized with
an Apoplexy on ye 5th of June
in ye morning & died at ye night in yr
48 of his Age having ye day before
his Death compleated ye 20th year of
his Ministry . Pious & faithful as a Min-
ister well accomplished as a Scholar
truly benevolent as a man & amiable
in all Relations as Husband & Parent
(------) World respected & beloved.

Further investigation online revealed that Rev.Dodge was born in
1722 and died in 1770 so that would fit the 48 years on the
gravestone. I also found that, as is sometimes the case in families
with an accomplished and upstanding parent , Rev Dodge's
son Ezekiel turned out as a rogue and scoundrel.

I did not, however, discover as to whether or not the fatal apoplectic
seizure was caused by something his wayward son had done.

LIFELONG FANS.....AND BEYOND

THE PLAN

Today was my usual Thursday off and after running some errands I drove
over to Mt Vernon Cemetery. My plan is to photograph every headstone,
monument and grave marker.It's a big cemetery. So you'll forgive me when
I say it's going to be a monumental task.

I spent part of my visit trying to map out all the roads in the place, Some of
them are named and have "street signs". Others are grass covered and run
down the middle of some of the areas between the paved  roads. So far
I've taken pictures of the sites near South Grove and Vernon Ave and one side
of the first section of Central Ave. Central is the main road that runs throughout
Mt Vernon. I'll post some of the pictures here of course and the older graves
I'll post to Find A Grave. I have some reservations about posting gravestones
from more recent graves but that's a subject for another post.

Meanwhile, here's a photo I took today of a monument I'd shot from a distance
during the winter.

There's a brick base to the urn with an attached nameplate that simply reads
"Wm. F, Barlow Jr."  There are no other markers around the urn and so far I
haven't found anything else about him. It's the only monument of its type in
Mt Vernon and whatever plant once graced the top is long dead.One day I
hope to solve the mystery of who Mr. Barlow was!

MALLARDS, SMOOCHERS, AND MISCREANTS

As I've noted before, Mt. Vernon Cemetery has some areas off the
main access roads and I'm only now able to explore these since the
snow has finally melted. So today on my way to the grocery store
I swung through the cemetery with the idea of visiting one of those
spots and getting some pictures.

 
The area I visited is down below the Center Ave area and contains
some massive trees and graves arranged on three small hills. I
hadn't realized before that there was a small pond concealed by
bushes and a larger one beyond that borders the Frolio School
on the other side. There's several smaller roads running alongside
all three hills and I parked at the intersection of three of them.

As I got out of my car I noticed there were two teenagers in hoodies
down the path on the driver's side of the car.  They glanced back up
the road at me for a second, then one shrugged and passed the joint
they were sharing back to his or her companion.

Well, I decided to take the path in front of my car. I walked a few yards
down and found a pair of mallard ducks in the concealed pond, so I
took their picture. Then I noticed the plot behind me had a rather
elaborate stone wall around it and took a picture of that. But a few yards
down the road I realized there was a car that had been hidden from
view from Center Ave and a young man and woman were engaged in
umm...a little afternoon delight.

I retreated back to my car and went around to the path on the passenger
side which skirted the backside of the small pond. I took a few more
pictures, including one of a family plot that appears to have never been used.
I wondered what had caused that before taking a few more pictures.,

It was at this point I realized that perfhaps the miscreants (the tokers) or the
smoochers might take exception to having someone hanging around taking
pictures and walked back to my car and drove away.

It was only later that I realized that the pair that could have really needed
more privacy were the poor mallards, who at this rate may never start
a family!

THORNS, TREES, & TRAINS

Last Thursday I did my usual routine which now includes a drive through
Mt Vernon Cemetery. While it's a big place it's not huge and there are
areas off the main ones that I'm looking forward to exploring in the
coming weeks. One of them is the hill just across from the Henry
Dunham plot.It overlooks the pond from the other side and the
railroad tracks run by the chainlink fence at the top.

All Winter long I've driven by a small plot at it's left lower corner that was
visible from the road but was unreachable because of the heavy snow. There
are four stones bordering a small extension of the pond and partially entangled
by a large thorn bush. I became curious about it and now that the snow had
melted I took the opportunity to walk in to take some pictures. But when
I did I found myself frustrated. The inscriptions on the gravestones were
facing out towards the road, and they were covered by that impenetrable
tangle of thorns. So for the moment I still don't know the names of those
buried there.

I walked about a bit more heading up the hill as the train went by in time
for me to take a picture. I'd just about reached the fence when I found
a toppled headstone which, when I looked closer, turned out to belong
to another of my Dunham cousins. I took a picture, then noticed there
were three empty stone bases next to it. Were the missing gravestones
victims of vandalism or had harsh New England winters knocked them
over? Charles A Dunham's headstone was nearly covered by dirt and
grass; were his family's markers covered completely? 

I'll check the area out more closely the next time I'm there. And there
be another way to know who was buried there, but I'll blog about that
when I find out for sure.

 

SUMMIT RD , MT VERNON CEMETERY, ABINGTON

Last Thursday I returned to Mt Vernon Cemetery. By now the heavy
snow cover of this past Winter was gone and luckily the grounds were
fairly dry. So at last I had the chance to get out of the car and wander
about with my camera to take pictures.

Mt Vernon is a sprawling cemetery laid out in roads. One of these
is Summit Rd, which is at the southern entrance and, as the name
suggests, at the highest point of the terrain. It's not paved and wasn't
plowed out at all this Winter so this was the first time I'd been able to
walk up it, although I'd taken many photos of the hillside from my
car the past few months.  Most of the gravesites there are among the 
oldest in the cemetery and there's not only a nice view across the interior
of the cemetery but also of the athletic fields at the nearby junior high
and middle schools: (click twice on each picture for best view)

At the top of the hill. Those pine trees on the right are actually on the ground below the hill. 

A gravestone with a bench to match

The view down onto the athletic field from the bench

I THINK THIS IS WHY I HAVEN'T SEEN A REAL GRAVEYARD RABBIT YET..

A week ago Sunday I was driving through the Mt Vernon Cemetery and
took some pictures of some of the birdhouses people have hung nearby the
graves. I'm not sure but I suspect the reason is because their departed loved
ones might have been birdwatchers:

But as I made my first pass through, I saw a large white bird fly overhead. I knew
immediately it wasn't a seagull. Before I could take a shot of it, a car came down
road from the opposite direction and because of all the snow, it couldn't pass me
easily. So I backed up until I could find a wider spot in the road to pull over and
let the lady pass. By the time she had, I'd lost sight of the bird and whatever
direction it had flown off to,so I drove off to the grocery store to do my food
shopping.

I decided to take a chance on another drive through on  my way home. I was
taking some more pictures from my car when another car came up behind me.
I drove up to a spot overlooking the pond and pulled over to let him pass, and
I looked around,and spotted the bird off in the distance sitting on a tree branch.
Even that far off I could tell he was a big fella. So I took my pictures with the
zoom function of the camera:

I found an online website for raptors of Massachusetts. It turns out it's a red-tailed
hawk. Now I'd never seen this bird at Mt. Vernon Cemetery before. But, as I said
in the title of the post, he might also be the reason I haven't seen any "graveyard
rabbits" bounding about the place, either!

DRIFTING THROUGH MT. VERNON

This has been one incredible Winter in the Boston area. We've had
over 70 inches of snow in most areas so far, 80 inches in some places,
and we still have two months to go to Spring. It could well be mid to
late April before the last stubborn snowpiles in parking lots finally
melt away!

Once again today I took a drive through Mt. Vernon Cemetery. Many
of the older, smaller gravestones are completely hidden from view by
drifts and only the tops of newer taller headstones poke through out of
the snow. Not even the taller monuments are immune, snow obscuring
their bases in some cases.

I have come to appreciate the wisdom of only plowing out the road around
the perimeter. With the snow so high, it would be terribly easy for some
of the headstones close to the road to be smashed by the plows or be broken
by the weight of the piled up snowbanks.

So for now, I'll have to contine to be patient.  Spring will come eventually, and
it will be that much more the sweeter for having to endure this Winter first.