ANCESTORS
OF GEORGE EARL DUNHAM OF UTICA, N.Y.
7
JUL 1994
Page
8
NINTH
GENERATION
13 i.
Mary [8].
TENTH
GENERATION
19.
John "Deacon" [10] Dunham 11-1 (Thomas 10-1, 25) (SDM-, Pp19-21;
LEYDEN, A, fol. 137, verso, Pg.XLIX) ((From Leydon Records, Betrothalbook, A.
fol. 137, verso, P.XLIX): "paid" (Banns) the 1st: Oct. 8th, 1622; the
2d: Oct. l5th, 1622; the 3d: Oct. 22d, 1622 are married by Alphen and
Groenendyc, bailiffs, on the XXII of October 16.. Entered October 7th 1622. John
Dunham, from England, widower of Suzanna Keno (? Kenney), accompanied by Thomas
Balliou, his future father-in-law, with Abigail Balliou, spinster, also from
England, accompanied by Ann Balliou her sister."
Sophie
Dunham Moore, in her book "JACOB DUNHAM GENEALOGY with English and
American Ancestry of Dunham Family" (Kalamazoo, Mich, 1963) says:
"The
exact time of Dunham's arrival in Plymouth is not known but it was prior to
1633, as Dunham paid a tax that year in Plymouth, so was the owner of property.
Governor Bradford's "History and Letter Book" states that "With
the arrival of the Mayflower that sailed from Grave(send) May 15, 1629, 35
members were added to the Plymouth Colony". He does not list the names of
those arrivals. However a number of names such as John Dunham, Robert Chandler,
etc. appear and reappear in the Leyden records up to about this time. Shortly
after this, these names appear in the Plymouth annals so it is possible that
these families came to Plymouth on the Mayflower of 1629. One authority says
that "John Dunham may have come on the sloop James I (1630-32); Bank's "Winthrop
Fleet" states that "On October 21, 1630, the Handmaid arrived with 60
passengers" - no names are listed. Just when he came seems impossible to
learn; we do know he was in Plymouth in 1632 as in the inventory of goods of
Peter Brown, we find "Peter indebted to John Dunham 00-04-00". Dunham
was probably in Holland in 1624 when his wife was a witness of her sister Anne
Balliou, and in 1633, when the first tax was levied in Plymouth, John Dunham's
tax was 9 shillings, so he was a man of property at that time. He was also a
man of considerable standing in the community as in 1633 he was elected Deacon
in the Church, a position not given to unknown men; this position he held until
his death.
He
followed the trade of a weaver in Plymouth and engaged in the cattle business
for which purpose he continually added to his land possessions. His residence
was southwest of the village and part of his land was along Dunham's Brook and
included the strip separating Billington Sea from Little Pond, which land is
still called Dunham's Neck.
In the Plymouth Records we find the following items; "In 1639 John Dunham was chosen Deputy of the colony and continues in that position for 17 years. In 1642, he represented Plymouth at a Court to consider war against the Indians. He served on various committees of the Governor's, being a member of the Committee to revise the laws of the Colony in 1650. Dunham was one of the 36 original Proprietors of Dartmouth, as were Wm. Bradford, Miles Standish, John Alden and others. He was a member of the Plymouth Military Company; he represented Plymouth from 1639-1664 on the Legislative Committee and was one of
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