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545. Jonathan Dunham (Reverend) (Married (1) Mary De La Noye (Delano) (daughter of Phillip Delano) on 29 November 1655 in Plymouth, after she died, married (2) Mary Cobb, daughter of Elder Henry Cobb of Barnstable, Massachussets (of Scituate) and Patience Hurst) (Russell Leach documents Mary De La Noye being the mother of Dunham children. Dunham Web site says Mary Cobb (#546) is the mother of the Dunham children and that he married her 15 October 1657 in Plymouth, Massachusetts). (Source: Kenneth Mahoney (Dunham Genealogist) in e-mail dated 7 August 2002) (Source: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995.)

Born: 1625/1631/ 1632 (about 1625 since he was on a Plymouth voters list about 1646) in Leiden, Holland of John Dunham, Sr. (#1089) & Abigail Baillou (Ballou) (#1090) at Plymouth, Massachussets.

Died: 18 December 1717 Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Dukes Co., Massachusetts (This date is confirmed by his tombstone and he is buried in Edgartown).

 

[His half siblings (their father was John Dunham and their mother was Susan Kaino) included:

John Dunham: (Married Mary? by about 1642); Born: 19 February 1614 in Henlow, Bedfordshire, England ; Died: 6 April 1692 "in his 77th year" in Wellflut, Barnstable, Massachusetts;

Humility Dunham: Born: about 1617 ; living at Leiden in 1622; Died: ?

Thomas Dunham: Born: about 1619 ; Died: by 1677 and apparently never married]

 

[His siblings included:

Samuel Dunham: (Married: Martha (Beals) Falloway, daughter of John Beals and widow of William Falloway on 29 June 1649 in Plymouth); Born: about 1623 in Leiden, Holland; Died: 20 January 1711/12 "in his 89 years of age" in Plymouth, Massachussets;

Abigail Dunham: (Married: Stephen Wood or Atwood in Plymouth on 6 November 1644); Born: about 1627 6 May 1627 in Leyden, Holland (another source says in Leiden, Zuid Holland, Netherlands; Died: February 1693/ 94 in Duxbury, Massachusetts;

Joseph Dunham: (Married: (1) Mercy Morton, 18 November 1657 at Plymouth, Massachussets and (2) Esther Wormall, daughter of Joseph and Miriam Wormall in Plymouth on 20 August 1669); Born: about 1631 (1636) in Plymouth (Another says 18 November 1637 in Plymouth, Massachusetts; Died: 1703;

Hannah Dunham: (Married: Giles Rickard in Plymouth on 31 October 1651); Born: about 1634 in Plymouth, Massachusetts; Died: 1 April 1708 in her 74th year in Plymouth, Masachusetts;

Persis Dunham: (Married: (1) Benajah Pratt in Plymouth on 29 November 1655 and (2) Jonathan Shaw in August 1683); Born: about 1635 in Plymouth, Massachsetts; Died: 30 July1701;

Benjamin Dunham: (Married: Mary Tilson); Born:18 November 1637 in Plymouth, Massachusetts; Died: ?;

Daniel Dunham: (Married: Hannah ? about 1670); Born: about 1639 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts; Died:18 February 1676/ 77 in Dorchster, Suffolk, Massachusetts;

Benajah Dunham: (Married: Elizabeth Tilson in Plymouth on 25 October 1660); Born: about 1637 1638 in Plymouth, Massachusetts (Another source says 18 November 1637); Died: 24 December 1680 in Piscataway,Middlesex, New Jersey ].(Source of purple: Dunham Genealogy...Deacon John Dunham of Plymouth, Massachusetts-- 1589-1669 by John Dunham Duguid, November 2000). [Note: Benjamin and Benajah are probably the same person. These two names were listed in Russell Leach's Genealogical study, but there is no mention of Benjamin in the list of John Dunham's children in the document The Great Migration Begins.]

 

Miscellaneous Information:

According to The Plymouth Colony Archive Project...Jonathan Dunham of Plymouth...A Short Biographical Profile by Timothy Mayfield, University of Virginia USEM 171, Spring 1997, "Jonathan Dunham arrived in Plymouth from Leiden, Holland with his parents John Dunham, Sr. and Abigail Barlow in 1632. He was about seven years old. There is no record of his returning to Europe. He was the fifth child of John Dunham. Based on the date which he first appeared on a voters list (1646) he was born around 1625. He married Mary Delano in 1655 and Mary Cobb in 1657. There is no record of the death of Mary Delano or a divorce. Divorce was probably a lot less likely because that would certainly have appeared in the court record whereas the death of a woman was not so noteworthy in that time period. There is no record of his having any children. No occupation is ever mentioned in the Plymouth Colony Records. He could have possibly been a weaver like his father. We know that he had many acres of land. It is likely that this land would have been used for grazing sheep. He was a deputy for the town of Middleborough for three years, 1673-1675, which suggests that he was respected in his community. This is in fact the last mention of him. There is no record of his life or death after his listing as a deputy in 1675. No record has been traced to indicate that Jonathan Dunham left a will, nor was his estate inventoried for probate purposes. There is no record of his employing any servants. There is very little record of anything surrounding the life of Jonathan Dunham. This could mean that he lived out of the public eye. He was never sued for anything or made to stand trial or fined. From the records we have available he appears to have been a fine upstanding citizen."

"Primary Sources: (PCR=Plymouth Colony Records)

29 November 1655. PCR 8:17. Married Mary Delano.

3 June 1657. PCR 3:17. Admitted a freeman at the annual court of election.

1658. No Specific Date. PCR 7:197. Listed as a freemen from Plymouth.

7 June 1659. General Court of Election. PCR 3:162. Jury member at the Grand Inquest. There were a great number of cases most of which were land grants. A case that stood out was Richard French who was accused of bodily uncleanness. He was ordered to pay for the child if it appeared to be his.

5 March 1662. General Court. PCR 7:102. He was on a jury at a case where the executers of the estate of Mistress Sarah Jennings accused Constant Southworth of disposing of a mare that they claimed belonged to the heirs of Sarah Jennings.

1 March 1664. PCR 8:115. On a jury that heard several cases involving John Barnes accusing William Newlands daughter of being pregnant. He accused her of having "layed it to three men." Barnes later retracted this statement and issued a written apology.

7 June 1665. General Court of Election. PCR 4:95. Granted 30 acres in the Majors Purchase.

1 August 1665. PCR 4:104. Owed the court 6:13:04. This was a share in a bail-bond of £20 for his older brother John, Jr who was fined for abusing his wife.

11 August 1670. PCR 5:48. Land on southwesterly side of his property granted to John Morton.

5 June 1671. PCR 5:56. He was a jury member at the Grand Inquest. Two interesting laws were made at this meeting. A law was made against selling powder and shot to Indians. Another was made so that ordinary keepers could be fined for not turning in names of drunken individuals in their ordinaries. "It is further ordered by this Court, yt some two or three men be appointed in every jurisdiction to have the inspection of the ordinaries or in any other place suspected to take notice of such abuses as may arise in reference to the pmises or otherwise, and make report therof to the Court." Jonathan Dunham was appointed from Middleborough. The boundaries to his land in the Majors Purchase were set.

4 March 1673. PCR 8:174. Dunham was on a jury which heard a case where Joseph Bartlett accused James Clarke of stealing hay from his meadow. "The jury find for the defendant."

15 September 1673. PCR 5:135. Served as Deputy from Middleborough.

3 June 1674. PCR 5:144. Appointed Deputy from Middleborough.

1 June 1675. PCR 5:165. Appointed Deputy from Middleborough."

The Dunham Genealogy, compiled by Isaac Watson Dunham and published in Hartford, Connecticut in 1907 explains that Jonathan was a missionary to the Indians along the coast as far as Maine, and was elected constable, selectman and eventually deputy to the General Court when he lived at Middleboro. He relocated to Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard in 1694 where he was ordained.

[Note: John was a pastor at the Church of Christ. This information is on his tombstone shown at the bottom of this page.]

Jonathan's first wife died soon after their marriage. He became interested in missionary work among the Indians along the sea coast, from Saco in Maine and along Cape Cod. He was in Maine in 1659. In 1670 he moved from Eastham to Middleboro where he was elected constable in 1673 and selectman in 1675. He was a resident of Falmouth before moving to Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard between 1684 and 1694. He was ordained a minister in 1694 and set up a church at Edgartown. Rev. Jonathan Dunham was the son of Dea. John Dunham and Abigail Barlow of Plymouth. He was pastor of the church in Edgartown from 1684 to 1717.

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The source of the following exerpts: Source of information: The Plymouth Colony Archive Project at the University of Virginia.

29 May 1670 Records 5:279 : Morton is listed as a freemen from Middleberry, along with Henery Wood dec., Jonathan Dunham, Francis Combe, William Nelson Sr., and Samuell Eaton.

11 August 1670 Records 5:47-8: The Court granted Morton another parcel of land "within the Majors Purchase att Namassakett . . .along the southwesterly syde of the said Jonathan Dunhams land", in addition to the parcel of land he was previously granted by the Court, lying along the "easterly syde with Jonathan Dunhams land". The "Majors Purchase" was the moniker by which this area of land at Namassakett was known. Interestingly, Morton was referred to as John Morton, senior.

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The tombstone reads:

 

“Here lyes ye Body of ye Revd
Mr JONATHAN DONHAM Who
Died Decembr 18th Anno Domi
1717 Aged about 85 Years
Pastor of ye Church of CHRIST at Edgartown”

His epitaph reads:

“With Toil & Pains at first He Tell'd ye Ground
Call'd to Dress GODs Vine Yard & ws faithful Tound
Full Thirty Years ye Gospel He Did Despen
His Work Being Done CHRIST JESUS Cal'd Him Hence."

 

 

He is buried at Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, Dukes, Massachusetts.