Dunham Familes-American South

Dunham Families of the American South

SOUTHERN DUNHAM LINE NUMBER ONE [This line will be completed at a later date.]

This large group of Dunham Families is well covered by Rev. James T. Dunnam on his web site: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pastor/ The surname here is spelled Dunnam but DNA test results show that the line is somehow connected to the line of Jonathan Dunham/alias Singletary of Woodbridge, New Jersey. In fact there were intermarriages with the Singletary family which descended from Richard ¹ Singletary through his son Benjamin ² Singletary. ^[1]

Rev. James T. Dunnam documents the large family of “John Dunnam of S.C. and Children” who lived in St Thomas St Denis Parish, Berkeley County, South Carolina; Dunham’s Bluff, Marion County, South Carolina; the Marlborough District of South Carolina; and later in South Alabama and Mississippi. Portions of other families included on this web site are Dunhams/Dunnams who lived in Arkansas, Georgia, Maryland and Texas. This web site contains a great deal of information such as land deeds and grants, military records, wills, bible records, census and tax records, and photographs.

It should be noted that there were descendants of other Dunham lines who lived in states such as Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, and Texas. These families generally migrated to these areas in the 1800s and should not be confused with the line of John Dunnam of South Carolina.

SOUTHERN DUNHAM LINE NUMBER TWO

This Dunham family settled in Bladen County, North Carolina probably in the late 1760s or early 1770s. It is unclear whether they are related to the line of Jonathan Dunham alias Singletary of Woodbridge, New Jersey. It is also unclear whether they are related to the line of Dunhams given above in this section, which I call Southern Dunham Line Number One, who settled in Berkeley County, South Carolina. DNA analysis has shown that there is a relationship between the Dunham-Singletary line from Woodbridge, New Jersey and the Dunham/Dunnam line from Berkeley County, South Carolina.

The marriages between persons of this Bladen County, North Carolina line with persons of the Singletary surname indicate that there may be some connection to these Dunham families, perhaps prior to their arrival in America. However, DNA analysis from three male Dunhams in the Bladen County line show that this Dunham branch is unique. Dunham DNA samples from the Bladen County line are completely different from any of the other Dunham family lines in America. If genealogical research shows a relationship between any of these Dunham lines, (something that is ongoing at this time), then an explanation for the different DNA results might be that there was a non-paternal event, or an adoption, somewhere back in the line.

This Dunham family has been researched by descendants of William Mangum 6 Dunham. ^[2] This Dunham family lived in Bladen County, North Carolina by 1760, and probably earlier. It is likely that there was a connection to the Dunham family who lived in Berkeley County, South Carolina because descendants of both Dunham families married descendants of Benjamin 2 Singletary (Richard 1 Singletary).

References:

1. Dunnam, Sam E., A Theory Concerning An Important Missing Link Between Jonathan Singletary Dunham and The Large Clan of “Southern Dunhams”, from The Dunham-Singletary Family Connections Newsletter, Vol. 3, No. 3, July 2006, p. 16-21. This article may be viewed at http://www.pcdunham.net/Index.html . Please select Dunham/Singletary Family Connections on the left side of the home page, then scroll down to Newsletters, which opens in PDF format. Here is a direct link to the article.
2. All work on this line was researched by Trudy C. Dunham, Miriam Jo Dunham, and Christa (Dunham) Wayne for use by the Dunham-Singletary Family Connections association. The data came from their personal knowledge and research and also from the published source: Bundy, V. Mayo; Bundy, Norma Melvin, & Campbell, Wanda Suggs (Eds.) The Descendants of William R. Dunham and Elizabeth Singletary and Sarah Cain of Bladen County, North Carolina and Allied Families, pub. 1985 Herb Eaton Historical Publications, Charlotte, NC.