DJD-13-John-3

LINE OF DEACON JOHN DUNHAM OF PLYMOUTH

THIRD GENERATION IN AMERICA

13. JOHN 3 DUNHAM (John 2,1) baptized 21 November 1647; [1] died in Barnstable 2 January 1696/97 in his 48th year. [2] John married 1 March 1679/80 MARY SMITH, [3] daughter of Rev. John and Susanna (Hinckley) Smith. She was born in Barnstable in November 1647; died after 6 June 1702 when she was of Mansfield Connecticut. [4]

After 1683 John and Mary (Smith) Dunham resided in Barnstable. In the baptismal record of his first child at Barnstable in 1683 it was noted of John as “being a member at Plymouth”. The nuncupative will of John 3 Dunham devised £223 13 shillings to his wife Mary following appraisal. John 3 Dunham acquired quite a bit of property as shown by the following land records.

He bought of Thomas Bowman, Jr. who removed to Falmouth, 18 Feb. 1685, 3 acres of land at the Herring Brook bounded east by Goodspeed’s old cart way that goeth from Ebenezer Goodspeed’s house to the place where the old house of said Goodspeed was by the salt marsh; south and west by the cove and river, and north by the commons. On 10 April 1689, 30 acres which had been granted to him was laid out at Oysterhead river, 65 rods square, bounded westerly by Herring River, southerly by John Leede, Senr’s marsh, easterly by John Goodspeed’s cart way, and north by the commons. [5]

John Dunham may have been planning to move to Connecticut for on October 26, 1696 he purchased a thousand acre right in Windham, Connecticut. This area became known as Dunham’s Pond, and is now called Mansfield Centre. [6] By 1702 Mary (Smith) Dunham had removed to Mansfield Connecticut. In a Plymouth County Land Record 4:157 dated 6 June 1702 she grants her eldest son Thomas, also of Mansfield, power of attorney to sell some Middleboro lands belonging to the estate. She was one of the patentees of the town of Mansfield in 1703. [7]

Children of John and Mary (Smith) Dunham born in Barnstable: [8]

i. THOMAS 4 DUNHAM, b. 25 December 1680; d. 30 January 1717/18, unmarried.

Thomas resided in Mansfield, CT where he was called yeoman when he died 30 January 1718. His brother John was administrator of his estate. [9] Thomas was given one hundred acres of land on Willimantic River, north of Mansfield Depot. [10]

ii. JOHN 4 DUNHAM, b. 18 May 1682;d. after 16 February 1754, unmarried. [11]

John Dunham never married, and the Mansfield Town Meeting record 1:65, dated 1 December 1735 stated, “John Dunham can dwell alone so long as he keeps good order.” Mansfield Land Record 5:80 dated 3 December 1748 shows an arrangement for life support of John Dunham by his nephew Ebenezer Dunham.

69. iii. EBENEZER 4 DUNHAM, b. 17 April 1684

70. iv. DESIRE 4 DUNHAM, b. 10 December 1685

71. v. ELISHA 4 DUNHAM, b. 1 September 1687

vi. MERCY 4 DUNHAM, b. 10 June 1689; d. 17 December 1724 [12]

72. vii. BENJAMIN 4 DUNHAM, b. 20 June 1691

References:

1. TAG 30:147; MD 12:154 Baptized 21 Nov. 1647; NEHGR 9:283.

2. MD 4:223; Barnstable VR.

3. NEHGR 2:194; MD 4:223.

4. Plymouth LR 4:157.

5. Andrews, Barnstable Families, Vol. 1, p. 346-7; NEHGR 2:194.

6. Commemorative Biographical Record of CT, p. 1306-7.

7. Ibid.

8. Andrews, Barnstable Families, Vol. 1, p. 346-7; NEHGR 2:194.

9. CT Probate Records, Vol. II, p. 378-9; Mansfield Land Record 1:601.

10. Commemorative Biographical Record of CT, p. 1306.

11. Mansfield CT VR p. 316; MD 4:223.

12. Andrews, Barnstable Families, Vol. 1, p. 346-7; NEHGR 2:194.