DJD-261-Lemuel-4

LINE OF DEACON JOHN DUNHAM OF PLYMOUTH

FOURTH GENERATION IN AMERICA

261. LEMUEL 4 DUNHAM (Nathaniel 3 Joseph 2 John 1) born probably in Middleboro 13 April 1705, [1] died after 17 October 1763 when he sold land in Middleboro to Isaac Billington. [2] Lemuel married in Middleboro 16 September 1735 ELIZABETH TINKHAM, [3] daughter of Shuball and Priscilla (Childs) Tinkham. [4] Elizabeth was born in Middleboro 1 October 1719, died aged 63, [4] or about 1782 in Wilbraham MA. Mayflower Families:

The Peter Brown Family, Volume 7, p. 84 gives the parents of Lemuel Dunham as Ephraim and Annis (Smith) Dunham. This is incorrect, as Ephraim Dunham did not marry Annis Smith until December 1725. Lemuel was not a son of Joseph 3 and Bethia (Chase) Dunham, and he is not included among the recorded children of Eleazer 3 and Bathsheba (Whiston) Dunham. Given his date of birth and marriage, he is placed as the son of Nathaniel 3 and Mary (Tilson) Dunham as the most logical position.

Shubael Tinkham built a slitting mill on the Nemasket River. Shubael Tinkham died in Middleboro 29 March 1739 in his 47th year, [5] and his will mentions daughter Elizabeth Donham.

In the records of the Middleboro Town Meetings dated 26 February 1739/40, [6] “Joseph Franco and Lemuel Donham chosen to see the due observance of the Act Relating to Horses Running upon the Commons.” The Middleboro Town Meeting record of 22 June 1752, [7] gives notice “Taken up in damage by Lemuel Dunham of Middleboro...a swine marked with V in left ear.”

On 9 February Lemuel Dunham purchased land from Simeon Totman. [8] On 17 June 1752 Lemuel sold “part of the 7th lot in the last allotment of hundred acre lots in the 26 Men’s Purchase in Middleboro”. [9] On 24 June 1763 Lemuel Dunham of Middleborough, cordwainer, sold to Samuel Snow of Middleboro a tract of land in Middleboro. Elizabeth Dunham released her dower. [10] And on 17 October 1763 Lemuel Dunham of Middleboro again sold land to Isaac Billington. [11]

Lemuel was a member (#211) of the First Church of Middleborough MA. (under date of 1733) Elizabeth (Tinkham) Dunham was member (#260) of the First Church of Middleboro MA. (under date of 1736, which would have been a year after she m. Lemuel Dunham.

Lemuel 4 Dunham bought land in Wilbraham MA from Aaron Thompson, and sold this land to his son Joseph: Hampden Co. Registry of Deeds Book 18:38, dated 11 March 1778.

Lemuel 4 Dunham sold land in Wilbraham MA to his son Ephraim; Hampden Co. Registry of Deeds, Book 18:277, dated 28 September 1781.

Lemuel and Ephraim sold land to Samuel Borden of Sandisfield; as recorded in the Hampden County Registry of Deeds in Book 21:309, dated 15 January 1784.

From History of Berkshire Co. MA Vol. II pub. NY in 1885, p. 521;

Lemuel Dunham, grandfather of the late Gamaliel Dunham, came from Wilbraham, Mass.; one hundred years ago, and settled near the outlet of Spectacle Pond. All of his sons went to the war.

Children of Lemuel and Elizabeth (Tinkham) Dunham: born in Middleboro.

394. i. Ebenezer 5 Dunham b. 4 January 1737/8, Midd. VR 1:24

395. ii. Priscilla 5 Dunham b. 28 June 1740, Midd. VR 1:68

396. iii. (--) 5 onham, b. 24 October 1742, Midd. VR 1:77

This was probably Isaac, as a brother of Manasseth by the name of Isaac was listed in Manasseth’s estate.

397. iv. Lemuel 5 Dunham b. 14 July 1746, Midd. VR 1:91

398. v. Joseph 5 Dunham b. 21 April 1749, Midd. VR 1:91

399. vi. Ephraim 5 Dunham b. 23 January 1752, Midd. VR 1:91

400. vii. Manasseth 5 Dunham b. 25 February 1755, Midd. VR 1:92

401. viii. Elizabeth 5 Dunham b. 1 June 1757, Midd. VR 1:92

402. ix. Gamaliel 5 Dunham b. 28 September 1759, Midd. VR 1:92

References:

1. No vital record of his birth has been found but the Middleboro Vital Records are incomplete.

2. Plymouth Co. LR 49:120.

3. Middleboro VR 1:62.

4. Mayflower Families, Peter Brown, Vol. 7:84.

5. Ibid. p. 26

6. Holbrook Fiche #23, p. 198.

7. Holbrook Fiche #21, p. 96.

8. Plymouth Co. LR 37:111.

9. Plymouth Co. LR . 59:27.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.