Beeks line: The family of Jonathan Dunham 1709-1748

 Facts about the family of Jonathan Dunham are hard to come by, at least on line.  I do have a resource at the county library I can check, but presumably the information in that record has been relied on by the creators of trees that I've looked at.  I hope I've chosen the most accurate information, and if you disagree or have additional information, I'd sure love to hear from you.  

Jonathan Dunham (sometimes seen as "Rev. Jonathan Dunham" was born January 7, 1709/10 in Woodbridge, New Jersey, to Benjamin and Mary (possibly Rolph) Dunham.  He spent his life in Woodbridge and died there December 31, 1748, a relatively young man.  He married Mary Smith, daughter of Shubael and Prudence Fitzrandolph (Fitz Randolph) Smith, apparently about 1737 but I would certainly like to find a marriage record for them, to confirm the date. 

Several children are attributed to Jonathan on some sites, who are very unlikely to be the children of Jonathan and Mary.  Mary was born in 1717  so Daniel, Ephraim, and Experience, who were born from 1730-1734, were not Mary's children.  I have found children of those names attributed to Jonathan's brother, Daniel, and this is more likely.  Joseph was born in 1736 and he may or may not be the child of Jonathan and Mary.  Since Joseph is not a family name in either line, I am guessing he also belongs to another Dunham family.  There were certainly enough Dunhams in Woodbridge to confuse anyone trying to sort these families.

The children believed to be Jonathan and Mary's are as follows:

Benjamin, born November 17, 1738.  I show death dates for him of 1765 and 1766, but am unable to confirm that.  At least one of the Benjamin Dunham's that died during that time period died in Windham, Connecticut, with a widow named Hannah.  I have also seen Mary Heath listed as his wife.  The fact is we don't know whether he survived long enough to marry.  

Elizabeth Dunham was born December 21, 1739.  She is reported to have married a man with the surname Alston, but it's possible that her information has been confused with that of her sister, Hannah, who did in fact marry an Alston.  Or perhaps there were two Alston men, but I've not identified a second one.

Samuel Dunham was next, born May 11, 1742.  He married Hannah, most likely Hannah Ruble, and they had several children:  Samuel, Mary, David, Hannah (called "Minty", Amos, Dinah or Sinah, Benjamin, Aaron, Jacob, Ruth, and Sarah.  He died in Berkeley County, what is now West Virginia, in 1824, and I will write more of this family in my next blog post.  

Asher Dunham was born July 15, 1744 and may have married Susannah Pike.  He served in the French and Indian War on the side of the British, but stayed on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War.  He was part of a prisoner exchange in 1778, and was seemingly a resident of New Brunswick by then, although he died in Nova Scotia.  His children were Christina, Joseph, Phoebe, William, Daniel, James, John, Deborah, Nancy, and Mary.  It would be interesting to trace these children to determine whether they all stayed in Canada, or whether they returned to New Jersey.  

William Smith Dunham was born November 24, 1746.  He may have married Elizabeth Tyler, daughter of Benjamin and Naomi Dunn Tyler, or she may have been Elizabeth Hedges.  Their children were John, William, Elizabeth, David, and Job.  He died in 1799 in Woodbridge.

Hannah was their last child, born October 5, 1748.  She married John Alston, who died in 1771, and had one child with him, Mary Ann.  She later married William Wright, and had William, John, Elizabeth, and Martha.  This also may have been a Loyalist family.

So if this information is both correct and complete, Jonathan and Mary were grandparents to 31 grandchildren.  With some of them staying in the Woodbridge area, the Dunhams added their share of confusion to the many Dunhams in town.  I would love to hear from someone who has researched any of these names!