Beeks line: The family of Samuel Dunham 1742-1824

 I've written previously about Samuel's life, but before I write about his family, I'd like to clear up one point and muddy the waters on another.  First, there are some claims out there that Samuel was a Loyalist.  I have found no evidence to support that.  There were other Samuel Dunhams in New Jersey by the time of the Revolutionary War, and it is possible that the two or more Samuels were conflated.  

The other item that I'm wondering about is his marriage.  When Mary Smith Dunham wrote her will in 1784 (not probated until 1791), she left a bequest to her son Samuel (subject of this post), if he returned, and if he did not return, to go to his son Jacob when Jacob turned 21.  So Samuel had a son Jacob born before 1784, and the Jacob that was born in 1794 in Berkeley County, now West Virginia, was the second son he named Jacob.  We don't know if Samuel had married before his marriage to Hannah probably Ruble in West Virginia, but it appears that he at least had an earlier relationship.  I'd sure like to know more about this!  

What we do know is that Samuel Dunham, the son of Benjamin and Mary Smith Dunham, left New Jersey and settled in Back Creek Valley, Virginia by 1778.  We don't know why his son didn't go with him, but perhaps Samuel had intended to send for him at some point.  He settled in Berkeley County, and married Hannah, who was likely the daughter of David and Sarah Malin Ruble.  The birth dates for the children are not specified, and the location I've seen, showing them all born in Virginia, may not be correct, but the names, general order of birth, and subsequent information about each seem to be pretty well documented.  

The first child, born in New Jersey, was probably Jacob.  Nothing further is known of him and he may have died young.

Mary Sarah Dunham was born possibly about 1773.  She married Jacob Gossett, son of Matthias and Mary Littler Gossett.  Their children were Samuel, Hannah, Matthias, Mary, Jacob, John, and Luke.

Samuel was born about 1773 and married Elizabeth Pickerill, whose parents are not known.  They had at least two children, John and Elizabeth, and may have had a second daughter named Rebecca.

Next born was David, about 1776, who married Catherine Buckhamer/Buckhammer/possibly Berkheimer.  Her parents may have been Henry and Anna Rosina Schwenk Berkheimer, but I think the just is still out on that.  David and Catherine had Samuel, Hannah, Amos, Mary, David, Benjamin, and possibly another daughter, Emma, Mary Sarah and Rosanna. (The last four are not certain, but certainly possible.)

Hannah was born about 1779 and married William Watson, possibly the son of David and Mary Jane Hamilton Watson.  Their children were Sarah or Sallie, Sina, Lydia, Hannah, Rachel, Samuel, Andrew Jackson, Mary, and William.

Amos was born June 14, 1781 and married Sarah or Sallie Colliver, daughter of Joseph and Sarah Duncan Colliver.  Their children were George Washington, Elijah, Samuel, Frances, and Margaret.  

Aaron was born about 1782 and married Mary Gano, daughter of James and Rebecca Noland Thatcher. It was her second marriage, and she apparently brought children to the marriage. The children of Aaron and Mary are listed as Samuel and Naomi. 

Sina was born about 1784 and married Matthew Garard, son of David and Margaret Last (?) Gerrard.  Their children were David, Maria, Sarah Jane, Margaret, Sina Ellen, David, Matthew, and Mary Isabella.  

Benjamin Washington was born about 1785 and married Elizabeth Manor, daughter of Benjamin and Martha Holmes Manor.  Their children were William, Catherine, Hannah, Margaret, Martha, Samuel, Amelia, Benjamin, Hester, Mary Elizabeth, and another daughter Hannah.  

Then there is a gap of about 9 years, and one wonders what happened.  Are some of the above birth years "off"?  Were there other preganancies and children who may have died young?  Was Jacob, born August 1, 1794, when his mother was about 41 years old a welcome "surprise"?  I'd sure like to know what story we are missing here!

Jacob married Catherine Goodnight, daughter of Samuel and Magdalena Berkheimer Goodmight.  They had an unknown daughter, then Jacob Mackey, Anna, Samuel Goodnight, Mary Ellen, and David.

There families ended up in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, but at least some stayed in West Virginia, where 9 generations of Dunhams have lived on part of Samuel Dunham's farm. I have undoubtedly missed some of the children, because Samuel is supposed to have had 82 grandchildren.  By my count, this list accounts for 61 of them.  I hope someone can help with additional information!

 

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! 

Beeks line: The family of Benjamin Dunham (1681-1715)

 In researching this post, I realized that what I thought I knew about Benjamin Dunham is probably not correct.  I have his wife shown as Mary Rolfe, the daughter of John and Mary Scullard Rolfe.  That is likely not correct, as there is no daughter Mary born late enough to be the daughter of this couple.  Also, there is apparently a record of Benjamin and Mary's marriage in New York, New York on August 18, 1699.  I have not found a record that gives her maiden name.  

Benjamin's parents are given as Jonathan (Singletary) and Mary Bloomfield Dunham, and that seems at this writing to be correct.  He was born in Woodbridge, New Jersey on August 22, 1681.  At this point, I should say that there are a lot of Dunhams in the area and it is possible that the line traces back differently, but this it the current belief.

Benjamin and Mary were married in 1699 but there first known child, Richard, was not born until May 12, 1707. It is possible that there were unsuccessful pregnancies, or that children were born elsewhere and have not been documented. Richard apparently died young, although I've not found a record. 

Jonathan was born January 7, 1710 and married Mary Smith, the daughter of Shubael and Prudence Fitzrandolph (Fitz Randolph) Smith.  This couple apparently provided Benjamin and Mary with their only grandchildren: David, Ephraim, Experience, Joseph, Benjamin, Elizabeth, Samuel, Asher, William, and Hannah.  I will follow these children in a future post. 

Katherine was their only daughter.  She was born March 12, 1712, and I've found no records of a marriage for her.  I did see an undocumented death date of 1764 but I don't know whether that is accurate, or whether she died young.

Benjamin was born  December 4, 1712, according to the transcript.  (This was slightly less than 9 months after Katherine, so I'm wondering whether Katherine's birth date was possibly 1711.) Benjamin apparently died in 1748, but again, I've found no record of a marriage or of children.

Benjamin, the father of these four children, died December 15, 1715.  At the time, he was a member of Col. Thomas Farmer's regiment in the militia, but there is no indication of whether or not this was a military-related death.  His brother had died earlier in the year, apparently of natural causes.  

This record of Benjamin and Mary's family shows that their life was not easy.  When Benjamin died in 1715, Mary had at least two and possibly three children to raise.  I have found no record of a re-marriage, nor have I found a death date.  This part of the story is yet to be written, but not until we know what happened to her.

 

Beeks line: The famly of Jonathan Dunham 1639-1724

 Jonathan Dunham is the son of Richard Singletary and possibly Lydia Dunham or variant spelling.  I've written a post earlier about him and some of the mysteries that still aren't proven/documented/explained.  But we do know he used both surnames, Singletary and Dunham, depending on where he was at the time.  I've seen Singletary given as the surnames of some of his children also, but the children themselves seem to have used the Dunham surname.  So having thoroughly confused everyone, including myself, here is the family of Jonathan.

He was born January 17, 1639, in Newburyport Massachusetts and married Mary Bloomfield, the daughter of Thomas and Mary (Waters or Withers) Bloomfield about 1660.  They lived in possibly Haverhill or Newbury, in Essex County, Massachusetts and had four children there: 

Richard Singletary Dunham, born about October 16, 1657.  He is elusive and although I've seen a potential death date for him of 1711, I've not seen documentation.  He may have died young. As far as I've been able to tell, he didn't marry and had no children.

Esther, born in 1659, married Samuel Smith, the daughter of Rev. John and Susannah Hinckley Smith.  They had at least four children together: Elizabeth, Samuel, Benjamin and Elinor.  She died in 1690.

Mary was born December 29, 1661 and died as an infant.  

Sarah was their next child.  She married William Ellison, whose parents I've not identified.  There children were Enoch and Emme.  She died sometime after 1707.  Some sites refer to her as "Sarah Mary".

The Dunhams then moved to Killingly, Connecticut for about two years.  Ruth was born in 1666 and died in 1750.  No records have been found to indicate she ever married.

Eunice was born in 1668 and died December 5, 1684.  No records have been found to show that she married, but it's not totally impossible.  She would have been about 16 at the time of her death.

The family then moved to Woodbridge, New Jersey and stayed there for the rest of Jonathan's life (except for some mystery trips he may have made).  6 children were born at Woodbridge:

Jonathan was born in 1672 and married Esther Rolfe, the daughter of John and Mary Scullard Rolfe.  Their children were Samuel, Eunice, and Mary.  They had two daughters named Eunice, so likely one died in infancy or early childhood.

David was born in 1674 and died in 1753.  He married Mary Ilsley, the daughter of John and Ann Gowan Ilsley.  Their children were Jonathan, David, and Daniel.

Daughter Joanna was born in 1675 and died about 1703.  Again, I've found no record of a marriage for her.  

Son Nathaniel was born on February 8, 1677 and died in 1678.

A second Nathaniel was born in 1679 and died in 1727.  He married Joanna Thornell, the daughter of Israel and Hannah Gannett Thornell and they had nine or possibly ten children: David, John, Nathaniel, Andrew, John, Elizabeth, Joanna, Jerusha, Ephraim, and possibly Jehu.  

Their last known child was Benjamin, who was born in 1681 and died as a young father, in 1715.  He married Mary Rolfe, who is usually shown as a daughter of John and Mary Scullard Rolfe.  There may be some question about this, but so far I've not found anything really definitive one way or the other.  Benjamin and Jonathan (junior) may have married sisters, which would not be unusual for this time and place.  Benjamin's children were Richard, Jonathan, Katherine, and Benjamin.  

This gives a total of 26 grandchildren for Jonathan and Mary, although some died young.  Most stayed in or near Woodbridge, and it must have been a blessing to have so much family near.  Jonathan and Mary are the ancestors of Barack Obama. 

Beeks line: The family of Richard Singletary

Richard Singletary is actually the immigrant head of the family we know as Dunham, due to his first son's taking that name as he made a new life for himself in New Jersey.  Little is known of Richard's life before his last (possibly second) marriage, but it does seem to be proven, based on current knowledge and records, that he was the father of Jonathan Dunham aka Jonathan Singletary.  

No one has yet found a record of a marriage, but Richard's first wife may (or may not) have been Lydia Dunham or Downham.  The couple had one child together, Jonathan.  Jonathan married Mary Bloomfield, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Waters Bloomfield, and they had at least eight children: Esther, Mary, Ruth, Eunice, Jonathan, David, Nathaniel, and Benjamin.  I will write more of this family in my next post.

Richard's first wife may have died at or soon after the birth of Jonathan on January 17, 1639 and he then married Susannah Cooke on November 17, 1639.  (Note: Many sources say that Jonathan's mother was Susannah; it's possible but to my mind not proven.)  

Richard and Susannah's children were Eunice, born in 1640 and died 1715.  She married Thomas Eaton, the son of John and Ann Crossman Eaton.  I have located just two children for them, Lydia and Jonathan.

Nathaniel ws born in 1644 and died, killed by native Americans at Lancaster, in 1689.  He married Sarah Belknap, daughter of Samuel and Sarah Jones Belknap (or possibly Abraham and Mary Belknap).  Their children were John, Mary, Jonathan, Sarah, Susannah, Richard, Hannah, Ebenezer, and Martha.

Lydia was born in 1648 and died in 1679.  Her husband was Daniel Ladd, the son of Daniel and Ann Ladd.  There are no known children for this couple.

Amos was born in 1651 and died in 1724.  He married Sarah Currier, the daughter of Samuel and Mary Hardy Currier.  This couple also appears to be childless.

Benjamin was their last child.  He was born in 1656 and died about 1697 in Redbank, Summerville, Charleston, South Carolina.  He seems to have been part of the group that went to South Carolina to establish a Puritan presence (as opposed to the Anglicans who were already in place) there.  His wife was Mary Stockbridge, daughter of John and Mary Broughton Stockbridge.  Their known children are Susanna, Richard, Jonathan, John, Broughton, Joseph, Mary, and Hannah.

This makes about 28 grandchildren for Richard Singletary, although not all were born when he died in 1687, at a quite advanced age.  It would be interesting to learn how many great grandchildren he had.  Richard and his possibly two wives contributed much to the beginnings of our country. 

The family of John Havens Starr

 John Havens Starr is the last of our Starr family to be born in Groton, Connecticut.  He was the son of John and Betsey Havens Starr, and was about 9 years old when his family made the trip west to settle in Ohio.  Traveling west must have agreed with John, because he did more of that as an adult, settling in Tipton, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  By the time he arrived there, however, he had married Myra Falley, daughter of Russell and Pamela (or Parmelia) Chapman Falley, in Franklin County, Ohio, in 1827.  Myra was short for Anna Miranda.

John and Myra had five children together:

Havens Starr was born September 1, 1828.  He is something of a mystery.  He became a school teacher, and in the 1850 census is enumerated with his parents in Tipton, and apparently as a boarder in Lagro, Wabash County, Indiana.  In both locations, he was born in Ohio and is the same or similar age.  His family moved to Tipton in 18502, so perhaps they dropped Havens off on the way west, but still considered him part of the family.  He may, in their minds, have been "visiting" in Lagro until he decided to stay there.  I don't know how long he was there, but in 1860 he was an attorney in Clear Creek, Nemaha,  Kansas Territory, living with his brother Anson Starr and Hannah, who was most likely Anson's wife.  This was in what is now southeastern Nebraska.  Havens died in 1863, but I've not located death information for him,.  Was it an illness like consumption, or did it have something to do with the Civil War?  I hope someone knows the answer to this!  I'd also like to know whether he was ever married.

Adella was born February 1, 1830 and sadly, died July 16, 1831.

Anson was next, born just a little over three years after Havens.  The brothers apparently remained in close contact until Havens' death.  He was likely married first to Hannah, as her name is after his in the 1860 census.  He also married Martha Baker in 1878, and she was his widow.  I have not located anything that indicates that there were children born to either wife, but the research may be incomplete on that.

William Wallace was born August 2, 1834 and died December 14, 1836.

Finally, John Calvin was born February 24, 1837 in Columbus, Ohio and died there October 11, 1841.

John Havens' wife Myra died December 28, 1838.  This was 22 months after the birth of John Calvin, so it is possible that this was related to another pregnancy, but I have no records to show her cause of death.  

Less than a year after Myra's death, John married Myra's cousin, Clarissa Falley, who was the daughter of Samuel and Ruth Root Falley.  Myra and Clarissa shared the same grandparents, Richard and Margaret Hitchcock Falley, of Westfield, Massachusetts. 

John and Clarissa continued to grow the Starr family.  Their first daughter, Myra Adella, was born August 24, 1840.  She married David Foy and their were at least two children born to that marriage, Clara, and John Calvin. David served in the Civil War.  

Their next child was Harriet Clarissa, born August 27, 1842.  She married John Wilson Knott and they had at least nine children:  Herbert, Alfred, Walter, Robert, Anna, Mary, Edith, George, and Thomas.  I will write more of this family in a future post. 

John Calvin was their first son.  He was born November 24, 1843 and died in 1864 while serving as a Union soldier in Louisiana during the Civil War.  

Samuel was the next son, who lived less than five months.

Son Francis Richard Starr was born January 10, 1847 in Columbus but died April 11, 1854 in Tipton, Iowa.  

The last child born in Columbus was Eunice.  She married Samuel Foy, who was a brother to the David Foy who married Myra.  Their known children are Nellie, Charles, and Frank.

Mary was the first child born in Tipton, Iowa.  Clarissa must have had fun traveling with so many children, but Mary was apparently conceived in Iowa so at least she wasn't also newly pregnant.  She married Dr. Edmund Burson, son of Nathan and Margaret Burson.  Their children were Gay, Euguene, Verna, and Bonnie.   This family lived in Crawford County, Arkansas.

The last child was a daughter, Frances, who was born October 30, 1854 and died less than a year later, on August 3. 

Of John's children, 6 died as children, another died in the Civil War, and it appears that at least two sons had no children.  Yet, John had 18 grandchildren and died at the age of 70.  He was a successful farmer and a Presbyterian elder, and left a good heritage for his descendants. This post ends our sketch of the Starr ancestors in the Allen family. 

 

 

The family of John Starr 1774-1837

 The next Starr in our family line is John, the son of John and Mary Sharp Starr.  He was born August 30, 1774 in Groton, Connecticut and married Elizabeth Chester Havens, known as Betsey, on October 7, 1801 in Groton.  She was the daughter of the elusive (to me) Jonathan Havens and Bathsheba Chester Havens.  Their first five children were born in Groton before the family moved in 1812 to what became Columbus, Ohio.  John's father had been given land in Franklin County as a reward for being wounded in the Revolutionary War Battle of Groton Heights, and as compensation for the property he left behind in Nova Scotia when fleeing when the War broke out.  This John would have been necessary to the family's survival, as his father had very little use of one arm (some records say right, some say left) from the battle.  The men would have worked together to raise homes for the families, but likely one was built first and then the second was constructed.

John and Betsey were members of the Presbyterian church in Columbus, John serving in many capacities there.  And they still had time to raise a large family:

Betsey was born August 30, 1802 and married Rev. Aaron Case Humphrey (first a pastor in the Methodist Episcopal Church and later in the Universalist Church).  They had Sophronia, Lurenda, Philo, John, Chester, Aaron, Lucinda, John, Sophronia, and Laura before Betsey died in 1849.  Aaron remarried and had four more children with his second wife.  This family moved to Iowa in about 1844, settling in Tipton, Cedar County.

John Havens Starr was the first born son.  He married Clarissa Falley, and they had 7 children: Samuel, Mary, Eunice, Frances, Myra, Harriet, and John Calvin.  I will write more of this family in my next post.  

Sophronia Starr was born in 1807.  She married, as his second wife,  Dr. Nathaniel Harris, son of Noah and Sarah Carroll or Carle Harris.  They lived in Springfield, Illinois.  Their children were Laura, Sophronia, Lorinda, Sarah, possibly Thomas, Emily, Mary, Ellen and Edward.  There were also four children from the doctor's first marriage, so it was quite a large family.  It's fascinating to think these people likely knew, or knew of, Abraham Lincoln.

Lorinda Starr was born in 1809 and married John Wildbahn, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Wildbahn.  They had a daughter, Elizabeth, and a son, Thomas.  Lorinda died in 1837, the same year that her son Thomas was born and died.  

Joseph was born in 1810. He married Martha Craig McDaniel, parents not known, and they had three children: Augustine, Samuel, and Andrew.  A little less than a year after Martha and son Andrew died, Joseph married Jane Suddick Long, and they had two children, William and John.  

The above children were born in Groton, so John and Betsey had five children aged ten and under when they made the move from Groton to Columbus.  We don't know how the family traveled.  It may have been by water, either through the Great Lakes and down, or down the Ohio River and then north, or they may have traveled over land, in wagons of some sort.  I wonder how Betsey handled this!

Lucinda was the first child born in Ohio, on August 17, 1813.  She married Dr. James Boals, son of James and Margaret Mitchell Boals.  Their children were Albert, Martha, and Ella.

Simeon was the next child born, in 1815.  He married Martha Sweetser, daughter of Charles and Flavia Darley Sweetser.  Their children were Sweetser, Ellen, Richard, and Charles.

William Starr was born in 1817.  He may have married Sophia.  Some sites says her last name was Starr, some say it was Baker, and I've been unable to find a marriage record.  (Also confusing is the marriage of an earlier Sophia Baker to a William Starr, who was born 20 years earlier and in a different location than this William.) At any rate, his children include Calvin and Mary, and possibly more. 

Then there was the sadness of a son, unnamed, who was born and died on January 10,1819.

Emily Starr was born just ten months and two days later.  Her husband was Henry Doremus, son of Hasel and Jane Demorest Doremus.   Their children were Charles, Henry, Mary, Leila, Alta, Frank, and John.  

The last son was Calvin, born in 1822.  He married Sophia McPhersen in Greene County, Ohio, and they had six children: George, Clarence, Joseph, Emma, Mary, and John.  He was a physician, and his second wife was also a physician, Dr. Jane Candee.  She was younger than he, but they didn't have any children together.   

A daughter was born and died on December 10, 1824, again not named.

Finally, Mary Jane Starr was born May 7, 1826.  She did not marry and died in 1878.  Betsey had given birth 13 times and perhaps enjoyed having her "baby" at home with her, whatever the reason that Mary Jane remained single.  

Although a few died at or shortly after birth, John and Betsey had about 40 grandchildren, some of whom lived in the Columbus area but many who went on to Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, and Texas.  I hope those who moved away wrote letters to Betsey, because she lived until 1865, roughly 28 years after the death of John.