18th Century

Lemuel Dunham

Lemuel Dunham, born in Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Apr 13, 1704/5, married Elizabeth Tinkham on Sept. 16, 1735. Lemuel was baptized Aug. 21, 1731. From this marriage there were 9 children Ebenezer (b. 1/4/1738), Priscilla (b. 6/28/1740), Isaac (b. 1744), Lemuel (b 7/14/1746), Joseph (b. 4/21/1749), Ephraim (b 1/23/1752), Manasseh (b. 2/25/1755), Elizabeth (b 6/1/1757) and Gamaliel (b. 9/28/1759).

Elizabeth Tinkham, born in Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts on Oct 1, 1718/19, was the daughter of Schubael Tinkham and Priscilla Childs. Elizabeth died in 1783 in Wilbraham, Massachusetts.

Joseph Dunham, the second son of Lemuel Dunham and Elizabeth Tinkham was born April 21, 1749 in Middleborough, Massachusetts. His siblings included Ebenezer, Priscilla, Isaac, Lemuel, Ephraim, Manasseth, Elizabeth and Gamaliel. He  married Mercy Thwing. who was born Jan. 8, 1756 in Wilbraham, Massachusetts.^1,2 . He resided in Wilbraham, Massachusetts and settled at Sandisfield, Massachusetts.

There were three children :  Deborah, Electa and Gamaliel.  Electa, who was born in February, 1778 at Sandisfield, Massachusetts, married in 1830 John Frazier (who died in 1840) and in 1843, J. Atwater. Gamaliel (who is treated below) was born in Oct. 1779.  Deborah Dunham's birth date seems to be unknown.

I, Paul C. Dunham, Jr., have been able to trace our ancestors with a fair degree of reliability to Gamaliel Dunham and further back with a lesser degree of reliability; however, current research may remedy this problem.

Gamaliel was born in October 1779 in Sandisfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts and died August 18, 1864 in the same place. He was buried in the Beech Plain Cemetery. He was married twice. The first marriage (about 1809) was to Sophia Thwing, daughter of James Thwing and Priscilla Meacham. She died April 14, 1818 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He later married Sarah Spencer in February, 1828, in Sandisfield, also.

There were four children from the first marriage (Joseph Sylvester, James Samuel, Sophia Maria and Sala Gamaliel) and three from the second Sarah Sophronia, Mary Elizabeth and Emily).

Gamaliel served in the War of 1812 from September 11 to October 30, 1814. The company was raised at New Marlborough (5 miles west of Sandisfield) and saw service at Boston. On January 8, 1819, Gamaliel purchased two land parcels at Sandisfield from his father, Joseph. The parcels were 77 and 59 acres. In the 1850 census for Sandisfield, he is listed at 70 years of age, a farmer with real estate valued at $2000. Listed in the household were Sarah Dunham, age 60, and Emily Dunham, age 15.

Of the 7 children, information is currently available for only four of them Sophia Maria, Sala Gamaliel, Mary Elizabeth and Sarah Sophronia. Of these four only two have much additional detail and, of course, Sala Gamaliel, is of most interest here.

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¹ E-mail; Gratia D. Mahony to Paul C. Dunham, March 10 & 27, 2003.
² Walter Eliot Thwing, Thwing:  A Genealogical, Biographical and Historical Account of the Family, Boston:  David Clapp & Son, Printers, 1883.