An American Family History

Mary Bonham Dunham was born on October 4, 1661 in Barnstable, Barnstable County, Massachusetts. Her parents were Nicholas Bonham and Hannah Fuller.

When she was 20, she married the Reverend Edmund Dunham on July 15, 1681 in Piscataway. He was born on July 25, 1661 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. His parents were Benajah Dunham and Elizabeth Tilson.

Edmund was ordained at Westerly, Rhode Island in 1705.

. . .the 19th day of August, 1705, we did then and there and with one mind choose our dearly beloved Edmund Dunham, who is faithful in the Lord, to be our elder and assistant according to the will of God, whom we did send to New England to be ordained, who was ordained at the church-meeting in Westerly, R. I., by prayer and laying of hands by their elder, William Gibson, the 8th day of September, 1705.

The Dunhams were members of the First Baptist Church of Piscataway. He was the founder of the Seventh Day Baptist Church in New Jersey in 1709 and was pastor at Piscataway, New Jersey.

He inherted from his father in 1680 "the Seventy Acres of land belonging to me which lyeth by Rariton river and I give to him my Musquet and my razier."

Their children were Benajah Dunham (1684), Elizabeth Dunham Martin (1689), Edmund Dunham (1690/91), Reverend Jonathan Dunham (1692/93), Ephraim Dunham (1696), Ruth Dunham Thomas (1698), Mary Dunham Smalley (1700), and Hannah Dunham Davis (1704).

Edmund died on March 17, 1733/34 and Mary died July 15, 1742.

Dunham Genealogy: English and American Branches of the Dunham Family by Isaac Watson Dunham

Benjah [Dunham] b. Plymouth, 1640; m. Oct. 25, 1660. Elizabeth Tilson, of Scituate, dau. of Edmund, of Plymouth. He bought, in 1672, one hundred acres of land in Piscataway, N. J., and became a planter; 1664, a freeman; 1669. a court officer at Eastham; 1673. militia captain; May 10, 1679, willed to son. Edmund, seventy acres of land on Raritan river; to Mary, house and meadow on Bonham Creek, and one-third of cattle, movable goods and books; to his wife, one-third of cattle, movable goods and books; to Elizabeth, forty acres of land, and one-third of cattle, movable goods and books: d. Dec. 24. 1680, at Piscataway, N. J.

Issue: 2. I.—Edmund, b. July 25, 1661; m. July 15, 1681, Mary Bonham; b. Oct. 4, 1661; d. March 17, 1734.
3. II.— John, b. Aug. 28, 1663; d. Sept. 6, 1663.
4. III.—Elizabeth, b. Nov. 20, 1664; d. Dec. 31, 1667.
5. IV.—Mary, b. New Jersey, 1669; m. Mr. Thompson. Had son, John.
6. V.—Elizabeth, b. 1670, New Jersey; m. July 15, 1681, Jonas Wood.
7. VI.—Hannah, b. June 4, 1666; d. Dec. 25, 1667.
8. VII.—Benjamin, b. Oct. 28, 1667; baptized at Eastham, by Pastor Russell; d. young.

Edmund [Dunhan], b. July 25, 1661, Plymouth; m. July 15, 1681, Mary Bonham, of Nicholas Bonham, and Hannah Fuller, of Samuel Fuller, and Jane Lothrop, of Edward Fuller and Ann, who came over in the Mayflower; Jane Lothrop was of Thomas of Robert, of John Lothrop, from Cherry Burton, England.
Edmund, ordained at Westerly, R. I., 1705; pastor at Piscataway, N. J.; 1705, founded Seventh Day Baptist, in New Jersey; Jan. 23, 1709, commissioned justice of peace by Queen Anne; d. March 17, 1734.
Issue:
9. I.—Benajah, town clerk. 1714 to 1731 ; b. Aug. 13, 1684; m. Aug. 21, 1704, Dorothy Martin; b. June, 1681; he d. Aug. 11, 1742.
10. II.—Elizabeth, b. Nov. 26, 1689; m. Aug. 21, 1704, Jonathan Martin.
11. III.—Edmund, Jr., b. Jan. 15, 1691; m. (1) March 11, 1717, Dinah Fitzrandolph, dau. of Thomas; m. (2) Mary Hill.
12. IV.—Jonathan, b. March 4, 1693; m. Aug. 5. 1714. Jane Pyatt, dau. of Reynier and Elizabeth Sheffield; m. 1677, in Long Island; d. March 10, 1777; she d. Sept. 15. 1779.
13. V.—Ephraim, b. May 2, 1696; m. Jan. 16, 1716, Phebe Smalley.
14. VI.—Ruth, b. Nov. 26, 1698; m. David Thomas. Thomas had Elizabeth; m. Mad Anthony Wayne; she was b. Newton Square, Philadelphia.
15. VII.— Mary, b. July 1, 1700; m. June 12, 1721, Elisha Smalley.
16. VIII.— Hannah, b. April 14, 1704; m. March 29, 1724, Josiah Davis.

 

from History of the First Baptist Church of Piscataway
Stelton, New Jersey, 1889, by Oliver B. Leonard, Esq.
The Dunhams, of Piscataway, (for there was a different lineage of same name at Woodbridge), had as their progenitor a worthy sire in the person of Benjah Dunham. Their family tradition asserts that he settled in this vicinity several years previous to its formal occupation by any other Englishmen. His first child born was Edmund, whose birth in 1661 was the earliest of any white child born in the township. Edmund Dunham grew to be an influential member of society, and became a lay preacher, helping to mould the tender consciences and direct the religiously inclined of the pioneer community. In 1681 he married Mary, or Elizabeth Bonham, a member of another early planter's family. Their son, Jonathan, in after years, succeeded his father in the ministry of the Seventh-Day Baptist Church, of Piscataway, of which the father may be said to be the founder in 1705-7.

Edmund Dunham's will is recorded in Liber B. of Wills, page 496, on file in the office of the Secretary of State, Trenton. It mentions his wife, Mary, and sons, Benajah, Edmund, Jonathan, and Ephraim, and daughters, Mary Smalley, Hannah Davis and nephew, John. Thompson. Also mentions land in New England.

Extracts from New Jersey Archives Relating to the Dunham Family, Volume 1, p. 134.

Edmund Dunham's name mentioned in an account of several men's bills for Quit Rent. Page 194.
Was witness to the will of Hopewell Hull proved May 8, 1693. Page 233.
Deed Edmund Dunham to Cap't John Langstaff, both of Piscataway, for 10 acres of land there. Page 282. March 10, 1697.
Confirmation to Edmund Dunham and others of Piscataway, of a small tract of meadow there on the north side of the Raritan River, west of the lower landing. Page 111.
Patent of 100 acres of land at Ambrose Point, Piscataway Township, issued to Edmund Dunham. Page 290.
Deed of 20 acres of land from Hopewell Hull to Edmund Dunham. Page 290.
Deed from Benjamin Fitz Randolph and wife Sarah, to Edmund Dunham for two lots, one of 40 acres and one of 100 acres. Volume II., pages 326 and 396.
In 1700 and in 1701 Edmund Dunham signed petitions of remonstrance against the acts of the proprietors and asked for the appointment of a competent Governor. Volume III., page 200.
Edmund Dunham is mentioned as one of the contributors to the Lord Cornbury fund in 1707. Page 211. Is named in an affidavit as one who contributed to that fund. Page 217. Affidavit of his contributing to that fund. April 29, 1707. Volume IV., pages 188, 189. Signs a petition of the Freeholders of Middlesex Co. against the election of Thomas Ffarmer as representative: At this election Dunham was the opposing candidate. Volume I., page 283. Volume XXI., page 112.
Patent of 103'/2 acres of land granted to Edmund Dunham in right of his father, Benajah Dunham. Volume XXII., page 643.