John Dunham1,2

M, b. 1589, d. 2 March 1668/69
     John was born in 1589 in England. John married Susan Kenny on 17 August 1612 in Clophill, Bedfordshire, England. John's wife, Susan, died between 1620 and 15 October 1622 in Leyden, South Holland, Netherlands, leaving him a widower. On a survey taken on 15 October 1622, John was listed with his three children, John, Humility and Thomas. They were living in Zevenhuysen, Leiden, Holland. John married 2nd Abigail Barlow, daughter of Thomas Barlow and Anne Balliou, on 22 October 1622 in Leyden, South Holland, Netherlands. About 1632, John and his wife Abigail, along with their children left Leyden bound for New England.3 John made his will on 25 January 1668/69.

In the name of God Amen – I John Dunham of Plymouth . . . As for my son John Dunham whoe is my eldest sonne I have given him his portion alreddy both in land and other things to what I am able and beyond my abilitie - To my son Benajah Dunham and to my son in law Stephen Wood all my right att Agawaum and Sepecan equally to be divided between them - To my son Daniel Dunham all that land lying att or neare ffresh lake – To my son Daniel Dunham six acrees of my meddow att Swan hold and the rest of my meddow lying there I give to my son Jonathan Dunham – To my son Daniel Dunham all that land that lyeth att home which hee hade use of this last yeare which I alreddy ordered him – To my loving wife Abigaill Dunham all my now Dwelling house and my orchards with all my land not elsewhere given: with all my meddow land att the watering place to belong to her During her life; and att her death . . .I Doe heerby give it to my son Daniel Dunham . . . and in Consideration hereof my will is that my son Thomas Dunham shall have five pounds payed unto hem by my son Daniel Dunham in Currant Countrey pay att prisse Currant upon Demand – I give unto the rest of my Children that not expressed in this my last will twelve pence apiece in they Demand it . . .
All the rest of my estate in goods Chattle or else not alreddy given in this my last Will; I give unto my loving wife Abigaill Dunham; whom . . . I Doe ordaine to be sole exequtrix . . . I further request my loving friends Captaine Thomas Southworth and the Elder Thomas Cushman nd my son Samuel Dunham to be heapfull to my loving wife as overseers of this my last Will
Witnesses: Thomas Southworth John Cotton Thomas Cushman.4

John departed this life on Saturday, 2 March 1668/69 in Plymouth at age 80 years. His will was probated on 4 June 1669.

Children of John Dunham and Susan Kenny

Children of John Dunham and Abigail Barlow

Citations

  1. [S292] Eugene Aubrey Stratton, The Plymouth Colony, Its History & People, Part III, Biographical Sketches, John Dunham was born ca. 1589 (age at death in 1668/69 was given as eighty). He was a Leiden Separatist who came to Plymouth between 1628 and 1632, probably with those who arrived from Holland in 1629 and 1630. A deacon in the Plymouth Church, he had married (1) Susanna Kenny, who died in Holland, and (2) Abigail Barlow, daughter of Thomas in Leiden on 22 October 1622. He had three children by his first wife: John, Humility, and Thomas, and eight by his second wife: Samuel, Abigail, Persis, Jonathan, Hannah, Joseph, Benajah, and Daniel. All the children are mentioned by Mrs. John E. Barclay, "Notes on the Dunham Family of Plymouth, Mass.," TAG 30:143, and she carries four of them forward: John, who married a Mary; Thomas, who Mrs. Barclay believed [p.286] never married, in spite of what Savage and others wrote; Samuel, who married (1) Martha (Beal) Falloway and (2) the widow Sarah Watson; and Joseph, who married (1) Mercy Morton and (2) Hester Wormell. Of the other
    children, Abigail married Stephen Wood; Persis married (1) Benajah Pratt and (2) Jonathan Snow; Jonathan married (1) Mary Delano, and (2) Mary Cobb; Hannah married Giles2 Rickard; Benajah married Elizabeth Tilson; and Daniel married a Hannah. Isaac Watson Dunham's Deacon John Dunham of Plymouth, Mass., 1589-1669, and His Descendants (1907) is a very poorly written book, confusing, difficult to use, and often erroneous.
  2. [S293] Issac Watson Dunham, Dunham Genealogy: English & American Branches of the Dunham Family 1907, Norwich, Connecticut.
  3. [S457] Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633.
  4. [S2098] Mrs John E. Barclay, Notes on the Dunham Family of Plymouth, Mass.