tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7470217109659177851.post6782795983778067200..comments2024-03-28T07:48:11.698-07:00Comments on Heirlooms Reunited: 1859 letter from Mary Bates (Dunham) Cash (1833-unk) & husband Daniel Cash in Bridgton, Maine, to Mary's Parents Sylvanus & Anna (Smith) Dunham) in Madrid, MainePam Beveridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06272409581983333836noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7470217109659177851.post-22209147950558827422022-01-07T14:00:57.207-08:002022-01-07T14:00:57.207-08:00William L. Dunham (1827-1915) was Mary's cousi...William L. Dunham (1827-1915) was Mary's cousin, the son of Joseph and Charlotte (Mills) Dunham.<br /><br />This letter poses a bit of a mystery. Mary was the granddaughter of Joseph Dunham, who is said to have come to Maine from Carver, Mass., with two brothers: Benjamin, who settled in Leeds; and Eleazer, who settled to Paris. Unlike most "three brothers" stories, this one is true. All three are mentioned in <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-897D-FNWV?i=162&wc=M6BX-CP8%3A337946101&cc=2018320" rel="nofollow">their father Israel's 1828 will</a>. Mary's reference to "Uncle Eleazar Dunham of Paris" is further evidence of the story's truth.<br /><br />The mystery is her reference to Eleazer's death in 1859. Her father's uncle Eleazer appears in <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDCQ-46X" rel="nofollow">the census of Paris</a> taken the following spring. <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/183191295/elezer-dunham" rel="nofollow">He died in January 1864</a>.<br /><br />Eleazer had a son of the same name, but he died in 1868. They are the only two Eleazer Dunhams to live in this area at that time. I haven't a clue how Mary came to write of Eleazer Dunham's burial in Nov. 1859.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01386406270744275223noreply@blogger.com