Re: Books on Donham/Dunham Families

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Re: Books on Donham/Dunham Families
Posted by: Harman Clark	Date: July 09, 2000 at 09:50:11
In Reply to: Re: Books on Donham/Dunham Families by David M. Shields	of 3255

Jonathan Singletary (later known as Dunham) is one of the most interesting characters of his time, and should be fascinating to anyone identified with the family, provided you are willing to look at all sides.
Jonathan led separate lives in Massachusetts (as Singletary), and in New Jersey (as Dunham). Jonathan was no relation to the Dunham family of Plymouth, but was a Singletary who, for some reason, took the name Dunham. [The "Moses in the bull-rushes" story is pure fantasy, without any basis] He also was a scoundrel in Massachusetts, including instances while he was there temporarily after his marriage to Mary Bloomfield and establishing residence as Dunham in Woodbridge, N.J. For a one-sided defense of his character see Yvonne Brunton in her Singletary Family genealogy, pages 13+; she does not want to acknowledge or understand his other side. In her statements on the times in N.J., she relies solely on Monnette, and did not consult the Woodbridge VRs or Dally; Monnette has been properly called one of the worst genealogists of any age.
A more detailed account of Jonathan is found in Patty Myers's "Ancestors and Descendants of Lewis Ross Freeman", (Penobscot Press, 1995). That cites his deposition, aged about 23, dated 1662 against John Godfrey, accused of witchcraft, as printed in Upham's Salem Witchcraft, vol. 1, pages 343-346. When Jonathan Singletary and his family moved to Woodbridge about 1665/66 they changed their name to Dunham. There is no rational explanation for this alias.
Kenneth Royal Dunham (in his 1987 book) treats the matter of "which family, Dunham or Singletary". But not until Patty Myers discussed the dual personality and double lives of Jonathan Singletary/Dunham, has anyone treated that aspect of the subject. This is unfortunate, for Jonathan would make a very interesting character/personality study. Why did he change his name? Why did he chose the name "Dunham"? Did his wife, Mary Boomfield, know what he was doing on his trips away from home? Why did Mary Ross(e) show up in Woodbridge? Was Jonathan the one who introduced Mary Ross(e) to James Seatown? [In the Seatown/Adams divorce trial, William Frost, one of the witnesses, "related that he saw James Seaton and Mary Ross in bed together at Dunham's home."]
See also Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, Court Orders: Vol. VI, 1678-1691, pages 113-114, by Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, M.D. Also: Savage, under Richard Singletary, Vol. 4, page 102; Hoyt's Amesbury & Salisbury, page 317; NYGBR 68:58 (1937) on Bloomfield Family. See also New Jersey History, Fall-Winter 1987, 105:1-4, 11, 17-18, "Beyond Legal Remedy: Divorce in Seventeenth-Century Woodbridge, New Jersey", by Joanne Ruth Walroth. This includes an account of the divorce of James Seatown and his wife, Rebecca Adams, with references to Seatown's affair with Mary Ross.
My recommendation to anyone seeking information on Jonathan, would be Patty Myers' book.

Harman Clark

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