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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lee County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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J. P. Dunham was born in Effingham County, Ill., in 1845, but was reared in Shelby County, and up to the breaking out of the late war his time was occupied in attending the common schools. He dropped his books to join the Federal army and protect the grand old stars and stripes, and was a member of the First Illinois Cavalry, but at the end of one year was transferred to the Trans-Mississippi Department, and was on detached service under Steele, and was with him at the fall of Little Rock. He went from there to Pilot Knob, and shortly after the close of the war he went to Kansas and embarked in the lumber business, and also owned and operated a saw-mill on Marie des Cygnes River. In 1875 he came to Arkansas and settled in Phillips County, where he operated a saw-mill for two and a half years, which enterprise did not prove a financial success. From that time until 1888 he owned and operated a mill in Lee County, his business partner being R. D. Griffis, who was connected with him for eleven years, or until 1888, after which they sold out to a lumber company, and Mr. Dunham has since remained its manager. He owns a good house and lot, and 13,000 acres of land on Spring Creek, and is also in the lumber business. He is a Republican, a member of the Episcopal Church, and belongs to the A. F. & A. M., being a Knight Templar, and is also a member of the Royal Arcanum and the Knights of Honor and the Knights and Ladies of Honor. He was married while a resident of Kansas, to Miss Kate Rouse, by whom he has one child, Capitola. He is a son of Hy. and Mary (Ramsey) Dunham, the former of whom was born in Tennessee and is now a resident of Shelby County, Ill., a farmer by occupation.

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This family biography is one of 104 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lee County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Lee County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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