My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in Portrait and Biographical Record of Berrien and Cass Counties, Michigan published by Biographical Publishing Company in 1893.  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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JAMES R. DUNHAM. The cultivation of small fruits has proven to be one of the most important and successful industries of Berrien County, and among the men who are prosperously engaged in this business may be mentioned the name of our subject, who owns a fine fruit farm located on section 34, St. Joseph Township. Here he has thirty-six acres, upon which he raises peaches, grapes and berries, making his shipments to the markets at Chicago and Milwaukee. In addition to this valuable property, he is the owner of six hundred and sixty-one acres of land in Lincoln Township, of which seventy-five have been cleared and placed under excellent cultivation. Upon that place he raises small fruits and berries, and finds this business a remunerative one. His wife is the owner of thirty-four acres in Lincoln Township, which is partly cleared and devoted to fruit-raising.

A native of Michigan, our subject was born in Portage Township, Kalamazoo County, on the 21st of April, 1836. He traces his ancestry to patriotic and valiant forefathers. His paternal great-grandfather, Matthew Dunham, enlisted at the commencement of the Revolutionary War and served until its close, and tradition says that he was present at the famous “tea party” in Boston Harbor. He settled on Johnson Creek, in New York State, where he constructed and managed a raft in the American service during the War of 1812, but the raft, having been discovered by the British fleet, was destroyed.

The paternal grandfather of our subject was James Dunham, who was reared in New Jersey and married a Miss Ward, of New York City, whence they moved to western New York and from there up Sackett’s Harbor, and later to Canada. The father of our subject, Timothy Ward Dunham was born in Canada, January 12, 1808, and was reared on a farm in Orleans County, N. Y. His father died when he was a child of two years, and eight years later his mother was again married. He was about seventeen when he started out in the world to earn his own livelihood, and, proceeding to Rochester, N. Y., he found employment for a time on a farm.

Coming to Michigan in 1834, the senior Mr. Dunham spent one summer in Jackson County and in the spring of the following year settled in Kalamazoo County, where he purchased land and embarked in the nursery business. In 1854 he disposed of his property in Kalamazoo County, and, coming to Berrien County, located in St. Joseph Township, where he purchased land and engaged in fruit-raising. Having been reared along the lake shore in New York State, in the midst of a fine fruit country, he was naturally familiar with, and interested in, the cultivation of fruit, and when he settled in Kalamazoo County he endeavored, but in vain, to make a success of that business.

When Mr. Dunham came to St. Joseph Township, he purchased two hundred acres along the lake shore, and judging that this land would be especially adapted for fruit-raising, he embarked in that business, and proved, to the great astonishment and delight of other people in the county, that the soil here is peculiarly fitted for the raising of fruits. His name is worthy of perpetuation, for he was the pioneer of the nursery business in Kalamazoo County and one of the pioneers of the fruit business here, as well as one of the most extensive fruit-growers in this section of the State.

Removing to Lincoln Township, Mr. Dunham embarked in the sawmill business and was thus engaged for a number of years. He also planted a peach and a grape orchard on his place, where he resided until the fall of 1892, and since that time has made his home with our subject. He was married June 28, 1835, to Miss Catherine, a daughter of Enos Newman. This estimable lady was born in Vermont, whence in an early day she accompanied her parents to Covington, N. Y., and there grew to womanhood. At the age of twenty-four she came to Kalamazoo, Mich., where she was married. Her death occurred July 12, 1892, at the age of eighty-two years and eleven months. She was a woman of many noble attributes of character and was devotedly attached to her husband and children. Two of her children were Mary, who married Bryce Quint, and died on a farm near Niles; and Martha, who died when six months old.

In early days Timothy Dunham was a Whig, and later became a strong Abolitionist. He is now identified with the Republican party, to which he gives his unwavering support. He was converted in 1828, uniting with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is now a member of the Methodist Protestant Church. He is one of the oldest surviving settlers of St. Joseph Township, and at the present time (1893) is eighty-five years of age. A man of affable manners, intelligence of a very high order, and shrewd business qualities, he has attracted a host of friends and attained a position among the most successful of Berrien’s pioneers.

The subject of this sketch was reared in Kalamazoo County, Mich., until 1854, when he accompanied his father to Cass County, this State. At the age of eighteen he came to Berrien County, and about six months after he attained his majority he settled on his present farm. Prior to his settlement here, the timber had been cut down, but had been replaced by a dense growth of brush, which forced Mr. Dunham to do considerable “grubbing.” As the result of energy and industry, he succeeded in clearing the land, planting trees and improving the place. At the time he came here, the entire country was in a very wild state. Wild animals were here in abundance, and our subject frequently engaged in the sport of hunting deer, which often fell the victims of his unerring shot.

In Kalamazoo County, June 25, 1859, Mr. Dunham married Miss Rebecca Ann, daughter of Charles Ackley, and they are the parents of six children, namely: Enos W., a prominent fruit-grower of Lincoln Township; Sarah Ella, a school teacher residing at home; Ernest J., who resides at Stevensville, Berrien County, and operates a saw-mill which he and his father own; Catherine E., Charles W. and Mary A., who are at home.

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This family biography is one of numerous biographies included in the Portrait and Biographical Record of Berrien and Cass Counties, Michigan published in 1893. 

View additional Berrien County, Michigan family biographies here: Berrien County, Michigan Biographies

View a map of 1911 Berrien County, Michigan here: Berrien County Michigan Map

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