Martha (Beal) Dunham (abt. 1617 - 1690)

Born about 1617 in Wymondham, Norfolk, England

Ancestors

Wife of William Fallowell — married 16 Mar 1640 in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony

Wife of Samuel Dunham — married 29 Jun 1649 in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony

Descendants

Died 26 Apr 1690 at about age 73 in Plymouth, Plymouth County, Plymouth Colony

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Biography

Martha (Beal) Dunham immigrated to New England as a child during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640).

Parentage

Martha Beal was the daughter of John Beal and his first wife, Frances (Ripley) Beal. Her paternal parentage is established, in part, by a bequest in John Beal Sr's will to his daughter "Martha Dunum."^[1] Her maternal parentage is based on the belief that Frances (Ripley) Beal was John Beal Sr's wife during the time period when Martha was born.^[2]

Date of Birth

The 1893 History of Hingham estimated Martha's date of birth as about 1620,^[3] while the 1953 TAG article on the Dunham family estimated that she was born about 1622-1623.^[4] Neither of those estimates, however, were made with the benefit of knowledge of the Wymondham parish records relating to the marriage of her parents and the baptisms of her siblings. In addition, while the estimate in History of Hingham clearly took into account the estimated dates of birth of her siblings, it is likely that the TAG article estimate did not and instead probably relied solely on the dates of her marriages and the estimated dates of birth of her husbands.

The Plymouth First Church record of Martha's death states that she died in April 1690 in her 78th year, which would mean that she was born in 1612-1613. However, stated or generally believed ages at death are not very reliable and a date of birth of 1612-3 seems very unlikely, given that her father was baptized in 1593 and his first-known marriage occurred in 1616.^[5]

Based on the date of her father's first-known marriage (June 1616)^[2] and the date of her first marriage (March 1640), Martha was almost certainly born sometime in 1617-1622. Since brother John was baptized in January 1619, while her brother Nathaniel was baptized in March 1621,^[2] that means Martha was probably born in either 1617 or 1620. The fact that the gap between her parents marriage (June 1616) and her brother John's baptism (January 1619) was 2 years and 6 months, while the gap between her brother John's baptism (January 1619) and her brother Nathaniel's baptism (March 1621) was only 2 years and 2 months, together with the fact that it was very common for a couple to have their first child with the first 12-18 months after they were married, suggests that it is most probable that Martha was born in 1617.

Place of Birth

Based on the fact that her parents were marriage in Wymondham, Norfolk, England and her next several older siblings were baptized there, Martha was probably born there.

Immigration to New England; Residency at Hingham

Martha immigrated with her family from England to New England in 1638 aboard the Diligent of Ipswich, and her family settled at Hingham in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.^[2]

First Marriage

Martha married, first, William Fallowell/Falloway on 6 March 1639/40 at Plymouth, Massachusetts.^[6][7][3]

Martha and William had the following children:

1. Jonathan, b. about 1644, d. before November 1676. (See discussion and sources in Jonathan's profile.)
2. John, b. about 1646, m. 13 February 1667/8 Sarah Atwood at Plymouth, d. before 1 March 1675. (See discussion and sources in John's profile.)

Martha's first husband, William, died sometime before June 1649 when she married her second husband.

Second Marriage

Martha married, second, Samuel Dunham on 29 June 1649 at Plymouth, Massachusetts^[8][4][3]

Martha and Samuel had the following children:

1. Sarah, b. 10 April 1650 at Plymouth,^[4] m. about 1668-9 Samuel King, Jr.,^[4] d. 23 April 1738^[4]
2. son (twin), b. 29 December 1651, d. soon^[4]
3. son (twin), b. 29 December 1651, d. soon^[4]
4. Samuel, b. about 1653 at Plymouth,^[4] m. 30 June 1680 Mary Harlow,^[4] d. 1717^[4]

Death

Martha died at Plymouth on 26 April 1690.^[9][5][4][3]

^{[9] [7] [4] [5] [8] [6] [3] [1] [2]}

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991 for John Beale, Suffolk Probate Records, Vol 10-12, 1687-1697. Link to will on ancestry.com.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4} See the profile for her father, John Beal, Sr.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4} History of the Town of Hingham, Massachusetts. In Three Volumes. Volume II. Genealogical. The Town of Hingham, 1893. p. 53. Link to page at hathitrust.org.
4. ↑ ^{4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11} Barclay, Mrs. John E. "Notes on the Dunham Family of Plymouth, Mass." The American Genealogist. Volume 30 (1954). p 151-3. Link to pages at americanancestors.org.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Plymouth, MA: First Church Records, 1620-1859 from the Plymouth Church Records 1620-1859. CD-ROM. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society; Colonial Society of Massachusetts, c2003. (Online database. NewEnglandAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Link at americanancestors.org.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Bowman, George Ernest. "Plymouth Colony VItal Records." The Mayflower Descendant. Volume 13 (1911). p. 85. Link to page at americancancestors.org.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Stott, Clifford L. "The Finney Family of Lenton, Nottinghamshire and Plymouth, Massachusetts". New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Vol. 148 (1994). pp 322-3. Link to pages at americanancestors.org.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Shurtleff, Nathaniel B. Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, Miscellaneous Papers 1633-1689. 1857. p 8. Link to page at hathitrust.org.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. Volume XXII. Collections. 1920. p. 269. Link to page at books.google.com.