The past few days I've been researching Ephraim Dunham, (1750-1823), who was born in Holland and died in Halfmoon, New York. He's not related to me, I have no deep interest in the man, so why did I invest the time on him? I'm bored, and ... someone told me that the information I had in my Ancestry tree on him was wrong. That my friend, is a challenge.
A couple of days ago I found a peculiar message in my mailbox at Ancestry in which the writer, Mr. R, informed me, "if you direct your attention to the two male individuals, [named earlier in his message, one being an Ephraim Dunham from New Jersey who died in 1815], you will discover something Amazing". Amazing? I welcome new information and perspectives, but that sounded like something from an advert for long wearing lipstick.
The Dunham's come into my tree only because Maria Vincent, my fourth-great-aunt, married one. Specifically, she wed Morgan Dunham in Saratoga County, New York around 1830. Morgan's father was William Dunham and William's father was the above mentioned Ephraim. The Dunham's, along with my Vincent family, resided in the quaintly named town of Halfmoon in Saratoga County, New York, gradually moving westward as people did back then.
I researched the whole tree of this part of my family several years ago when a cousin contacted me and suggested that we collaborate. We had a long distance ball working together and between us we pretty much nailed the Vincent-Dunham line, so when Mr. R told me Ephraim was not who I thought he was I was a little taken aback. I began re-reading my notes just to make sure I wasn't mistaken. One piece of evidence was a biography of Charles Dunham, another son of William and brother to Morgan, in which Charles told the author his grandfather Ephraim came to America from Holland as a young man, settling in Halfmoon Township, New York. Charles explains that he himself came to be born in Canada because his father William had moved there in 1811, only to be forced to return to Halfmoon when the war of 1812 broke out causing their welcome in British Canada to become less than cordial.
Another clue was a land record from Halfmoon that mentioned Ephraim Dunham's will was written in June of 1822 so obviously he did not die in New Jersey in 1815. That will, which named his son William among his heirs, was probated in October of 1823, in Saratoga County. Census records from 1800 to 1820 also place Ephraim in Halfmoon as does a history of the town that indicates Ephraim was living there before the revolution. I've seen nothing at all indicating he was born in New Jersey or spent time there.
As I looked around the net I found quite a few Ephraim Dunham's actually, which surprised me, but then again Ephraim was a much more common name a few hundred years ago than it is today. Luckily, "my" Ephraim left a quite substantial paper trail. In conclusion, I'm comfortable saying cousin Christine and I did our homework and Ephraim Dunham of Halfmoon is indeed who we believe him to be.
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