The following was mostly transcribed from the "Dunham Dispatch" out of P.S. Kitson, Ed. 711 Kensington Ave, Flint, Michigan 48503. More particularly from the Volume IX No. 11 edition dated November 1996.
The Reverend Thomas Denham, was a puritan clergyman that lived in many places, including the present states of Maine and New York and also Massachusetts and Connecticut. He made his will on May 2, 1688, he devised among other items part of his estate at 'Sheep's Gutt' to his son and daughter, Simon and Rebecca Hinckson, both of whom are sufficiently attested in Maine records, so that it is reasonable to identify this place with Sheepscott, Maine, then in York, now Lincoln County. Thus it is peculiar and disappointing not to find any traces of Thomas or his family in David Quimby Cushman's "History of Ancient Sheepscott and Newcastle" (Bath 1882). Since this area was ravaged often by Indian raids, its earliest records have been lost and therefore this omission might be the result of this.
Help is found, however, in the York Deeds 15:613 f., which have a conveyance dated February 11, 1662/3 whereby two Indians, Daniel Sagamore and Dick Swash Sagamore, the latter acknowledging on June 4, 1664, sold land in the Sheepscott region to William Dier, recorded May 24, 1666. The witnesses to this important deed were Thomas Denham and Walter Phillips, the latter a prominent land owner in Sheepscott. That Thomas Denham signed first suggests the prestige of a clergyman in that period and we can therefore be sure that it was, indeed, our Mr. Thomas Denham who so signed.
Another entry in Saco, Maine in 1659 proves his presence there. This time it was surely the minister (Province and Court Records of Maine, Portland 1931, 2:851]: "We present Robert Booth for disturbing the people and for endeavoring to disturbe the Minister Mr. Dunnum. In tyme of his publique exercise..."
No other Maine records have been found which mention the Reverend Thomas Denham but since, as we shall see, William Davie, first husband of Mr. Denham's eldest daughter Rebecca, was in the Sheepscott area until the outbreak of King Philip's War, it is a least possible that the father-in-law remained there until the pressure of that conflict forced him to seek shelter elsewhere.
The next item is supplied by the "Acts of the United Commissioners 1653-1679," 2:393, where we read among other accounts reported to said Commissioners by Connecticut in 1677: "...granted Mr. Thomas Denham 10 pounds." If Mr. Denham had some sort of claim against Connecticut, it must have been a matter of interest in other colonies as well, or it would not have been so reported. The date also makes it seem probably that the claim was for indemnity for losses suffered in King Philip's War, and our next items confirms this. "Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut," 2:321, has under the date of October 1677 the following: "This Court being informed that Mr. Thomas Denham is likely to settle at Rye as minister there, who is declared to be a suitable person for that work by the ministers at Fayrefield and Standford, for his incouragement to settle there, and in regard to his late loss by the war, this Court have granted him the sume of tend pownds to be payd out of that towne's rate this yeare."
Following this Baird, after carefully researching the Town of Rye records, states that on June 15, 1677 [Town Records B-62] a house lot was provided for the new minister, perhaps before it was even known that Mr. Denham would settle at Rye, and this lot was later sold in 1696 by Isaac Denham, the eldest son, and his first wife Mary. This shows that the lot was not for an ordinary parsonage but an outright grant designed to attract a candidate, and Mr. Denham did accept and was admitted an inhabitant of Rye on November 22, 1677.
Mr. Denham's ministry at Bedford began with a call dated January 28, 1687/8 and Mr. Denham did not serve long at Bedford, for he made his will there on May 2, 1688 and the inventory was taken on August 5, 1689. It can been seen from the last Will and Testament of Mr. Denham that the surname was spelled in two differen was, thus: "In the first place I do give unto my sone Isaac Denham...2ly I do give unto my sonn Nathaniell Dunham...3ly I do giue unto my sone Josiah Dunham...4ly...to my Sonne & Daughter Simon and Rebecca Hinckson..in sheeps gutt...5ly I doe give to my Daughter Sarah Palmer....6ly I doe give to my Daughter Hannah Dunham.."
In the book, "Chronicle of a Border Town: History of Rye, Westchester County, New York" by Charles Washington Baird, he writes on page 285 the following: "..Town Meeting Book C, p. 5. REV. THOMAS DENHAM - The name is sometimes spelt Dunham; indeed, he so writes it three times in his will. Mr. Savage mentions no Denham except our Rye minister, but he finds several early settlers by the name of Dunham. Among these is 'Thomas' of Plymouth, 'perhaps a son of John Dunham,' also of Plymouth, who was representative in 1639 and often after, and deacon among the first purchasers of Dartmouth, and died Mar 2, 1669, aged eighty. (Genealogical Dictionary, vol. ii, p. 81). Thomas was 'fit to bears arms in 1643;' this agrees with the single statement Mr. Savage makes about our Thomas Denham; that in 1681 he was sixty years of age. (Ibid p. 26) Dunham married 'Martha, daughter of George Knott,* I think.' (Ibid.) Our minister mentions his wife Sarah in his will, not unlikely a second and younger wife, for she soon marries again. (Westchester County Records, vol. B. p. 189 seq.). I conjecture that Isaac, to whom he left the bulk of his landed estate, may have been his son by the former marriage.
But other and more interesting facts confirm the belief that Mr. Denham was none else than Thomas Dunham, formerly of Plymouth. His will speaks of lands which he owned in 'Sheep's Gut,' undoubtedly Sheepscott, a localty on the coast of Maine, then part of Massachusetts. This settlement was on a peninsula or neck, upon the easter side of the Sheepscott River proper, immediately below what is now called Sheepscott Bridge. The settlers first laid out a street which they called the King's highway, running the whole length of the peninsula. This street was 'lined with houses and other buildings, on both sides.' The settlement was probably begun as early as 1623, only three years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. In 1630, there were fifty families on the Sheepscott Farms. Mr. Denham, not improbably, was laboring here as pastor or missionary in 1675, at the time of the outbreak of King Philip's War.
'In that fearful conflict, the first attack was made upon Plymouth, Mass., June 24th. The flame quickly spread throughout New England. Maine was completely overrun by the enemy. Falmouth, with almost every inhabitant east of it, was burnt, and their occupants were either driven off, murdered or sold into merciless captivity.' The savages fell first upon a trader's settlement at Stimson's Point, near Woolwich. From that place the alarm was carried by 'a young maid,' who, frightened by their looks and conduct, 'escaped and travelled over land fifteen miles to Sheepscot Plantation, where she gave the alarm, and the terrified inhabitants immediately fled, leaving all their possessions behind them. They had only fairly got away from them when the savage warriors arrived, set up their fiendish war-whoop, then set fire to the buildings, killed the sheep and cattle, and thus destroyed the labour and care of years.' The inhabitants fled on board a vessel that was building in the harbor, and thus saved themselves. The enemy left nothing remaining, and the land lay desolate many years. In process of time, some returned to their former homes, and were invested with rights to the lands. (Ancient Settlement of Sheepscot, by Rev. David Cushman. In the collections of the Maine Historical Society, vol. iv. Portland: 1856).
Such, not improbably, was the calamitous event, under the shadow of which the first pastor of Rye began his ministry here, and in view of which the General Court granted him special benevolence of ten pounds, 'in regard to his late loss by the war.'
In that same book, the transcription of the Last Will and Testament of the Reverend Thomas Denham is provided in nearly its entirety and reads as follows: "The Last Will and Testament of me Thomas Denham Minister of the Gospell of our Lord Jesus Christ in Bedford. I doe bequeath my soul to God, and my body to a decent buriall, my goods and chattels as followth. In the first place I do give unto my Sonn Isaac Denham all my Lands and Right in Lands that I have in Rye. And my...Secondly I do give unto my sonn Nathaniell Dunham the westermost of my Plaine Lotts and my 12 acre lott and that Meadow lott that was layd out in the Last Division of meadows; and my musquett and my Commentary upon the Revelations. Thirdly, I doe giue uto my son Josiah Dunham at my Decease the eastermost of my plaine lotts, and my 8 acre lott in the east Field, and my Epistle upon the Romans, and my longe Gunn, and my white horse and my Read heafer yeareling, and my two-edged sword, and after his mother's decease I do giue him thats to say my sonn Josiah all my housing that I have here with my home lott and the rest of my meadows, and lands that I have here in Bedford or shall have, and my tooles that I have for manageing my farme. Fourhtly, All my right that I have in houseing and land and meadow and what els may be found that is mine in...I do give unto my sonn and daughter Simon and Rebecca Hinckson, that is to say my Land and Meadows and housing with any other part or parts of my Estate in Sheep's Gutt. Fifthly, I doe give unto my Daughter Sarah Palmer my black two years old heafer. Sixthly, I do give unto my Daughter Hannah Dunham a healfer calf. Further my household moveables I doe give to my two youngest daughters Sarah & Hannah, that is to say after my Wife's Decease. Further the rest of my Books I doe will that they be as equally divided into several parts according to their worth and divided to my wife and six children by lott, the rest of my Estate I do leave with my Wife for to dispose as God shall direct her. This is my right and perfect sences through God's goodness, is my last Will and Testament. - Thomas Denham."
In 1691, Sarah, widow of the Reverend Thomas Denham, had became the wife of John Hendrickson (Co. Rec., B. 184).
There is a New York Times article from 1992 outlining the history and ongoings of the old Knapp House in Rye. It makes brief mention of the Reverend Thomas Denham as the first minister in that town who would hold public services in the old Knapp House:
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/16/nyregion/preservationists-win-oldest-county-house.html
There is a marriage record found in Plymouth Colony records showing that Rev. Thomas Denham married Sarah Bumpus 31 Mar 1659 at Marshfield....
The previously suggested 1630 marriage date from the original custodian of this memorial could not be correct as Thomas' birth date is 1621. He was probably born in England, as the Plymouth Colony had been settled only a year before and the other Thomas Denham who married Martha as per the "Chronicle of a Border Town: Rye, Westchester County, New York" probably is the father of our Reverend, and has the same name. Thus making the Reverend Thomas Dunham's parents, Thomas Denham and Martha Knott. Martha being the daughter of George Knott. After all, this Thomas Denham is recorded as dying in 1669 at the age of 80. Therefore his birthdate would be around 1589, well before the Reverend Thomas Denham was born in 1621. This Thomas who dies in 1669 is theorized to be the son of John Dunham, also of Plymouth (making this John Dunham a very old man - if he is to be truly believed the father of the elder Thomas Denham which is unlikely). However, after reviewing the records and believing the Border Town information to be mostly correct with some mistakes, it is more likely that it was not Thomas Denham who died 1669, but John Dunham, who did have a son Thomas Dunham but is not recorded as ever marrying and who was born circa 1619, yet this would make our Reverend Dunham a match as a son for this John Dunham, thus making him the husband of Martha Knott, who died by the early 1650's which in turn would coincide with his second marriage to Sarah Bumpus by 1659 at Marshfield....
Hence, here is what I believe after reviewing the evidence and as a direct descendant of the Reverend Thomas Denham. The Dunham genealogy book of the 19th-century is entirely false. It is a great story, nearly convincing but based on no primary source material whatsoever and is the result of an English hoax by someone looking to make a few bucks off Americans.
John Dunham did exist and the Rye histories have confused his name with Thomas Dunham. John Dunham was baptized 8 February 1589 at Pirton Parish in Hertfordshire, England. His father was listed as Richard Dunham. Richard Dunham though he lived in Hertfordshire and Bedforshire was not a native of that area as the name is not a common local name and so he must have migrated to the area at some point in his life, but where we know not. When Richard Dunham dies he mentions his son John as being "away" - we believe this offers enough evidence to suggest that John Dunham baptized 1589 is the same John Dunham living in Holland with his wife. This information coupled with John Dunham's age of 80 years old in 1668/9 in Plymouth Colony further reinforces this notion. John Dunham married his wife Susanna Kenny (Keno) in 17 August 1612 at Clophill in Bedfordshire. The hoax genealogy book attempted to claim that John Dunham was a mentoree of Brewster and that in order to avoid young John's family detecting him from running away from home and being found in the New World, they (the Pilgrims) disguised his name as John Goodman (in the Plymouth Colony records). The fact that John Goodman was living next to Brewster in Plymouth as further proof that it was the disguised John Dunham living next to his mentor. The problem with this theory is that in 1622 John Dunham with his wife Susanna is listed in Zevenhuysen census with this three children: John Jr. , Humility and Thomas (our Reverend). Therefore the Reverend Thomas was probably born in Holland in 1620 +/- 1 year, and ended up in Plymouth Colony when his parents finally departed for the New World. Unfortunately there is further information that adds to the confusion to this Reverend Thomas Dunham.
Anderson in his "Great Migration" books lists Thomas as a son of John Dunham of Plymouth but says he never married and died around 1677 after he received ten pounds from the United Commissioners of the colonies. They assume Thomas dies because he is no longer mentioned in the records! Alas, that is because Thomas Denham receives his 10 pounds for damages caused to his property in Maine (which was a Plymouth Colony at that time in Sheepscott), and then he is called to the Rye Colony to preach to the gospel there. He takes up the call and dies in Bedford in 1689. We know this Thomas Denham in Bedford, NY is the same as the one from Plymouth because in his last will and testament he bequeathes his lands in Sheepscott, Maine. The Thomas recorded as marrying Martha Knott in Plymouth was not a brother or a possible father of our Reverend but our Thomas Denham. She dies young and he remarries a few years later Sarah Bumpasse. This wife becomes the mother of his children. Therefore to consolidate and conclude all this conflicting information:
Richard Dunham, poulter born in England, emigrant to Bedfordshire, had a son:
John Dunham born Feb 1589 in Hertfordshire, England, marries Susanna Kenny, they had a son in Holland:
Reverend Thomas Denham, he marries Martha Knott, then Sarah Bumpass and he dies in Bedford, New York.
https://www.johndunhamsociety.com/about-john-dunham∼THOMAS, 3rd & last known child of John Dunham by his 1st wife, was born say 1619; d. by 1677 and apparently never married.
Source: Anderson's Great Migration Study Project.
The Reverend Thomas Denham, was a puritan clergyman that lived in many places, including the present states of Maine and New York and also Massachusetts and Connecticut. He made his will on May 2, 1688, he devised among other items part of his estate at 'Sheep's Gutt' to his son and daughter, Simon and Rebecca Hinckson, both of whom are sufficiently attested in Maine records, so that it is reasonable to identify this place with Sheepscott, Maine, then in York, now Lincoln County. Thus it is peculiar and disappointing not to find any traces of Thomas or his family in David Quimby Cushman's "History of Ancient Sheepscott and Newcastle" (Bath 1882). Since this area was ravaged often by Indian raids, its earliest records have been lost and therefore this omission might be the result of this.
Help is found, however, in the York Deeds 15:613 f., which have a conveyance dated February 11, 1662/3 whereby two Indians, Daniel Sagamore and Dick Swash Sagamore, the latter acknowledging on June 4, 1664, sold land in the Sheepscott region to William Dier, recorded May 24, 1666. The witnesses to this important deed were Thomas Denham and Walter Phillips, the latter a prominent land owner in Sheepscott. That Thomas Denham signed first suggests the prestige of a clergyman in that period and we can therefore be sure that it was, indeed, our Mr. Thomas Denham who so signed.
Another entry in Saco, Maine in 1659 proves his presence there. This time it was surely the minister (Province and Court Records of Maine, Portland 1931, 2:851]: "We present Robert Booth for disturbing the people and for endeavoring to disturbe the Minister Mr. Dunnum. In tyme of his publique exercise..."
No other Maine records have been found which mention the Reverend Thomas Denham but since, as we shall see, William Davie, first husband of Mr. Denham's eldest daughter Rebecca, was in the Sheepscott area until the outbreak of King Philip's War, it is a least possible that the father-in-law remained there until the pressure of that conflict forced him to seek shelter elsewhere.
The next item is supplied by the "Acts of the United Commissioners 1653-1679," 2:393, where we read among other accounts reported to said Commissioners by Connecticut in 1677: "...granted Mr. Thomas Denham 10 pounds." If Mr. Denham had some sort of claim against Connecticut, it must have been a matter of interest in other colonies as well, or it would not have been so reported. The date also makes it seem probably that the claim was for indemnity for losses suffered in King Philip's War, and our next items confirms this. "Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut," 2:321, has under the date of October 1677 the following: "This Court being informed that Mr. Thomas Denham is likely to settle at Rye as minister there, who is declared to be a suitable person for that work by the ministers at Fayrefield and Standford, for his incouragement to settle there, and in regard to his late loss by the war, this Court have granted him the sume of tend pownds to be payd out of that towne's rate this yeare."
Following this Baird, after carefully researching the Town of Rye records, states that on June 15, 1677 [Town Records B-62] a house lot was provided for the new minister, perhaps before it was even known that Mr. Denham would settle at Rye, and this lot was later sold in 1696 by Isaac Denham, the eldest son, and his first wife Mary. This shows that the lot was not for an ordinary parsonage but an outright grant designed to attract a candidate, and Mr. Denham did accept and was admitted an inhabitant of Rye on November 22, 1677.
Mr. Denham's ministry at Bedford began with a call dated January 28, 1687/8 and Mr. Denham did not serve long at Bedford, for he made his will there on May 2, 1688 and the inventory was taken on August 5, 1689. It can been seen from the last Will and Testament of Mr. Denham that the surname was spelled in two differen was, thus: "In the first place I do give unto my sone Isaac Denham...2ly I do give unto my sonn Nathaniell Dunham...3ly I do giue unto my sone Josiah Dunham...4ly...to my Sonne & Daughter Simon and Rebecca Hinckson..in sheeps gutt...5ly I doe give to my Daughter Sarah Palmer....6ly I doe give to my Daughter Hannah Dunham.."
In the book, "Chronicle of a Border Town: History of Rye, Westchester County, New York" by Charles Washington Baird, he writes on page 285 the following: "..Town Meeting Book C, p. 5. REV. THOMAS DENHAM - The name is sometimes spelt Dunham; indeed, he so writes it three times in his will. Mr. Savage mentions no Denham except our Rye minister, but he finds several early settlers by the name of Dunham. Among these is 'Thomas' of Plymouth, 'perhaps a son of John Dunham,' also of Plymouth, who was representative in 1639 and often after, and deacon among the first purchasers of Dartmouth, and died Mar 2, 1669, aged eighty. (Genealogical Dictionary, vol. ii, p. 81). Thomas was 'fit to bears arms in 1643;' this agrees with the single statement Mr. Savage makes about our Thomas Denham; that in 1681 he was sixty years of age. (Ibid p. 26) Dunham married 'Martha, daughter of George Knott,* I think.' (Ibid.) Our minister mentions his wife Sarah in his will, not unlikely a second and younger wife, for she soon marries again. (Westchester County Records, vol. B. p. 189 seq.). I conjecture that Isaac, to whom he left the bulk of his landed estate, may have been his son by the former marriage.
But other and more interesting facts confirm the belief that Mr. Denham was none else than Thomas Dunham, formerly of Plymouth. His will speaks of lands which he owned in 'Sheep's Gut,' undoubtedly Sheepscott, a localty on the coast of Maine, then part of Massachusetts. This settlement was on a peninsula or neck, upon the easter side of the Sheepscott River proper, immediately below what is now called Sheepscott Bridge. The settlers first laid out a street which they called the King's highway, running the whole length of the peninsula. This street was 'lined with houses and other buildings, on both sides.' The settlement was probably begun as early as 1623, only three years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. In 1630, there were fifty families on the Sheepscott Farms. Mr. Denham, not improbably, was laboring here as pastor or missionary in 1675, at the time of the outbreak of King Philip's War.
'In that fearful conflict, the first attack was made upon Plymouth, Mass., June 24th. The flame quickly spread throughout New England. Maine was completely overrun by the enemy. Falmouth, with almost every inhabitant east of it, was burnt, and their occupants were either driven off, murdered or sold into merciless captivity.' The savages fell first upon a trader's settlement at Stimson's Point, near Woolwich. From that place the alarm was carried by 'a young maid,' who, frightened by their looks and conduct, 'escaped and travelled over land fifteen miles to Sheepscot Plantation, where she gave the alarm, and the terrified inhabitants immediately fled, leaving all their possessions behind them. They had only fairly got away from them when the savage warriors arrived, set up their fiendish war-whoop, then set fire to the buildings, killed the sheep and cattle, and thus destroyed the labour and care of years.' The inhabitants fled on board a vessel that was building in the harbor, and thus saved themselves. The enemy left nothing remaining, and the land lay desolate many years. In process of time, some returned to their former homes, and were invested with rights to the lands. (Ancient Settlement of Sheepscot, by Rev. David Cushman. In the collections of the Maine Historical Society, vol. iv. Portland: 1856).
Such, not improbably, was the calamitous event, under the shadow of which the first pastor of Rye began his ministry here, and in view of which the General Court granted him special benevolence of ten pounds, 'in regard to his late loss by the war.'
In that same book, the transcription of the Last Will and Testament of the Reverend Thomas Denham is provided in nearly its entirety and reads as follows: "The Last Will and Testament of me Thomas Denham Minister of the Gospell of our Lord Jesus Christ in Bedford. I doe bequeath my soul to God, and my body to a decent buriall, my goods and chattels as followth. In the first place I do give unto my Sonn Isaac Denham all my Lands and Right in Lands that I have in Rye. And my...Secondly I do give unto my sonn Nathaniell Dunham the westermost of my Plaine Lotts and my 12 acre lott and that Meadow lott that was layd out in the Last Division of meadows; and my musquett and my Commentary upon the Revelations. Thirdly, I doe giue uto my son Josiah Dunham at my Decease the eastermost of my plaine lotts, and my 8 acre lott in the east Field, and my Epistle upon the Romans, and my longe Gunn, and my white horse and my Read heafer yeareling, and my two-edged sword, and after his mother's decease I do giue him thats to say my sonn Josiah all my housing that I have here with my home lott and the rest of my meadows, and lands that I have here in Bedford or shall have, and my tooles that I have for manageing my farme. Fourhtly, All my right that I have in houseing and land and meadow and what els may be found that is mine in...I do give unto my sonn and daughter Simon and Rebecca Hinckson, that is to say my Land and Meadows and housing with any other part or parts of my Estate in Sheep's Gutt. Fifthly, I doe give unto my Daughter Sarah Palmer my black two years old heafer. Sixthly, I do give unto my Daughter Hannah Dunham a healfer calf. Further my household moveables I doe give to my two youngest daughters Sarah & Hannah, that is to say after my Wife's Decease. Further the rest of my Books I doe will that they be as equally divided into several parts according to their worth and divided to my wife and six children by lott, the rest of my Estate I do leave with my Wife for to dispose as God shall direct her. This is my right and perfect sences through God's goodness, is my last Will and Testament. - Thomas Denham."
In 1691, Sarah, widow of the Reverend Thomas Denham, had became the wife of John Hendrickson (Co. Rec., B. 184).
There is a New York Times article from 1992 outlining the history and ongoings of the old Knapp House in Rye. It makes brief mention of the Reverend Thomas Denham as the first minister in that town who would hold public services in the old Knapp House:
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/16/nyregion/preservationists-win-oldest-county-house.html
There is a marriage record found in Plymouth Colony records showing that Rev. Thomas Denham married Sarah Bumpus 31 Mar 1659 at Marshfield....
The previously suggested 1630 marriage date from the original custodian of this memorial could not be correct as Thomas' birth date is 1621. He was probably born in England, as the Plymouth Colony had been settled only a year before and the other Thomas Denham who married Martha as per the "Chronicle of a Border Town: Rye, Westchester County, New York" probably is the father of our Reverend, and has the same name. Thus making the Reverend Thomas Dunham's parents, Thomas Denham and Martha Knott. Martha being the daughter of George Knott. After all, this Thomas Denham is recorded as dying in 1669 at the age of 80. Therefore his birthdate would be around 1589, well before the Reverend Thomas Denham was born in 1621. This Thomas who dies in 1669 is theorized to be the son of John Dunham, also of Plymouth (making this John Dunham a very old man - if he is to be truly believed the father of the elder Thomas Denham which is unlikely). However, after reviewing the records and believing the Border Town information to be mostly correct with some mistakes, it is more likely that it was not Thomas Denham who died 1669, but John Dunham, who did have a son Thomas Dunham but is not recorded as ever marrying and who was born circa 1619, yet this would make our Reverend Dunham a match as a son for this John Dunham, thus making him the husband of Martha Knott, who died by the early 1650's which in turn would coincide with his second marriage to Sarah Bumpus by 1659 at Marshfield....
Hence, here is what I believe after reviewing the evidence and as a direct descendant of the Reverend Thomas Denham. The Dunham genealogy book of the 19th-century is entirely false. It is a great story, nearly convincing but based on no primary source material whatsoever and is the result of an English hoax by someone looking to make a few bucks off Americans.
John Dunham did exist and the Rye histories have confused his name with Thomas Dunham. John Dunham was baptized 8 February 1589 at Pirton Parish in Hertfordshire, England. His father was listed as Richard Dunham. Richard Dunham though he lived in Hertfordshire and Bedforshire was not a native of that area as the name is not a common local name and so he must have migrated to the area at some point in his life, but where we know not. When Richard Dunham dies he mentions his son John as being "away" - we believe this offers enough evidence to suggest that John Dunham baptized 1589 is the same John Dunham living in Holland with his wife. This information coupled with John Dunham's age of 80 years old in 1668/9 in Plymouth Colony further reinforces this notion. John Dunham married his wife Susanna Kenny (Keno) in 17 August 1612 at Clophill in Bedfordshire. The hoax genealogy book attempted to claim that John Dunham was a mentoree of Brewster and that in order to avoid young John's family detecting him from running away from home and being found in the New World, they (the Pilgrims) disguised his name as John Goodman (in the Plymouth Colony records). The fact that John Goodman was living next to Brewster in Plymouth as further proof that it was the disguised John Dunham living next to his mentor. The problem with this theory is that in 1622 John Dunham with his wife Susanna is listed in Zevenhuysen census with this three children: John Jr. , Humility and Thomas (our Reverend). Therefore the Reverend Thomas was probably born in Holland in 1620 +/- 1 year, and ended up in Plymouth Colony when his parents finally departed for the New World. Unfortunately there is further information that adds to the confusion to this Reverend Thomas Dunham.
Anderson in his "Great Migration" books lists Thomas as a son of John Dunham of Plymouth but says he never married and died around 1677 after he received ten pounds from the United Commissioners of the colonies. They assume Thomas dies because he is no longer mentioned in the records! Alas, that is because Thomas Denham receives his 10 pounds for damages caused to his property in Maine (which was a Plymouth Colony at that time in Sheepscott), and then he is called to the Rye Colony to preach to the gospel there. He takes up the call and dies in Bedford in 1689. We know this Thomas Denham in Bedford, NY is the same as the one from Plymouth because in his last will and testament he bequeathes his lands in Sheepscott, Maine. The Thomas recorded as marrying Martha Knott in Plymouth was not a brother or a possible father of our Reverend but our Thomas Denham. She dies young and he remarries a few years later Sarah Bumpasse. This wife becomes the mother of his children. Therefore to consolidate and conclude all this conflicting information:
Richard Dunham, poulter born in England, emigrant to Bedfordshire, had a son:
John Dunham born Feb 1589 in Hertfordshire, England, marries Susanna Kenny, they had a son in Holland:
Reverend Thomas Denham, he marries Martha Knott, then Sarah Bumpass and he dies in Bedford, New York.
https://www.johndunhamsociety.com/about-john-dunham∼THOMAS, 3rd & last known child of John Dunham by his 1st wife, was born say 1619; d. by 1677 and apparently never married.
Source: Anderson's Great Migration Study Project.
The following was mostly transcribed from the "Dunham Dispatch" out of P.S. Kitson, Ed. 711 Kensington Ave, Flint, Michigan 48503. More particularly from the Volume IX No. 11 edition dated November 1996.
The Reverend Thomas Denham, was a puritan clergyman that lived in many places, including the present states of Maine and New York and also Massachusetts and Connecticut. He made his will on May 2, 1688, he devised among other items part of his estate at 'Sheep's Gutt' to his son and daughter, Simon and Rebecca Hinckson, both of whom are sufficiently attested in Maine records, so that it is reasonable to identify this place with Sheepscott, Maine, then in York, now Lincoln County. Thus it is peculiar and disappointing not to find any traces of Thomas or his family in David Quimby Cushman's "History of Ancient Sheepscott and Newcastle" (Bath 1882). Since this area was ravaged often by Indian raids, its earliest records have been lost and therefore this omission might be the result of this.
Help is found, however, in the York Deeds 15:613 f., which have a conveyance dated February 11, 1662/3 whereby two Indians, Daniel Sagamore and Dick Swash Sagamore, the latter acknowledging on June 4, 1664, sold land in the Sheepscott region to William Dier, recorded May 24, 1666. The witnesses to this important deed were Thomas Denham and Walter Phillips, the latter a prominent land owner in Sheepscott. That Thomas Denham signed first suggests the prestige of a clergyman in that period and we can therefore be sure that it was, indeed, our Mr. Thomas Denham who so signed.
Another entry in Saco, Maine in 1659 proves his presence there. This time it was surely the minister (Province and Court Records of Maine, Portland 1931, 2:851]: "We present Robert Booth for disturbing the people and for endeavoring to disturbe the Minister Mr. Dunnum. In tyme of his publique exercise..."
No other Maine records have been found which mention the Reverend Thomas Denham but since, as we shall see, William Davie, first husband of Mr. Denham's eldest daughter Rebecca, was in the Sheepscott area until the outbreak of King Philip's War, it is a least possible that the father-in-law remained there until the pressure of that conflict forced him to seek shelter elsewhere.
The next item is supplied by the "Acts of the United Commissioners 1653-1679," 2:393, where we read among other accounts reported to said Commissioners by Connecticut in 1677: "...granted Mr. Thomas Denham 10 pounds." If Mr. Denham had some sort of claim against Connecticut, it must have been a matter of interest in other colonies as well, or it would not have been so reported. The date also makes it seem probably that the claim was for indemnity for losses suffered in King Philip's War, and our next items confirms this. "Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut," 2:321, has under the date of October 1677 the following: "This Court being informed that Mr. Thomas Denham is likely to settle at Rye as minister there, who is declared to be a suitable person for that work by the ministers at Fayrefield and Standford, for his incouragement to settle there, and in regard to his late loss by the war, this Court have granted him the sume of tend pownds to be payd out of that towne's rate this yeare."
Following this Baird, after carefully researching the Town of Rye records, states that on June 15, 1677 [Town Records B-62] a house lot was provided for the new minister, perhaps before it was even known that Mr. Denham would settle at Rye, and this lot was later sold in 1696 by Isaac Denham, the eldest son, and his first wife Mary. This shows that the lot was not for an ordinary parsonage but an outright grant designed to attract a candidate, and Mr. Denham did accept and was admitted an inhabitant of Rye on November 22, 1677.
Mr. Denham's ministry at Bedford began with a call dated January 28, 1687/8 and Mr. Denham did not serve long at Bedford, for he made his will there on May 2, 1688 and the inventory was taken on August 5, 1689. It can been seen from the last Will and Testament of Mr. Denham that the surname was spelled in two differen was, thus: "In the first place I do give unto my sone Isaac Denham...2ly I do give unto my sonn Nathaniell Dunham...3ly I do giue unto my sone Josiah Dunham...4ly...to my Sonne & Daughter Simon and Rebecca Hinckson..in sheeps gutt...5ly I doe give to my Daughter Sarah Palmer....6ly I doe give to my Daughter Hannah Dunham.."
In the book, "Chronicle of a Border Town: History of Rye, Westchester County, New York" by Charles Washington Baird, he writes on page 285 the following: "..Town Meeting Book C, p. 5. REV. THOMAS DENHAM - The name is sometimes spelt Dunham; indeed, he so writes it three times in his will. Mr. Savage mentions no Denham except our Rye minister, but he finds several early settlers by the name of Dunham. Among these is 'Thomas' of Plymouth, 'perhaps a son of John Dunham,' also of Plymouth, who was representative in 1639 and often after, and deacon among the first purchasers of Dartmouth, and died Mar 2, 1669, aged eighty. (Genealogical Dictionary, vol. ii, p. 81). Thomas was 'fit to bears arms in 1643;' this agrees with the single statement Mr. Savage makes about our Thomas Denham; that in 1681 he was sixty years of age. (Ibid p. 26) Dunham married 'Martha, daughter of George Knott,* I think.' (Ibid.) Our minister mentions his wife Sarah in his will, not unlikely a second and younger wife, for she soon marries again. (Westchester County Records, vol. B. p. 189 seq.). I conjecture that Isaac, to whom he left the bulk of his landed estate, may have been his son by the former marriage.
But other and more interesting facts confirm the belief that Mr. Denham was none else than Thomas Dunham, formerly of Plymouth. His will speaks of lands which he owned in 'Sheep's Gut,' undoubtedly Sheepscott, a localty on the coast of Maine, then part of Massachusetts. This settlement was on a peninsula or neck, upon the easter side of the Sheepscott River proper, immediately below what is now called Sheepscott Bridge. The settlers first laid out a street which they called the King's highway, running the whole length of the peninsula. This street was 'lined with houses and other buildings, on both sides.' The settlement was probably begun as early as 1623, only three years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. In 1630, there were fifty families on the Sheepscott Farms. Mr. Denham, not improbably, was laboring here as pastor or missionary in 1675, at the time of the outbreak of King Philip's War.
'In that fearful conflict, the first attack was made upon Plymouth, Mass., June 24th. The flame quickly spread throughout New England. Maine was completely overrun by the enemy. Falmouth, with almost every inhabitant east of it, was burnt, and their occupants were either driven off, murdered or sold into merciless captivity.' The savages fell first upon a trader's settlement at Stimson's Point, near Woolwich. From that place the alarm was carried by 'a young maid,' who, frightened by their looks and conduct, 'escaped and travelled over land fifteen miles to Sheepscot Plantation, where she gave the alarm, and the terrified inhabitants immediately fled, leaving all their possessions behind them. They had only fairly got away from them when the savage warriors arrived, set up their fiendish war-whoop, then set fire to the buildings, killed the sheep and cattle, and thus destroyed the labour and care of years.' The inhabitants fled on board a vessel that was building in the harbor, and thus saved themselves. The enemy left nothing remaining, and the land lay desolate many years. In process of time, some returned to their former homes, and were invested with rights to the lands. (Ancient Settlement of Sheepscot, by Rev. David Cushman. In the collections of the Maine Historical Society, vol. iv. Portland: 1856).
Such, not improbably, was the calamitous event, under the shadow of which the first pastor of Rye began his ministry here, and in view of which the General Court granted him special benevolence of ten pounds, 'in regard to his late loss by the war.'
In that same book, the transcription of the Last Will and Testament of the Reverend Thomas Denham is provided in nearly its entirety and reads as follows: "The Last Will and Testament of me Thomas Denham Minister of the Gospell of our Lord Jesus Christ in Bedford. I doe bequeath my soul to God, and my body to a decent buriall, my goods and chattels as followth. In the first place I do give unto my Sonn Isaac Denham all my Lands and Right in Lands that I have in Rye. And my...Secondly I do give unto my sonn Nathaniell Dunham the westermost of my Plaine Lotts and my 12 acre lott and that Meadow lott that was layd out in the Last Division of meadows; and my musquett and my Commentary upon the Revelations. Thirdly, I doe giue uto my son Josiah Dunham at my Decease the eastermost of my plaine lotts, and my 8 acre lott in the east Field, and my Epistle upon the Romans, and my longe Gunn, and my white horse and my Read heafer yeareling, and my two-edged sword, and after his mother's decease I do giue him thats to say my sonn Josiah all my housing that I have here with my home lott and the rest of my meadows, and lands that I have here in Bedford or shall have, and my tooles that I have for manageing my farme. Fourhtly, All my right that I have in houseing and land and meadow and what els may be found that is mine in...I do give unto my sonn and daughter Simon and Rebecca Hinckson, that is to say my Land and Meadows and housing with any other part or parts of my Estate in Sheep's Gutt. Fifthly, I doe give unto my Daughter Sarah Palmer my black two years old heafer. Sixthly, I do give unto my Daughter Hannah Dunham a healfer calf. Further my household moveables I doe give to my two youngest daughters Sarah & Hannah, that is to say after my Wife's Decease. Further the rest of my Books I doe will that they be as equally divided into several parts according to their worth and divided to my wife and six children by lott, the rest of my Estate I do leave with my Wife for to dispose as God shall direct her. This is my right and perfect sences through God's goodness, is my last Will and Testament. - Thomas Denham."
In 1691, Sarah, widow of the Reverend Thomas Denham, had became the wife of John Hendrickson (Co. Rec., B. 184).
There is a New York Times article from 1992 outlining the history and ongoings of the old Knapp House in Rye. It makes brief mention of the Reverend Thomas Denham as the first minister in that town who would hold public services in the old Knapp House:
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/16/nyregion/preservationists-win-oldest-county-house.html
There is a marriage record found in Plymouth Colony records showing that Rev. Thomas Denham married Sarah Bumpus 31 Mar 1659 at Marshfield....
The previously suggested 1630 marriage date from the original custodian of this memorial could not be correct as Thomas' birth date is 1621. He was probably born in England, as the Plymouth Colony had been settled only a year before and the other Thomas Denham who married Martha as per the "Chronicle of a Border Town: Rye, Westchester County, New York" probably is the father of our Reverend, and has the same name. Thus making the Reverend Thomas Dunham's parents, Thomas Denham and Martha Knott. Martha being the daughter of George Knott. After all, this Thomas Denham is recorded as dying in 1669 at the age of 80. Therefore his birthdate would be around 1589, well before the Reverend Thomas Denham was born in 1621. This Thomas who dies in 1669 is theorized to be the son of John Dunham, also of Plymouth (making this John Dunham a very old man - if he is to be truly believed the father of the elder Thomas Denham which is unlikely). However, after reviewing the records and believing the Border Town information to be mostly correct with some mistakes, it is more likely that it was not Thomas Denham who died 1669, but John Dunham, who did have a son Thomas Dunham but is not recorded as ever marrying and who was born circa 1619, yet this would make our Reverend Dunham a match as a son for this John Dunham, thus making him the husband of Martha Knott, who died by the early 1650's which in turn would coincide with his second marriage to Sarah Bumpus by 1659 at Marshfield....
Hence, here is what I believe after reviewing the evidence and as a direct descendant of the Reverend Thomas Denham. The Dunham genealogy book of the 19th-century is entirely false. It is a great story, nearly convincing but based on no primary source material whatsoever and is the result of an English hoax by someone looking to make a few bucks off Americans.
John Dunham did exist and the Rye histories have confused his name with Thomas Dunham. John Dunham was baptized 8 February 1589 at Pirton Parish in Hertfordshire, England. His father was listed as Richard Dunham. Richard Dunham though he lived in Hertfordshire and Bedforshire was not a native of that area as the name is not a common local name and so he must have migrated to the area at some point in his life, but where we know not. When Richard Dunham dies he mentions his son John as being "away" - we believe this offers enough evidence to suggest that John Dunham baptized 1589 is the same John Dunham living in Holland with his wife. This information coupled with John Dunham's age of 80 years old in 1668/9 in Plymouth Colony further reinforces this notion. John Dunham married his wife Susanna Kenny (Keno) in 17 August 1612 at Clophill in Bedfordshire. The hoax genealogy book attempted to claim that John Dunham was a mentoree of Brewster and that in order to avoid young John's family detecting him from running away from home and being found in the New World, they (the Pilgrims) disguised his name as John Goodman (in the Plymouth Colony records). The fact that John Goodman was living next to Brewster in Plymouth as further proof that it was the disguised John Dunham living next to his mentor. The problem with this theory is that in 1622 John Dunham with his wife Susanna is listed in Zevenhuysen census with this three children: John Jr. , Humility and Thomas (our Reverend). Therefore the Reverend Thomas was probably born in Holland in 1620 +/- 1 year, and ended up in Plymouth Colony when his parents finally departed for the New World. Unfortunately there is further information that adds to the confusion to this Reverend Thomas Dunham.
Anderson in his "Great Migration" books lists Thomas as a son of John Dunham of Plymouth but says he never married and died around 1677 after he received ten pounds from the United Commissioners of the colonies. They assume Thomas dies because he is no longer mentioned in the records! Alas, that is because Thomas Denham receives his 10 pounds for damages caused to his property in Maine (which was a Plymouth Colony at that time in Sheepscott), and then he is called to the Rye Colony to preach to the gospel there. He takes up the call and dies in Bedford in 1689. We know this Thomas Denham in Bedford, NY is the same as the one from Plymouth because in his last will and testament he bequeathes his lands in Sheepscott, Maine. The Thomas recorded as marrying Martha Knott in Plymouth was not a brother or a possible father of our Reverend but our Thomas Denham. She dies young and he remarries a few years later Sarah Bumpasse. This wife becomes the mother of his children. Therefore to consolidate and conclude all this conflicting information:
Richard Dunham, poulter born in England, emigrant to Bedfordshire, had a son:
John Dunham born Feb 1589 in Hertfordshire, England, marries Susanna Kenny, they had a son in Holland:
Reverend Thomas Denham, he marries Martha Knott, then Sarah Bumpass and he dies in Bedford, New York.
https://www.johndunhamsociety.com/about-john-dunham∼THOMAS, 3rd & last known child of John Dunham by his 1st wife, was born say 1619; d. by 1677 and apparently never married.
Source: Anderson's Great Migration Study Project.
The Reverend Thomas Denham, was a puritan clergyman that lived in many places, including the present states of Maine and New York and also Massachusetts and Connecticut. He made his will on May 2, 1688, he devised among other items part of his estate at 'Sheep's Gutt' to his son and daughter, Simon and Rebecca Hinckson, both of whom are sufficiently attested in Maine records, so that it is reasonable to identify this place with Sheepscott, Maine, then in York, now Lincoln County. Thus it is peculiar and disappointing not to find any traces of Thomas or his family in David Quimby Cushman's "History of Ancient Sheepscott and Newcastle" (Bath 1882). Since this area was ravaged often by Indian raids, its earliest records have been lost and therefore this omission might be the result of this.
Help is found, however, in the York Deeds 15:613 f., which have a conveyance dated February 11, 1662/3 whereby two Indians, Daniel Sagamore and Dick Swash Sagamore, the latter acknowledging on June 4, 1664, sold land in the Sheepscott region to William Dier, recorded May 24, 1666. The witnesses to this important deed were Thomas Denham and Walter Phillips, the latter a prominent land owner in Sheepscott. That Thomas Denham signed first suggests the prestige of a clergyman in that period and we can therefore be sure that it was, indeed, our Mr. Thomas Denham who so signed.
Another entry in Saco, Maine in 1659 proves his presence there. This time it was surely the minister (Province and Court Records of Maine, Portland 1931, 2:851]: "We present Robert Booth for disturbing the people and for endeavoring to disturbe the Minister Mr. Dunnum. In tyme of his publique exercise..."
No other Maine records have been found which mention the Reverend Thomas Denham but since, as we shall see, William Davie, first husband of Mr. Denham's eldest daughter Rebecca, was in the Sheepscott area until the outbreak of King Philip's War, it is a least possible that the father-in-law remained there until the pressure of that conflict forced him to seek shelter elsewhere.
The next item is supplied by the "Acts of the United Commissioners 1653-1679," 2:393, where we read among other accounts reported to said Commissioners by Connecticut in 1677: "...granted Mr. Thomas Denham 10 pounds." If Mr. Denham had some sort of claim against Connecticut, it must have been a matter of interest in other colonies as well, or it would not have been so reported. The date also makes it seem probably that the claim was for indemnity for losses suffered in King Philip's War, and our next items confirms this. "Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut," 2:321, has under the date of October 1677 the following: "This Court being informed that Mr. Thomas Denham is likely to settle at Rye as minister there, who is declared to be a suitable person for that work by the ministers at Fayrefield and Standford, for his incouragement to settle there, and in regard to his late loss by the war, this Court have granted him the sume of tend pownds to be payd out of that towne's rate this yeare."
Following this Baird, after carefully researching the Town of Rye records, states that on June 15, 1677 [Town Records B-62] a house lot was provided for the new minister, perhaps before it was even known that Mr. Denham would settle at Rye, and this lot was later sold in 1696 by Isaac Denham, the eldest son, and his first wife Mary. This shows that the lot was not for an ordinary parsonage but an outright grant designed to attract a candidate, and Mr. Denham did accept and was admitted an inhabitant of Rye on November 22, 1677.
Mr. Denham's ministry at Bedford began with a call dated January 28, 1687/8 and Mr. Denham did not serve long at Bedford, for he made his will there on May 2, 1688 and the inventory was taken on August 5, 1689. It can been seen from the last Will and Testament of Mr. Denham that the surname was spelled in two differen was, thus: "In the first place I do give unto my sone Isaac Denham...2ly I do give unto my sonn Nathaniell Dunham...3ly I do giue unto my sone Josiah Dunham...4ly...to my Sonne & Daughter Simon and Rebecca Hinckson..in sheeps gutt...5ly I doe give to my Daughter Sarah Palmer....6ly I doe give to my Daughter Hannah Dunham.."
In the book, "Chronicle of a Border Town: History of Rye, Westchester County, New York" by Charles Washington Baird, he writes on page 285 the following: "..Town Meeting Book C, p. 5. REV. THOMAS DENHAM - The name is sometimes spelt Dunham; indeed, he so writes it three times in his will. Mr. Savage mentions no Denham except our Rye minister, but he finds several early settlers by the name of Dunham. Among these is 'Thomas' of Plymouth, 'perhaps a son of John Dunham,' also of Plymouth, who was representative in 1639 and often after, and deacon among the first purchasers of Dartmouth, and died Mar 2, 1669, aged eighty. (Genealogical Dictionary, vol. ii, p. 81). Thomas was 'fit to bears arms in 1643;' this agrees with the single statement Mr. Savage makes about our Thomas Denham; that in 1681 he was sixty years of age. (Ibid p. 26) Dunham married 'Martha, daughter of George Knott,* I think.' (Ibid.) Our minister mentions his wife Sarah in his will, not unlikely a second and younger wife, for she soon marries again. (Westchester County Records, vol. B. p. 189 seq.). I conjecture that Isaac, to whom he left the bulk of his landed estate, may have been his son by the former marriage.
But other and more interesting facts confirm the belief that Mr. Denham was none else than Thomas Dunham, formerly of Plymouth. His will speaks of lands which he owned in 'Sheep's Gut,' undoubtedly Sheepscott, a localty on the coast of Maine, then part of Massachusetts. This settlement was on a peninsula or neck, upon the easter side of the Sheepscott River proper, immediately below what is now called Sheepscott Bridge. The settlers first laid out a street which they called the King's highway, running the whole length of the peninsula. This street was 'lined with houses and other buildings, on both sides.' The settlement was probably begun as early as 1623, only three years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. In 1630, there were fifty families on the Sheepscott Farms. Mr. Denham, not improbably, was laboring here as pastor or missionary in 1675, at the time of the outbreak of King Philip's War.
'In that fearful conflict, the first attack was made upon Plymouth, Mass., June 24th. The flame quickly spread throughout New England. Maine was completely overrun by the enemy. Falmouth, with almost every inhabitant east of it, was burnt, and their occupants were either driven off, murdered or sold into merciless captivity.' The savages fell first upon a trader's settlement at Stimson's Point, near Woolwich. From that place the alarm was carried by 'a young maid,' who, frightened by their looks and conduct, 'escaped and travelled over land fifteen miles to Sheepscot Plantation, where she gave the alarm, and the terrified inhabitants immediately fled, leaving all their possessions behind them. They had only fairly got away from them when the savage warriors arrived, set up their fiendish war-whoop, then set fire to the buildings, killed the sheep and cattle, and thus destroyed the labour and care of years.' The inhabitants fled on board a vessel that was building in the harbor, and thus saved themselves. The enemy left nothing remaining, and the land lay desolate many years. In process of time, some returned to their former homes, and were invested with rights to the lands. (Ancient Settlement of Sheepscot, by Rev. David Cushman. In the collections of the Maine Historical Society, vol. iv. Portland: 1856).
Such, not improbably, was the calamitous event, under the shadow of which the first pastor of Rye began his ministry here, and in view of which the General Court granted him special benevolence of ten pounds, 'in regard to his late loss by the war.'
In that same book, the transcription of the Last Will and Testament of the Reverend Thomas Denham is provided in nearly its entirety and reads as follows: "The Last Will and Testament of me Thomas Denham Minister of the Gospell of our Lord Jesus Christ in Bedford. I doe bequeath my soul to God, and my body to a decent buriall, my goods and chattels as followth. In the first place I do give unto my Sonn Isaac Denham all my Lands and Right in Lands that I have in Rye. And my...Secondly I do give unto my sonn Nathaniell Dunham the westermost of my Plaine Lotts and my 12 acre lott and that Meadow lott that was layd out in the Last Division of meadows; and my musquett and my Commentary upon the Revelations. Thirdly, I doe giue uto my son Josiah Dunham at my Decease the eastermost of my plaine lotts, and my 8 acre lott in the east Field, and my Epistle upon the Romans, and my longe Gunn, and my white horse and my Read heafer yeareling, and my two-edged sword, and after his mother's decease I do giue him thats to say my sonn Josiah all my housing that I have here with my home lott and the rest of my meadows, and lands that I have here in Bedford or shall have, and my tooles that I have for manageing my farme. Fourhtly, All my right that I have in houseing and land and meadow and what els may be found that is mine in...I do give unto my sonn and daughter Simon and Rebecca Hinckson, that is to say my Land and Meadows and housing with any other part or parts of my Estate in Sheep's Gutt. Fifthly, I doe give unto my Daughter Sarah Palmer my black two years old heafer. Sixthly, I do give unto my Daughter Hannah Dunham a healfer calf. Further my household moveables I doe give to my two youngest daughters Sarah & Hannah, that is to say after my Wife's Decease. Further the rest of my Books I doe will that they be as equally divided into several parts according to their worth and divided to my wife and six children by lott, the rest of my Estate I do leave with my Wife for to dispose as God shall direct her. This is my right and perfect sences through God's goodness, is my last Will and Testament. - Thomas Denham."
In 1691, Sarah, widow of the Reverend Thomas Denham, had became the wife of John Hendrickson (Co. Rec., B. 184).
There is a New York Times article from 1992 outlining the history and ongoings of the old Knapp House in Rye. It makes brief mention of the Reverend Thomas Denham as the first minister in that town who would hold public services in the old Knapp House:
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/16/nyregion/preservationists-win-oldest-county-house.html
There is a marriage record found in Plymouth Colony records showing that Rev. Thomas Denham married Sarah Bumpus 31 Mar 1659 at Marshfield....
The previously suggested 1630 marriage date from the original custodian of this memorial could not be correct as Thomas' birth date is 1621. He was probably born in England, as the Plymouth Colony had been settled only a year before and the other Thomas Denham who married Martha as per the "Chronicle of a Border Town: Rye, Westchester County, New York" probably is the father of our Reverend, and has the same name. Thus making the Reverend Thomas Dunham's parents, Thomas Denham and Martha Knott. Martha being the daughter of George Knott. After all, this Thomas Denham is recorded as dying in 1669 at the age of 80. Therefore his birthdate would be around 1589, well before the Reverend Thomas Denham was born in 1621. This Thomas who dies in 1669 is theorized to be the son of John Dunham, also of Plymouth (making this John Dunham a very old man - if he is to be truly believed the father of the elder Thomas Denham which is unlikely). However, after reviewing the records and believing the Border Town information to be mostly correct with some mistakes, it is more likely that it was not Thomas Denham who died 1669, but John Dunham, who did have a son Thomas Dunham but is not recorded as ever marrying and who was born circa 1619, yet this would make our Reverend Dunham a match as a son for this John Dunham, thus making him the husband of Martha Knott, who died by the early 1650's which in turn would coincide with his second marriage to Sarah Bumpus by 1659 at Marshfield....
Hence, here is what I believe after reviewing the evidence and as a direct descendant of the Reverend Thomas Denham. The Dunham genealogy book of the 19th-century is entirely false. It is a great story, nearly convincing but based on no primary source material whatsoever and is the result of an English hoax by someone looking to make a few bucks off Americans.
John Dunham did exist and the Rye histories have confused his name with Thomas Dunham. John Dunham was baptized 8 February 1589 at Pirton Parish in Hertfordshire, England. His father was listed as Richard Dunham. Richard Dunham though he lived in Hertfordshire and Bedforshire was not a native of that area as the name is not a common local name and so he must have migrated to the area at some point in his life, but where we know not. When Richard Dunham dies he mentions his son John as being "away" - we believe this offers enough evidence to suggest that John Dunham baptized 1589 is the same John Dunham living in Holland with his wife. This information coupled with John Dunham's age of 80 years old in 1668/9 in Plymouth Colony further reinforces this notion. John Dunham married his wife Susanna Kenny (Keno) in 17 August 1612 at Clophill in Bedfordshire. The hoax genealogy book attempted to claim that John Dunham was a mentoree of Brewster and that in order to avoid young John's family detecting him from running away from home and being found in the New World, they (the Pilgrims) disguised his name as John Goodman (in the Plymouth Colony records). The fact that John Goodman was living next to Brewster in Plymouth as further proof that it was the disguised John Dunham living next to his mentor. The problem with this theory is that in 1622 John Dunham with his wife Susanna is listed in Zevenhuysen census with this three children: John Jr. , Humility and Thomas (our Reverend). Therefore the Reverend Thomas was probably born in Holland in 1620 +/- 1 year, and ended up in Plymouth Colony when his parents finally departed for the New World. Unfortunately there is further information that adds to the confusion to this Reverend Thomas Dunham.
Anderson in his "Great Migration" books lists Thomas as a son of John Dunham of Plymouth but says he never married and died around 1677 after he received ten pounds from the United Commissioners of the colonies. They assume Thomas dies because he is no longer mentioned in the records! Alas, that is because Thomas Denham receives his 10 pounds for damages caused to his property in Maine (which was a Plymouth Colony at that time in Sheepscott), and then he is called to the Rye Colony to preach to the gospel there. He takes up the call and dies in Bedford in 1689. We know this Thomas Denham in Bedford, NY is the same as the one from Plymouth because in his last will and testament he bequeathes his lands in Sheepscott, Maine. The Thomas recorded as marrying Martha Knott in Plymouth was not a brother or a possible father of our Reverend but our Thomas Denham. She dies young and he remarries a few years later Sarah Bumpasse. This wife becomes the mother of his children. Therefore to consolidate and conclude all this conflicting information:
Richard Dunham, poulter born in England, emigrant to Bedfordshire, had a son:
John Dunham born Feb 1589 in Hertfordshire, England, marries Susanna Kenny, they had a son in Holland:
Reverend Thomas Denham, he marries Martha Knott, then Sarah Bumpass and he dies in Bedford, New York.
https://www.johndunhamsociety.com/about-john-dunham∼THOMAS, 3rd & last known child of John Dunham by his 1st wife, was born say 1619; d. by 1677 and apparently never married.
Source: Anderson's Great Migration Study Project.
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