Jonathan Singletary Dunham
| Jonathan Singletary, later Dunham | |
|---|---|
Memorial at Trinity Episcopal Church in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey
|
|
| Born |
Jonathan Singletary January 17, 1640 Newbury, Massachusetts Bay Colony |
| Died | September 6, 1724 (aged 84) Woodbridge Township, Province of New Jersey |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Bloomfield |
Jonathan Dunham (January 17, 1640 – September 6, 1724), known in his early life as Jonathan Singletary, was a prominent early American settler of Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, who built the first gristmill in New Jersey. He is U.S. President Barack Obama’s eighth great-grandfather and the first of Obama’s Dunham ancestors to be born in North America.
Jonathan Singletary, later Dunham, was born on January 17, 1639/40, in Newbury, Massachusetts, the son of Richard Singletary. He married Mary Bloomfield (a relative of the later New Jersey Governor Joseph Bloomfield, for whom the township of Bloomfield, New Jersey is named).
He and his wife migrated to Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, the first Township of New Jersey, which was chartered by King Charles II on June 1, 1669. Possibly due to an unsubstantiated family legend about his father being the heir of the family of Dunham, or because Jonathan himself was the son of an earlier marriage of Richard Singletary to a Dunham wife who had died in 1638/39, Jonathan Singletary called himself Dunham after moving to New Jersey. While all of the other sons of Richard Singletary used the Singletary surname, Jonathan adopted the name of Dunham, and all of his children retained it.
At Woodbridge, Dunham was granted 213 acres (0.86 km2) of land by the newly appointed Governor of New Jersey. Upon this land, he built the first gristmill in New Jersey. He later received a further grant of 203 acres (0.82 km2) and also acquired many other tracts of land in New Jersey and Massachusetts. After finding success with his gristmill, Dunham went into public life, serving as the Clerk of the Woodbridge Township Court and overseer of highways, and in 1673 he was elected to the New Jersey Provincial Congress.
Dunham died in Woodbridge, New Jersey in 1724. The house the Dunhams built in 1671, the Jonathan Singletary Dunham House, still stands and currently serves as the Rectory of the Trinity Episcopal Church.
...
Wikipedia