A Great-Granduncle

Those relatives who left no descendants are sometimes forgotten in family histories. I am trying to make sure I do not forget the ones in my family. This is about one of the brothers of my great-grandmother Frances (Dunham) Campbell.

Henry Wilson Dunham was born 25 December 1855, Ohio, to Bowen and Julia Ann (Shinkle) Dunham.^{1, 2}

1860 Ohio Census, Brown County, Perry Township³

Name	Age	Sex	Occupation	Birthplace
Bowen Dunham	33	M	carpenter	Ohio
Julia	30	F		Ohio
Eliza Zuck	10	F		Ohio
Charles Dunham	7	M		Ohio
Wilson	4	M		Ohio
Sarah	2	F		Ohio

He was not enumerated as Henry but Wilson.

1870 Ohio Census, Brown County, Perry Township⁴

Name	Age	Sex	Occupation	Birthplace
Dunham, Bowen	42	M	carpenter	Ohio
Julia	41	F	keeping house	Ohio
Charles	17	M	farm laborer	Ohio
Wilson	14	M	farm laborer	Ohio
Sarah	11	F	helps mother	Ohio
David	8	M	does chores	Ohio
Fanny	6	F	at home	Ohio
Emma	3	F	at home	Ohio
Gideon	2/12	M	at home	Ohio

He was also enumerated as Wilson in this census.

When did Henry Wilson die? A transcription of the Brisslan Cemetery, Perry Township, was done November 1977. It states his date of death was 8 September 1878.⁵ I did not locate an entry for him in the Brown County death records for 1878. I also checked the records from Clinton and Highland counties since they both border Perry Township.

My tombstone photograph does not show his date of death.6 My husband was with me in this cemetery and we should have tried to see if the stone could be lifted as it looks like it is just resting in the slot. It does state he was the son of B and J A Dunham (Bowen and Julia Ann).

A newspaper article dated 18 September 1878, provides some information.⁷

The article reported events that happened in Fayetteville (located in Perry Township where Bowen and his family resided). There was a Thomas Patridge enumerated in the 1870 Ohio Census for Perry Township, Brown County, and his occupation was listed as a blacksmith.⁸ He is still a blacksmith in Perry Township in the 1880 census enumeration.⁹

Was Wilson standing behind his horse when it was getting new shoes and the horse kicked him? Or was he standing in front of the horse when he was kicked? We may never know what really happened.

I am 99.99% sure that this is my Henry Wilson Dunham and he died 18 September 1878, not 8 September 1878. Henry Wilson was most likely known as Wilson Dunham, Jr. to distinguish him from his father’s Uncle Wilson who also resided in Perry Township.

There are 2 other extant Brown County newspapers covering September 1878. I will have to review those on my next trip to the Ohio History Center in Columbus to see if there is any additional information about Henry Wilson Dunham.

Sources

1. Brisslan Cemetery (Perry Township, Brown County, Ohio), Henry Wilson Dunham gravestone, photographed 9 November 2003, by Yolanda Campbell Lifter. Ohio birth records do not begin until 1867 (a few counties have them for 1856-1857). He was most likely born in Perry Township, Brown County, Ohio.

2. Brown County Chapter, Ohio Genealogical Society, Perry Township Cemeteries (Georgetown, OH: Brown County Chapter, Ohio Genealogical Society, 1989), 1.

3. 1860 U.S. Census, Brown County, Ohio, population schedule, Perry Township, p. 21 (penned),  dwelling 135, family 135, Bowen Dunham household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 September 2001); citing FHL microfilm 803,938 from NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 938.

4. 1870 U.S. Census, Brown County, Ohio, population schedule, Perry Township, p. 227 (stamped), dwelling 537, family 476, Bowen Dunham household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 January 2005); citing FHL microfilm 552,675 from NARA microfilm publication M593, roll 1175.

5. Perry Township Cemeteries.

6. Henry Wilson Dunham gravestone.

7. “Fayetteville Items,” article, Brown County (Georgetown, Ohio) News, 18 September 1878, Newspaper Archives of Ripley, Ohio (https://www.ripleylibrary.com/newspaper-archives-of-ripley-ohio/ : accessed 13 October 2020), p. 3, col. 5.

8. 1870 U.S. Census, Brown County, Ohio, population schedule, Perry Township, p. 225 (stamped), dwelling 502, family 455, Thomas Patridge household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 October 2020); citing FHL microfilm 552,675 from NARA microfilm publication M593, roll 1175.

9. 1880 U.S. Census, Brown County, Ohio, population schedule, Perry Township, p. 162D (stamped), enumeration district (ED) 10, dwelling 156, family 156, Thomas Patrige household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 October 2020); citing FHL microfilm 552,675 from NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 995.