Weld County, History of Colorado, BIOS: DUNHAM, Edwin Lyman (published 1918) *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00015.html#0003643 October 25, 1999 *********************************************************************** "History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. (1918) Vol. II p. 316, 318-319 photo p. 317 EDWIN LYMAN DUNHAM. Almost a half century has come and gone since Edwin Lyman Dunham established his home in Colorado and through the intervening period he has been an active factor in the development and progress of Greeley, where he now makes his home, and also in the conduct of the interests of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in this state, in which connection he has again and again been called to high office. He was born in Mansfield, Connecticut, on the 3rd of April, 1845, and is a son of Jonathan Lyman and Abigail H. (Eldridge) Dunham, the former a native of Mansfield, Connecticut, while the latter was born in Willington, Connecticut. Both were descendants of old Puritan families that were founded in America by ancestors who came to the new world on the Mayflower. A representative of the family was Chancellor Walworth, of New York, who made an effort to secure a share in the estate of Queen Anne, one of the wives of Henry VIII of England, basing the claim on the fact that the maternal ancestor of the Dunham family was a descendant in a direct line from the queen. He failed to secure any portion of the inheritance, however, on account of finding that a page had been cut from the church record which contained tlie marriage of one of the descendants in the line, so that the legality of the marriage could not be established under the English law. A great-great- grandfather of Edwin Lyman Dunham was one of six brothers, all of whom were over six feet in height, and all were members of General Washington's bodyguard in the Revolutionary war. They all survived the struggle with England and reached an advanced age, each living to be more than ninety years of age, while one of the brothers was one hundred years and twenty days old at the time of his demise. All of the ancestors were noted for longevity and there were various members of the family during the Revolutionary war period who served as soldiers or officers in the American army. Jonathan Lyman Dunham, father of Edwin Lyman Dunham, was a farmer by occupation and followed that pursuit in the east until 1870, when he came with his family to Colorado, establishing his home in Greeley, where he took up the occupation of farming and at different times owned several small tracts of land. Both he and his wife have now passed away. They were consistent members of the Presbyterian church and enjoyed the high esteem and goodwill of all with whom they came in contact. They had two sons, the brother of our subject being Sylvester Clark Dunham. He became a lawyer by profession, but edited the New Britain (Conn.) Record during the period when he was preparing .for the bar. He married Mary Malinda Austin and they had one son. The death of Sylvester Dunham occurred in October, 1915, and he was laid to rest in the Hartford, Connecticut, cemetery. During the last fourteen years of his life he had been a prominent figure in insurance circles as the president of the Travelers' Insurance Company and was a leading factor in the business life and development of New England. His widow survives and yet makes her home in Hartford, where her son is also living. He is a graduate of Yale College and, like his father, has become a prominent official of the Travelers' Insurance Company. During the first thirteen years of his life Edwin Lyman Dunham was a pupil in the public schools of Connecticut, after which the family removed to Rootstown, Ohio, where he continued his studies, becoming a pupil in Mount Union College. The family then returned to Connecticut and Edwin L. Dunham began learning the machinist's trade, to which he devoted five years in Southington, Connecticut. He afterward joined the Union Colony of Colorado and came to Greeley in 1870. Here he turned his attention to farming, but did not find the occupation congenial, and after two years he became a factor in the commercial development of the new city by establishing a jewelry business. Through individual study he learned to do jewelry repairing and has continued in this line of business from that date to the present, covering a period of more than forty-five years. He has made a most creditable name and place in commercial circles and has become the proprietor of a well appointed jewelry house, in which he carries a large and carefully selected line of goods. Not only has he won respect and honor by reason of his success and his straightforward business methods, but also owing to the prominent position to which he has attained as a representative of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has long been a valued member of the order and since 1877 has continuously occupied some office in connection therewith. He advanced through all of the chairs in the local lodge and became grand patriarch of the Grand Encampment of Colorado, serving in that capacity in 1887 and 1888. He has also been grand master of the Grand Lodge of Colorado, so serving in 1897 and 1898. He was grand representative to the Sovereign Grand Lodge during the years 1900 and 1901 and he has done much to further the interests of the organization and to uphold its high standards. On the 8th of March, 1871, in Greeley, Mr. Dunham was united in marriage to Miss Annie Gilmore Scott, a daughter of Dr. James S. Scott, who was the first regular physician of Greeley, removing to this state from Ohio. He figured prominently in connection with framing the laws of his native state, having for several years been a member of the Ohio legislature. He died May 16, 1881, at the age of eighty years, and was laid to rest in Greeley cemetery. On the morning of the day of his death he had been in attendance at a sick bed and in the afternoon passed away of pneumonia. He was notable in this community for his religious zeal and enthusiasm and was one of the founders of the First Methodist Episcopal church, in which he served as steward, while in every part of the church work he was deeply and helpfully interested. His daughter, Mrs. Dunham, was born in Steubenville, Ohio, March 5, 1850, and there attended the public schools. Her mother died when she was about eight years of age, and was buried in Zanesville, Ohio. Her father afterward married again and came to Colorado in September, 1870. To Mr. and Mrs. Dunham has been born a son, Charles S., whose birth occurred in Greeley on the 29th of December, 1871, and who here resided until he had attained his majority. He then entered the Dental College at Cincinnati, Ohio, from which in due course of time he was graduated, and he also studied in New Orleans. Later he removed to St. Louis, Missouri, where he practiced his profession for a quarter of a century and there passed away on the 23d of March, 1917. He had married Elizabeth Dirque, who was born in Paris, France, and at his death his remains were interred in the Linn Grove cemetery in Greeley. Mr. Dunham has long held membership in the First Presbyterian church and was organist for twenty-three years, while his wife has also been very active in church work and has held various offices in different church societies. Mr. Dunham was a trustee of the church for nine years. While now seventy-three years of age, he is still very active in musical circles in Greeley, playing the double bass viol in the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, an organization of forty-four members, that was organized and conducted by Professor ,T. C. Kendall, supervisor of music in the State Teachers College. This orchestra gives weekly concerts, but they are not a body of professionals, for many of the members are connected with the student body of the State Teachers College. Throughout his entire life Mr. Dunham has manifested the deepest interest in music and has done much to further musical taste and talent in the city where he has so long resided. His contribution to the world's work has indeed been of value as a merchant, as a musician and as a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has for thirty-seven years been in attendance at the annual meeting of the grand lodge of the order and no representative of the fraternity in Colorado is held in higher regard or more justly deserves the esteem and goodwill of his brethren than does Edwin Lyman Dunham.