Author: Mark Chessman Dunham
Cornelius Dunham, Jr. was born 17 September 1748 in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, to Cornelius Dunham and his spouse Patience.1 He married Lydia Atwood on 10 March 1774.2 The couple settled in Plymouth County and had six children: Cornelius, Henry, Ezra, Isaac, Thomas, and Lydia.
Cornelius Jr. was a sea captain who served in the American Revolutionary War.3 In 1775, about 6 or eight weeks after the memorable battle of Bunker Hill (17 June 1775), Cornelius was in the capacity of a seaman on board the schooner Priscilla returning from the West Indies, when being off the Nantucket shoals, the ship was captured by a British squadron which was then proceeding to take the dairy cattle from Gardner’s Island, near New London. A British prize-master crew were put on board the Priscilla and ordered to Boston. Cornelius and his brother James being ill, were permitted to stay on board the schooner where they remained prisoners for some weeks, and then all were taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia in a schooner belong to Samuel of Jackson of Plymouth.4,5 While there, Cornelius purchased a fine sword from a British officer which he later learned was taken off the person of General Warren right after he fell at the battle of Bunker Hill. Cornelius was immediately offered a large sum of money for General Warren’s sword, but he refused to part with it for any price. The sword remained in the possession of Cornelius for over 44 years until he delivered it to the Hon. William Davis and William Jackson, Esq. 15 August 1822. (Cornelius testified of these facts in a sworn oath that is part of the Massachusetts Historical Society minutes of 1866.)6
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1 Benjamin Hobart, A. M., History of the Town of Abington… (Boston, Massachusetts: T. H. Carter and Son, 1866), pp. 367-368; digital image, Google Books (http://books.google.com), accessed June 2017. Document 30, Dunham 1.
2 Jay Mack Holbrook, Massachusetts Vital Records… (Oxford, Massachusetts: Holbrook Research Institute, 1984), p. 265; digital image, “Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988,” Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com), provided by client. Document 24, Dunham 1.
3 Benjamin Hobart, A. M., History of the Town of Abington… (Boston, Massachusetts: T. H. Carter and Son, 1866), pp. 367-368; digital image, Google Books (http://books.google.com), accessed June 2017. Document 30, Dunham 1.
4 William Barton, “September Meeting. The Sword of Warren; Seal of the United States,” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society vol. 9, (1866-1867): pp. 348-350; digital image, “Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society,” JSTOR, The Massachusetts Historical Society (https://www.jstor.org/stable/25079358?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents), provided by client.
5 United States, War Department, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, Cornelius Dunham, service in Massachusetts, application 3133, p.5, widow Lydia Dunham; digital image, “Revolutionary War Pensions,” Revolutionary War, Fold3 (http://www.fold3.com), accessed August 2017.
6 William Barton, “September Meeting. The Sword of Warren; Seal of the United States,” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society vol. 9, (1866-1867): pp. 348-350; digital image, “Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society,”
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In July 1782, Cornelius received a letter of marque from John Hancock, then governor of Massachusetts, that was signed on behalf of John Hancock by the secretary of Massachusetts, John Avery.7,8,9 The letter put Cornelius in charge of a privateer schooner called the Hopewell, and it ordered him to attack and seize any vessels belonging to Britain and its subjects.10 The Hopewell belonged to William Homan of Beverly, Massachusetts, and the United States Treasury paid 70,000 Spanish milled dollars for its use.11 It had two mounted carriage guns, and its navigation required a crew of 18 men. A neighbor of the Dunham family later testified about Cornelius’ service at sea during the war, indicating that he had patrolled more than 300 miles of shoreline that stretched from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to Mount Desert, Maine.12
After the war, Cornelius lived in the Massachusetts towns of Abington and Carver, and in the Maine towns of Hartford, Belfast, and Bristol.13 Cornelius lived to age 87 and died in Bristol on 15 July 1835.14 He was buried in Hillside Cemetery in Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Lydia also lived to age 87 and died 8 June 1841. She was buried near her husband in the Hillside Cemetery.
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JSTOR, The Massachusetts Historical Society (https://www.jstor.org/stable/25079358?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents), provided by client.
7 Letter from John Hancock to Cornelius Dunham, Marque, dated 26 July 1882; provided by client.
8 United States, War Department, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, Cornelius Dunham, service in Massachusetts, application 3133, widow Lydia Dunham; digital image, “Revolutionary War Pensions,” Revolutionary War, Fold3 (http://www.fold3.com), accessed August 2017. Document 25, Dunham 1.
9 “Governor John Hancock’s certification of John Avery as Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” Documents, Docs Teach (https://www.docsteach.org), John Avery, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, accessed June 2017. Document 26, Dunham 1.
10 Gardner Weld Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution (Boston, Massachusetts: The Massachusetts Historical Society, 1927), p. 181; digital image, “Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution,” Catalogue Search, Hathi Trust (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000366126), accessed June 2017. Document 28, Dunham 1.
11 United States, Continental Congress, Ships’ Bonds, Letters of Marque, Hopewell, Junis, Vol. 8, p.7, Bonder Cornelius Dunham, commander of the Schooner Hopewell dated 24 July 1782 received commission to be a privateer in the Independence of the United States; digital image, “Revolutionary War, Continental Congress Papers,” Fold3 (http://www.fold3.com), accessed June 2017. Document 27 a-b, Dunham 1.
12 United States, War Department, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, Cornelius Dunham, service in Massachusetts, application 3133, widow Lydia Dunham; digital image, “Revolutionary War Pensions,” Revolutionary War, Fold3 (http://www.fold3.com), accessed August 2017. Document 25, Dunham 1.
13 Benjamin Hobart, A. M., History of the Town of Abington… (Boston, Massachusetts: T. H. Carter and Son, 1866), pp. 367-368; digital image, Google Books (http://books.google.com), accessed June 2017. Document 30, Dunham 1.
14 Deaths, Columbian Centinel (1784-1840) (N.p,), p. 1407; digital image, “U.S. Newspaper Extractions from the Northeast
1704-1930,” Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com), accessed provided by client. Document 23, Dunham 1.