S. C. Dunham
S. C. Dunham, who has devoted his attention to general agricultural pursuits throughout his entire business career, is now one of the substantial and representative farmers of East Boyer township.
His birth occurred in Clinton county, Iowa, on the 26th of May, 1851, his parents being John A. and Celinda H. (Richardson) Dunham. The father, a native of Fulton county, Illinois, was a son of Cornelius Dunham. The other children of that marriage were Louisa, Cornelius and Sophronia.
For his second wife Cornelius Dunham, the paternal grandfather of our subject. chose Mrs. Margaret Miller nee Scott, by whom he had five children, namely: Margaret, who is a resident of Dunlap, Iowa; Samuel S. and Flora, who are deceased; and Martha and Z. T., both living in Dunlap, Iowa.
Mrs. Margaret Miller was the widow of Samuel Miller, by whom she had four children, as follows: James, who has passed away; Elizabeth, who is a resident of Rapid City, South Dakota; and Mary Jane and George, both of whom are deceased.
On leaving his native county John A. Dunham, the father of S. C. Dunham, removed to Jackson county, Iowa, where he was married in 1848. Three years later, in 1851, he took up his abode in Clinton county, Iowa, while subsequently he went to Blackhawk county locating on the present site of Cedar Falls. In 1854 he came to Crawford county, locating near Dunham's Grove, where he passed away the same year. He was the father of three children, namely: Alice, who is deceased; S. C; of this review; and Mrs. Elsie Brink, who makes her home in Nebraska.
In 1856 Mrs. Celinda H. Dunham gave her hand in marriage to Tracy Chapman, by whom she had nine children, as follows: Lois, who has passed away; Mrs. Phoebe Mason, who is a resident of Vail, Iowa; Mrs. Hulda Martin, living in Omaha, Nebraska; Harlow H., who follows farming in East Boyer township; Delia, who is deceased; Mrs. Salinda North, who makes her home in Milford township; Rhoda, a resident of Vail, Iowa; Tracy, an agriculturist of East Boyer township; and one who died in infancy. The mother of these children was called to her final rest on the 27th of May, 1897, her demise being the occasion of deep and widespread regret.
S. C. Dunham obtained his education in a log schoolhouse at Dunlap, Iowa, and remained under the parental roof until nineteen years of age. At that time he started out as an agriculturist on his own account and the work of the fields has claimed his attention almost continuously since. With the exception of seven years spent in Nebraska and a period of six years in Monona county, Iowa, he has always made his home in Crawford county. At the present time he operates a tract of one hundred and eighty acres of land in East Boyer township, the site of the old homestead where Cornelius Dunham and Franklin Prentiss, the original settlers of this county, located in 1849. Mr. Dunham owns a farm of eighty acres in Minnesota and is widely recognized as a prosperous and esteemed citizen. He possesses considerable mechanical skill and has invented, among other things, a hay loader which has proved a very useful device, about twenty-five of them being now utilized in Crawford county.
When twenty-three years of age Mr. Dunham was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary J. Miller, by whom he had ten children, the record of whom is as follows: Kate, the wife of Rolla Christy, of Dunlap, Iowa; John A., who is a resident of Los Angeles, California; Lois, the wife of John Rowe, of Missouri Valley, Iowa; Gussie, the wife of Ed Christy, of Dunlap, Iowa; Edith, the wife of Neal Crampton, of Hayes township, this county; Bessie, who is deceased; Tracy, living in Oroville, California; Fanny, the wife of Henry Sowder, of Chadron, Nebraska; and Jessie and Jennie, twins.
Mr. Dunham is a republican in politics and has held a number of township offices, ever discharging his public duties in a most prompt and capable manner. His interests are thoroughly identified with those of Crawford county and at all times he is ready to lend his aid and cooperation to any movement calculated to benefit this section of the country or advance its wonderful development.
Source: History of Crawford County, Iowa. Vol. II. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911.