I recently came across one of the oldest family documents I have an image of: the marriage record of my 10x great-grandparents George Morton and Juliana Carpenter. And it’s the only one in Dutch. George and Juliana were refugees who fled religious persecution in England. Together with their fellow Separatists, they were welcomed in Leiden… Read More


On 24 September 1704, the Plymouth Colony Court of General Sessions granted liquor licenses to several colonists. Each deposited a bond (“surtie”) with the court to ensure orderly behavior of their patrons, except, for some reason, the last man listed. That would be my seventh great-grandfather Eleazer Dunham (1659-1719). He’s listed as an “inholder,” that… Read More


Plimouth Plantation

The earliest Dunham ancestor to come to North America was John Dunham, a Separatist who fled religious persecution in England by first emigrating to Leiden, Holland, and then to Plymouth Colony. He was my ninth great-grandfather. He was born in 1589; a record exists that year on 8 February of his baptism at the Church… Read More


My 9xgreat-grandfather Nathaniel Morton was the secretary of Plymouth Colony, having arrived there in 1623 at the age of 10. As secretary, he was the keeper of the records of the colony and compiled the colony’s first published history, based largely on accounts of his uncle Governor William Bradford. The following excerpt of Morton’s history… Read More