The following tribute was paid to Edwin Lyman Dunham, son of Jonathan & Abigail Dunham, by the Odd Fellows Lodge of Greeley, Colo.

MEMORIAL TO BROTHER EDWIN L. DUNHAM

This community, this lodge & the Grand Lodge of Colorado have suffered a great loss in the passing from this life on the 29th of January, 1929, of Edwin Lyman Dunham at the mature age of nearly 84 years. He lived in Greeley for nearly 59 years and leaves very few [Union Colony pioneers to survive] him.

Born in Mansfield, Conn. Apri1 3, 1845, descendant on both his mother’s and father’s side from the earliest Puritan immigrants to New England, a great-grandson of one of six brothers, each over 6 ft. tall, who were members of General Washington’s bodyguard in the Revolution, he was a worthy scion of a worthy ancestry. His older brother, Sylvester C. Dunham, was a prominent lawyer in Connecticut, during the last 14 years of his life president of the Travelers Insurance Co. & a leading factor in the busiess life of New England. The education of Brother E. L. Dunham prior to his 14th birthday was in the public schools of Connecticut, later, on his father & mother moving to Ohio in the schools of that state and at Mount Union CoUege. 0n the return of the family to Connecticut, he took up the machinist’s trade, to which he devoted five industrious years of apprenticeship. His father, Jonathan Lyman Dunham, a farmer first in Conn. & later in Ohio, imbued with the Western urge, was one of the first members of the Union Colony of Colorado. He came to Greeley in the spring of 1870 and engaged in farming, to which Edwin also devoted two years. Not finding that work to his taste, Brother Dunham in 1872 opened a jewelry store in Greeley, in which business he continued for 53 years, retiring in 1925. By his faithful attention to said duty he attained a creditable position in the mercantile life of this city.

Brother Dunham was married March 8, 1871 in Greeley to Miss Annie Gilmore Scott, daughter of James S. Scott, one of our pioneer physicians who before coming to Greeley had been for years a member of the Ohio legislture. Mrs. Dunham was a sister of James C. Scott, who filled the position of County Judge of Weld County longer than any other man.

The chief interessts of Brother Dunham's life were not in the mere earning of a livelihood or in seeking to acquire wealth. His ambition lay in other directions. He attained prominence in 3 lines--in his religious life, his fraternal career, & as a musician. His chief recreation other than in music was in hunting & fishing in both of which he was proficient.

Both Mr. & Mrs. Dunham were devout members of the 1st Presbyterian Church of Greeley, of which he was trustee for 9 & organist for 23 years. He played the bass viol at his church 2 weeks before his death.

Brother Dunham’s interest in music was almost co-extensive with his life. Thousands still liviig & thousards
who have passed beyond have listened with pleasure to his [artistic] playing of the bass viol. In the early days of Greeley he was in constant demand at marriages, funeraIs, formal occasions and otherwise. In 1885 a benefit concert in his honor was given by the musicians of Greeley as a recognition not only of his talent but of his constant readiness to promote the artistic life of this community. This devotion to one of the fine arts caused him to become acquainted with many famous musicians who would occasionally visit Colorado.

Edwin L. Dunham's son, Dr. Charles Scott Dunham, a dentist, preceded him in death in 1917.

[Please note: the material on this page was consolidated from various columns of the original Dunham Dispatch, Vol. I, No. 1]