Dumbleton History

According to family oral tradition, Nathaniel Dumbleton was a veteran of the Revolutionary War. Only one Nathaniel Dumbleton was found on the internet who fought in the Revolution. The link is

Nathanial Dumbleton lived in two towns named Grafton: Grafton, Windham County, Vermont and Grafton, Rensselaer County, New York.

To read more about Grafton, click next:
Read About The Name "Grafton"

Nathaniel Dumbleton, in 1796, settled on the farm later occupied by Oscar C. Dumbleton (Editor's Note: Oscar Dumbleton was a grandson of Nathaniel Dumbleton. He was born 5 JUN 1838). Nathaniel came from Grafton, Vermont, and was elected first supervisor (mayor) of the Town of Grafton, New York.

          Nathaniel Dumbleton, was an early settler of the
          Town of Grafton Rensselaer County, New York.

Early settlers were Rufus Rix, Solomon Smith, John P. Hayner, Daniel Littlefield, Solomon Root, Francis West, Captain Charles Ferry, Nathaniel Dumbleton, who came from Grafton, Vermont, in 1796. Dumbleton was first person elected to the office of supervisor (mayor) of the Town of Grafton, New York. Nathanel removed to the town from Grafton, Vermont, and tradition says that through his influence, the town received the name which it has since borne. The first town meeting was held soon after the organization of the town, on the first Tuesday of April, 1807, at the house of Nathan Hakes. Joseph Berwick was chosen moderator and these town officers were elected:

Elected as: Supervisor (Mayor)..........Nathaniel Dumbleton Justices of the Peace.......Zebulon Scrivener Thomas West Town Clerk..................David S. Crandall Assessors...................Patrick Agan Ziba Hewitt John Babcock Overseers of the poor.......Joseph Burdick Benjamin West Commissioners of Highways...Samuel Prindall James West 2nd, Jedediah Wellman Collector...................Joseph Burdick, Jr. Constables..................Ethan Maxon Simeon Smith Joseph Burdick, Jr. Pound Masters (Animal Control)............Thomas Smith Joseph Scriven John Babcock. Overseers of Highways and Fence Viewers............Thomas West Jonathan Brooks James West John Worthington Nathan West Joseph Burdick John Phillips Marcus Simmons William Snyder Henry Coonradt John Reed Sylvester Chase Peter Wager Stephen Chandler Walter Durkee William Scriven Francis Brook Zebulon Scriven, 2nd Jonathan M. Scriven Michael Brenanstuhl Charles Hall John Babcock

Nathaniel Dumbleton was again elected as Supervisor for 1807-1808. Alpheus Dumbleton, son of Nathaniel Dumbleton, also lived in Grafton and served in the War of 1812 together with several men of the Town of Grafton.Grafton, New York, has no Revolutionary history, as the town was not settled at the beginning of that war. But many of the pioneers fought in that war and afterwards made their homes in Grafton. Abel Owen, John Barnhart, Abel Ford, James Scriven, Zebulon Scriven and John Scriven were among these. Among those who, in the War of 1812, joined the Eddy expedition to Plattsburgh, were Henry Simmons, Matthew Burdick, Aipheus Ford, Daniel Birdsall, Alpheus Dumbleton, John Howard and Varnum Jones. Benjamin Burdick served under General Custer in the famous Indian wars in the West. Alonzo Warren, David Coons, Niles Beals, Melvin Wood and others have also served in the regular army of the United States.

Two Sons Of Nathaniel Dumbleton Served As
Justices Of The Peace in Grafton, New York:

Alpheus Dumbleton....1827...Age 40
Alpheus Dumbleton....1829...Age 42
Alpheus Dumbleton....1832...Age 45
Alpheus Dumbleton....1837...Age 50
Aaron F. Dumbleton...1855...Age 47
Aaron F. Dumbleton...1856...Age 48

Alpheus Dumbleton, Esquire
Justice of the Peace

From the editor, Don Smith: What were they duties and responsibilities of a Justice of the Peace? Justices of the Peace exercised sweeping local executive and administrative powers; drew up the levy; collected the tax; appointed road commissioners and supervised highways; made disbursements; granted licenses to keep taverns and retail liquors; and appointed and controlled administrators, executors, and guardians. They generally took acknowledgments of deeds and depositions and performed marriage ceremonies, but they seldom exercised the sweeping authority under old English and Welsh law which were able to levy wage assessments of laborers.

"Esquire" was the title given to a Justice of the Peace, so that his name would be given as "Alpheus Dumbleton, Esquire" or "Alpheus Dumbleton, J.P." He would be addressed as "Squire Dumbleton".

"In English law, an Esquire was a title of dignity next above gentleman, and below knight. Also it was a title of office given to sheriffs, serjeants and barristers at law, justices of the peace, and others. In United States, title commonly appended after name of attorney or justice of the peace; e.g. "Alpheus Dumbleton, Esquire" or "Alpheus Dumbleton, esq.".

Alpheus Dumbleton And Family
The Genealogical Data Below Is Taken Directly,
With Permission, From The Website of John J. Emerson.

   Click Here To Go To John's Website

(From The Editor, Don Smith) I emailed Mr. John J. Emerson on 10-04-2006 and requested permission to include his data on the Dumbleton Family section of the Smith and Self Genealogies.

Dear Mr. John J. Johnson:
Hello. My name is Donald B. Smith and I'm starting to work on the Dumbleton side of my genealogy. My maternal grandmother, Elsie Elnora Green/Self (1893-1986), really loved her mother, Alice Elnorah Dumbleton (1864-1910). My mom always talked about her and we came to want to know about her. Recently, I finished up my Smith and Self Genealogies (http://smithselfgen.com) and have begun to work on discovering my Dumbleton ancestors. Quite by accident, I stumbled across your webpage on Alpheus Dumbleton and its wealth of materials. (Click next to visit Mr. Johnson's website: http://www.idiocentrism.com/dumbleton.htm)

I have gone to all the websites listed on your webpage. I've discovered that you have done much of the "legwork" of the Dumbleton genealogy. I thank you so much for all the hard work. I would like to have your permission to include most of the data of your "Alpheus Dumbleton" website on my family genealogy website. I would, of course, list you as the author. Barring that, if I could at least include a link to your excellent Alpheus Dumbleton site.

By the way, Alpheus Dumbleton was my great great great grandfather. The genealogy goes like this: Nathaniel Dumbleton, son Alpheus Dumbleton, son Horace Dumbleton, daughter Alice Elnorah "Nora" Dumbleton/Green, daughter Elsie Elnora Green/Self, daughter Mildred Frances Self/Smith and son (me) Donald Bernard Smith

Mr. Johnson replied the very next day, 10-05-2006:
Sure, I put that up in the hope that some other Dumbleton descendant would run into it. Mission accomplished! It's a rare name and it was fun to trace it on the internet. Use the material as you wish.

MR. JOHNSON'S DATA BEGINS HERE:
(Editor, Don Smith: Although Mr. Johnson's comments contain some inaccuracies, they certainly are informative to peruse.)
In the course of my investigations of my ancestor Alpheus Dumbleton Hiams (b. 1837, Berlin, Rensselaer Co., NY), I discovered that one Alpheus Dumbleton (b. ~1790, probably at Grafton, Vermont) lived in Rensselaer County at the time of my ancestor's birth. I concluded that my ancestor had been named for Alpheus Dumbleton, since the name "Alpheus" is rather rare, and the name "Dumbleton" very rare.

At this point I have been able to come to no conclusion as to why this was done. If Alpheus Dumbleton Hiams's father Nathaniel's unknown mother, had been a Dumbleton (possibly a sister or cousin of Alpheus Dumbleton) that would explain it, but there's no evidence for that. So perhaps the motive was just friendship or debt of gratitude.

In the process of my investigations, however, I've found out a lot about the Dumbleton family (whose name is often spelled "Dumbolton", and once "Dumpleton".)

Dumbleton is a small village (~500 pop.) in Gloucestershire England near Grafton. The name "Dumbleton" is fairly common in neighboring areas, though not in Dumbleton itself; perhaps "Dumbleton" was a name taken by out-migrants, or perhaps the village was at some point depopulated and resettled. The significance of the British village is that the earliest Dumbleton in the family I'm tracking, Alpheus' father Nathaniel, was a native of Grafton, Vermont, and one of the founders of Grafton, NY. (Grafton, Michigan on Lake Erie may have a connection to early Dumbletons in the area. Grafton, Massachusetts showed no immediate evidence of a Dumbleton connection, though it seems to be important in Polish- American history, Native American history, and as the site of the Ethan Allen gun factory. There is also a large Grafton County in New Hampshire, bordering Vermont, with no obvious Dumbleton connection. As I understand, New Hampshire was frontier territory at the time of the Revolutionary War and Grafton may not have had much of a history before then. Grafton, Vermont was incorporated in 1754. (Editor Don Smith: Grafton, Vermont, previously name Thomlinson, which was incorporated in 1754, changed names in to Grafton on 31 OCT 1791.)

Dumbleton was a fairly common name in early New England but seems to have become less so after about 1720. This could have been because of the birth of girls, high mortality, or low fertility. John and Nathaniel Dumbleton are known to have fought in the Revolutionary War. John came from Albany County, NY, bordering Rensellaer County. There is no way to know whether this Nathaniel was Alpheus' Dumbleton's father Nathaniel (married to Betsy Bisbee); it is certainly possible, but there was probably a different, younger Nathaniel Dumbleton (married to "Phebe".) A possibility that has occurred to me is that the family I'm tracing might be from a more recent migration from England, rather than from the old colonial family, which would explain the references back to the place of origin, Grafton.

Nathaniel Dumbleton, a native of Grafton New Hampshire, born about 1750, and possibly a veteran of the Battle of Saratoga, had three sons, Alpheus (~1790-), Samuel (~1784-?), and Aaron (1808-1864). The dates suggest a second marriage, or more likely the existence of at least two Nathaniel Dumbletons; there is a record of the deaths of three children of Nathaniel Dumbleton and his wife Phebe in Hamburg, NY, near Buffalo, around 1818. A Nathaniel Dumbleton came�from Michigan to fight in the War of 1812 and bought land in Michigan in 1839. It is just barely possible that Alpheus' father married twice and was still active in 1839 at the age of more than eighty.

Alpheus Dumbleton came from Oswego Country NY (perhaps from Scriba where many Dumbletons lived in 1830) to fight in the War of 1812. Alpheus and Samuel Dumbleton married the sisters Betsey and Zerviah Bisbee in 1816, though a child had been born to Betsy in 1812. (A child credited to Alpheus and Betsey in 1838 has to be questioned). Alpheus and Aaron were buried in Grafton, NY. The 1870 census listed several Dumbletons in Grafton, NY, and Dumbleton wills were executed in Oswego County after 1865 and after 1892.

A pattern of migration can be seen, from Vermont to Grafton in the Try-Albany area (which was the head of the Erie canal, on which at least one Dumbleton worked), to Scriba up north in Oswego County (on a spur of the Erie canal connecting to Lake Ontario) to Lake Erie (Nathaniel and Phebe) and then to Michigan (Alpheus from before 1812, and Nathaniel as late as 1839).

I rather doubt that Alpheus Dumbleton was my ancestor, but tracing the Dumbletons has been fun and maybe someone else will find this interesting.

The rest of the website listed a series of internet links to the Dumbletons. I have included these links on the Dumbleton Menu as "Dumbleton Internet Links".