Dunham Cemetery awarded grant for Historical Marker from William G. Pomeroy Foundation

The first permanent settlers landed in Nichols around 1791, with the town being formally established in 1824 from a portion of Tioga Center. 

Our pioneer families’ perseverance and hard work should be remembered and honored as a significant foundation of this town. Their ingenuity and work ethics helped established many local businesses.

Dunham Cemetery, also known as the East Nichols Cemetery, is the final burial ground for many of those pioneers, from ca. 1800 – 1890’s. In its early years it was a private cemetery belonging to the Dunham family. Mrs. Sylvanus “Ursula” (Wright) Gilbert Dunham, along with two of her 13 children (Daily and Wright), is buried here.

A little over a year ago the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, a Syracuse-based philanthropic organization, approved the grant application and provided the funding for a historical marker to commemorate this landmark. The marker was ordered and received, but because of the winter snow, ice, and frozen ground, the installation of it had to be delayed and will take place this spring; it was originally planned from an earlier date.

The Pomeroy Foundation is committed to supporting the celebration and preservation of community history; and working to improve the probability of finding appropriate donor matches or other life-saving treatments for blood cancer patients. 

As the nation’s leading funder of historic roadside markers, the Pomeroy Foundation has awarded over 1,700 grants for markers and bronze plaques in 45 states. Markers help to educate the public, encourage pride of place, promote tourism, and generate economic benefits. Since 2006, the Foundation has funded over 900 markers in 59 New York State counties. 

It’s estimated that Dunham cemetery has some 253 souls buried there, many graves abandoned, unmarked, and forgotten. Many of the stones have been repaired, reset and cleaned by family descendants and other volunteers.  

Among the earliest settlers in the Town, the Dunham, Bixby and Reynolds families date back to the early to late 1800’s. Many of those original families are buried here including veterans of the Civil War and the War of 1812. 

As a longtime family genealogist and recently appointed as the Nichols historian in 2021, I’ve always appreciated that the grave and gravestone are symbols of the end of our earthly life and that “WE” are their symbols of living monuments; a symbol and reminder that they existed.

Mike (a direct descendant of the Bixby and Reynolds families from Nichols) wrote to me, noting the following, “The Dunham / East Nichols Cemetery is one of my favorite old, rural cemeteries. And to be honest, it’s largely because so many of my Grandmother Gillett’s people are buried there. My double-3x great grandparents, Richard and Deliverance Reynolds Bixby, my 2x great grandparents, Schuyler and Mary Ann Reynolds Bixby, and my Grandmother’s parents, Orin Catlin and Stella Amanda Bixby Bixby (yes, Bixby – Bixby – they were first cousins) are all buried in Dunham’s Field (what my Grandmother called it). My 4x great grandmother, Sarah Babcock Reynolds and her daughter-in-law (and my 3x great grandmother), Amanda Babcock Reynolds are buried in Dunham’s, and many of my uncles, aunts, and cousins. Richard was a War of 1812 Veteran (and the musket he carried remains in the family to this day); Richard and Deliverance (“Delia”) had ten children and 50 grandchildren. If you know a Bixby (or a Reynolds or an Osborn or a Babcock) in the Nichols area, they are all related to me.” 

“Walk (carefully) through this cemetery (or any other old cemetery) someday, and look at the stones, read the names and dates. Picture the grave when it and the grief were fresh. Imagine life (and death) a hundred-plus years ago.”
The remarkable thing of Dunham Cemetery is that for its age, it is maintained lovingly well and it hasn’t been forgotten.

On behalf of the Town of Nichols and myself, I would like to express a “Sincere Thank You” to the William G. Pomeroy Foundation for this grant and funding this beautiful marker, and to the many involved individuals who are making sure that those graves in Dunham Cemetery serve as living monuments.