Notes for: Andrew LeRoy DUNHAM

After his mother died and the father left the family, someone brought Richard (the infant brother of Andrew) down to the grandparents Rodney and Mary Dunham, in Dudley, MA. Then the other four boys were sent alone on the trolley to Webster, MA where they were met by their grandfather, Rodney Dunham, with a horse and buggy and it was very cold.

His brother Harold went to work for Hiscocks and then to Hinzes. William went to Truell's in Dudley and brother George was sent up to Homer Frissells in Peru, MA.. Andrew, at the age of 10 or 11, was sent to the Lamb's in Stafford, CT to help on the chicken farm, for about a year and a half. He hated the chickens. While there he went to school in Stafford and started the fire in the school every morning.

He went back to Dudley where he had to help his grandparents and go to school. They took him out of school when he was 13 years old to help more on the farm. They were not good to him. They deprived him of food and he had to clean the soured milk pans and, to the day he died, he would not eat sour cream or cottage cheese etc. He was made to sit up in a straight chair until they said he could go to bed. He was so hungry and at times would try to take a cracker or two but his grandmother always knew as she counted them and he would be punished. They mostly fed him on bread and blackstrap molasses.

After the grandparents died he moved to the Echo Farm in Dudley with his brother Richard and his Dad. He kept house and worked at Harold Easterbrook's for 25 cents an hour and bought the wood and paid the rent for two years. Later, in 1929 he helped Mr Gorton with taking care of Center School and kept house too. Mrs Gorton was very good to him. In 1930 his father married Lossa Bailey and they took Richard. Andrew got a room at Mrs Emma Smith's on Dudley Hill for $2.50 a week and worked for Mr Gorton until 1932. Mr Gorton paid him $5,00 a week and then could no longer afford to keep him. He had his appendix out when he worked for Mr Gorton.

He then took care of Mr Conrad's horses and got his meals at Nichol's College as pay. He mowed all the lawns on Dudley Hill at 25 cents an hour, Fannie Bateman did his laundry and he mowed their lawn in return. He also sometimes worked for Harold Easterborrk's.

He had scarlet fever in 1933/4 and lived with his father for a while when he came home from hospital. He then went to live and work at Charlie Bateman's farm in 1934; he peddled Bateman's milk route. He received $25.00 a month and room and board. He had measles in 1936,

He met Barbara Foskett at the Congregational Church on Dudley Hill in 1936. They started going together in March, became engaged in June and married a year later on 30 June 1937.
He went to work in the kitchen of Nichol's College in Sep 1936 and then on Luther's milk route in 1941 until the route was sold to Gordon Dimock of Oxford, MA in 1946; he continued working for them peddling milk until Oct 1963. He had to give up when he had hip surgery on 22 Nov 1963; it was a new operation and they replaced the cap only. It never healed properly and he was in awful pain for many years and the doctors couldn't see anything wrong. He tried to go back to the milk route, but even with his wife helping he couldn't do it. He was on disability for many years. Finally on 12 Dec 1971 he had a second hip operation to replace the whole hip and it was very successful; later he had to have the top of it replaced. He then went to work at Nichol's College as a janitor until he retired in Dec 1984. On 28 May 1985 he had his other hip replaced.

He joined the Grange as a young man and held many offices including Master for 7 years continuously and then again in 1975-76. He was also Master of Pomona 3.