Dear friends

I have recently found in Google Books, on the Reports of Committees of The House of Representatives, 1831, reference to a George F. Dunham. That man is on a list of persons employed in the Naval Service of the United States. He is said to be a schoolmaster on the sloop Lexington. The link is:

http://books.google.com.br/books?id=3qEFAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA10...

My ancestor George Felix Dunham declared himself Navy Officer to the Rio de Janeiro police register of foreigners in 1832. So it seem possible that he could be the naval schoolmaster “George F. Dunham” of 1831.

George Felix Dunham was an American citizen born in France about 1795, son of George Dunham, of Tisbury, Dukes (Martha’s Vineyard), Ma, USA and Eugenia Ducameron. He married Angelica Gertrudes de Jesus in Salvador, Brazil, on January 10, 1827. They have had 5 sons and 2 daughters, the ancestors of most (or may be all) Dunhams now living in Brazil. He died in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil in 1861.

A naval schoolmaster in the early 19th century, as I tried to find, was someone that taught midshipmen mathematics, navigation, and sailing lore and was usually a civilian. That is a profile compatible with George Felix Dunham, as his ancestors in Martha’s Vineyard were involved with sea activities.

Would it be possible to find in the US Navy archives information about those schoolmasters?

Best regards

Geraldo P. Caldas
Florianopolis, SC, Brazil