Mark Dunham
Mark Wentworth Dunham, son of Solomon Dunham (1794-1865), was born at the family home, " Oaklawn Farm" on June 22, 1842. The youngest of 11 children born to Solomon and Lydia Ballard Dunham, Mark grew up in a time period of expansion and change. Having a father who grew up in a Country that had recently separated from the "Old World" of Europe and was developing its own style of governing, Mark was influenced by the "can do", entrepreneurial, hard working spirit of the age. Problems were not obstacles, they were opportunities and Mark became a master at finding solutions to problems at a very young age. By the time he was fifteen years old, his father had given him the responsibility of running the family farm which included 300 acres, multiple buildings and animals. When Mark was 22 years old, his father passed away, leaving the farm to him.
Of all the problems to be solved on an 1860's/1870's farm, finding a work horse that could manage the new farm equipment that had been developed by Cyrus McCormick was of primary concern. Mark's search to solve this issue led him to the Perche district in France where he found a horse that looked capable of the task. In 1875 Mark purchased the Percheron horse "Success" for $3,300, an impressive sum at the time, greatly strengthening the stock of his horse importing and breeding business and leading to the expansion of "Oaklawn Farms" to around 2,000 acres. By 1888 an estimated one-fifth of all imported French horses lived at Oaklawn.
It was on one of his stock buying trips to France in the late 1870's that he and his wife, Carrie, started dreaming of building a new home. Making a drawing based off of some of the chateaus they saw on their trip, Mark hired Smith Hoag from Elgin to oversee the building of their home. "Dunham Castle", as it became known, was completed in 1883 and became a destination for dignitaries in the years to come. The original Solomon Dunham home that Mark inherited was turned into the business office for Oaklawn Farm, with the upstairs rooms being used as accommodations for travelers who came to purchase horses. During the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair a train from Chicago to Wayne brought guests to see the Percheron horses. These guests included Cyrus McCormick, George Pullman, the Duke of Veragua, Daniel Burnham, Marshall Field, and Carter Harrison, Sr.
Mark and Carrie had three children, Wirth Stewart Dunham (1878-1931), Bernice (b.1880) and Belle (b.1881). Mark died in 1899 from blood poisoning due to a farm incident and Wirth, who was a student at Harvard at the time, returned home to take over the management of the farm.
Mark's life earned the gratitude and admiration of farmers, both in the United States and in France.
Samuel Durant, Commemorative Records, pgs. 546-551
Of all the problems to be solved on an 1860's/1870's farm, finding a work horse that could manage the new farm equipment that had been developed by Cyrus McCormick was of primary concern. Mark's search to solve this issue led him to the Perche district in France where he found a horse that looked capable of the task. In 1875 Mark purchased the Percheron horse "Success" for $3,300, an impressive sum at the time, greatly strengthening the stock of his horse importing and breeding business and leading to the expansion of "Oaklawn Farms" to around 2,000 acres. By 1888 an estimated one-fifth of all imported French horses lived at Oaklawn.
It was on one of his stock buying trips to France in the late 1870's that he and his wife, Carrie, started dreaming of building a new home. Making a drawing based off of some of the chateaus they saw on their trip, Mark hired Smith Hoag from Elgin to oversee the building of their home. "Dunham Castle", as it became known, was completed in 1883 and became a destination for dignitaries in the years to come. The original Solomon Dunham home that Mark inherited was turned into the business office for Oaklawn Farm, with the upstairs rooms being used as accommodations for travelers who came to purchase horses. During the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair a train from Chicago to Wayne brought guests to see the Percheron horses. These guests included Cyrus McCormick, George Pullman, the Duke of Veragua, Daniel Burnham, Marshall Field, and Carter Harrison, Sr.
Mark and Carrie had three children, Wirth Stewart Dunham (1878-1931), Bernice (b.1880) and Belle (b.1881). Mark died in 1899 from blood poisoning due to a farm incident and Wirth, who was a student at Harvard at the time, returned home to take over the management of the farm.
Mark's life earned the gratitude and admiration of farmers, both in the United States and in France.
Samuel Durant, Commemorative Records, pgs. 546-551
