GEORGE E. DUNHAM
George Earl Dunham, editor of the Utica Daily Press and president of the Press Publishing Company, was born in Clayville, Oneida county, April 5, 1859, the only child of Rev. Moses E. Dunham, D. D., Ph. D., and Harriet (Hughston) Dunham. He was graduated from Whitestown Seminary in 1875 and from Hamilton College in 1879, being the youngest member of his class at both institutions. He was for a year a clerk in the office of Edwin Baylies at Johnstown, N. Y., one of the ablest law writers of his time, and the author of Baylies's Questions and Answers, Baylies on Guaranty and Suretyship, and several other standard works. In 1880 Mr. Dunham was admitted to practice law and became a member of the firm of Baylies & Dunham. The firm did much work in the line of law book writing, being employed on various editions of William Wait's publications and several other legal books. A year later Mr. Dunham returned to Oneida county to become vice-principal of Whitestown Seminary, of which his father was principal. In 1882 he came to Utica as a reporter on the Press and has since remained with that paper. The Utica Daily Press, from anything but an auspicious beginning, has become one of the leading and most prosperous papers in Central New York. It was started in March, 1882, by printers who had left the Herald two days before, and whose facilities were decidedly limited. The first number had four small pages by no means of attractive appearance. Mr. Dunham went to the Press the following July, and at one time or an other has held every situation on the editorial staff. In 1886 he became president of the company and editor of the paper and has continued in these positions ever since. At the same election T. R. Proctor was chosen vice-president and Otto A. Meyer secretary treasurer and business manager. The improvement and growth of the Press have been steady and permanent, till now it enjoys the largest circulation in its field.
The Press has become a potent factor in local politics, and has won the respect and confidence of all classes of citizens. In 1888 Mr. Dunham was appointed a manager of the Utica State Hospital for the Insane and was reappointed by Gov. Flower and three years later by Gov. Morton. He was appointed by Mayor Kinney chairman of the Utica Electric Light Commission and served three years. He was elected a trustee of Hamilton College in 1891 and was re-elected in 1895.
Mr. Dunham was married to Miss Helen L. Jones, of Utica, January 9, 1884. They have had one child, a daughter, who died in infancy.
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