"The name was originally Dam. The Dams were freeholders in England from the time of Edward VI, and it is claimed that the majority of them became Puritans. It is also asserted that most of them left England during the seventeenth century, some seeking religious liberty in Holland, while others came to America for the same purpose.
(I) John Dame or Dam, who belonged to a Cheshire family of the latter name, came to New England in 1633 with a company of colonists under the guidance of Captain Thomas "Wiggans", and settled in Dover, New Hampshire. He may have been a brother of Nicholas Dam [Noyes, Libby and Davis, GDMNH, p. 181, indicate that Nicholas Dam is a misreading of "Dunn"], whose name, together with those of John Dam and several others, appears in a petition presented to the governor of New Hampshire in 1689, but there is no further mention of Nicholas in the Dover records. John Dame was one of the first to receive a grant of land at the confluence of the Cocheco and Fresh Creek rivers, known as Dam Point, and he was also allotted land on Great Bay and at Bloody Point (now Newington). In 1675 he was chosen a deacon of the First Parish Church in Dover, and his death occurred January 27, 1690. His will was dated May 19, 1687, and proved March 23, 1693. He married Elizabeth Pomfret, daughter of Lieutenant William Pomfret and was the father of six children: John, Elizabeth, Mary, William, Susanna and Judith."
