I don't usually check the message boards; but found your message today.
I called my aunt (Beulah Demory Briggs) who remembers the Dunkum boys. As you know, they were boarded at the home of Nona & Henry Demory (my grandparents). Apparently, my father (Charles Demory) took a Pontiac car into Washington, D.C. to get it repaired. My aunt and grandparents went along. Mr. Dunkum was the mechanic. He was very friendly and talkative. He asked where they were from and they told him they were from a little town called Gaithersburg.
He asked if they had ever thought of taking in children to room and board. They said "No", they never had. He told them that his wife had mistreated his two boys. They were separated and the boys were with the grandmother who wasn't taking good care of them. He offered to pay them to take care of the boys. They talked it over and decided to take them into their home, so sometime later, Mr. Dunkum brought the boys to the home they were renting on Diamond Ave. in Gaithersburg where they stayed for several years, until Nona became ill. Then they stayed with the neighbor (the Treavy's(?sp). Following this, they moved to Taylorstown, VA where they stayed with Nona's sister, Elsie Demory & her husband, Wilmer. They were with them for several years also.
Then, Mr. Dunkum met "a woman" and planned to be married; however, the woman didn't like the fact that he was paying someone to care for his children. She thought they should be cared for by their grandmother. The boys were very upset about leaving the Demory's because they loved them so. William (Billy) actually hid in the hay loft of the Carnes farm down the road from the Wilmer Demory home and it took a long time for them to find him.
Aunt Bea (Beulah) said that the last they heard about the boys was that Henry had died in the fire when his grandmother's house burned down. She has always wondered what happened to Billy. Are you related to him?