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http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/Brooks_Byrd.htm
The Bunch family probably descended from John Bunch, born say 1630, who received a patent for 450 acres in New Kent County on 18 March 1662 [Patents 5:152]. He may have been the ancestor of several mixed-race members of the family:
1 i. Paul1, born say 1675.
2 ii. John1. born say 1684.
3 iii. Henry1, born say 1690.
1. Paul1 Bunch, born perhaps 1675, received a patent for 265 acres in North Carolina on the south side of the Roanoke River joining Quankey Pocosin and Gideon Gibson on 1 January 1725, and he bought a further 300 acres joining this land [Halifax DB 8:283]. He may have been the same Paul Bunch who was listed in the King William County, Virginia Rent Roll in 1704.
His Chowan County will was written on 16 November 1726 and probated on 10 March 1726/7 [SS 876, 3:138-9]. He left his land and eight slaves to his son John and to Fortune Holdbee and her daughters Keziah and Jemima. Elizabeth Bunch (no relationship stated) and his daughter Russell received only one shilling each.(1) He did not mention a wife nor did he mention his relationship to Fortune Holdbee. She may have been his common-law wife since he gave her one slave as long as she remained single.
The May 1734 Bertie court minutes referred to Keziah as “an orphan Child Entitled to a considerable Estate … (by the will of Paul Bunch) bound to Capt. Thos. Bryant till the age of Thirty one contrary to law,” and the August 1735 Bertie County court Minutes referred to the estate of “a Mulatto woman, Keziah Holdebee, and three children [Haun, Bertie County Court Minutes, I:135, 154]. Paul1 Bunch had the following children:
4 i. John2, born say 1692.
ii. Russell, a daughter, received one shilling by her father’s will.
iii. ?Keziah Holdebee.
iv. ?Jemima Holdebee.
2. John1 Bunch, born say 1684, “a Mulatto,” and Sarah Slayden, a white woman, petitioned the Council of Virginia on 16 August 1705 to allow them to marry because the Minister of Blisland Parish (in New Kent and James City counties) had refused to marry them. The Council was undecided on the issue since “the intent of the Law (was) to prevent Negros and White Persons intermarrying,” and John Bunch was a “Mulatto.” The matter was referred to the court to decide [McIlwaine, Executive Journals of the Council, III:28, 31].(2) He was called John Bunch, Jr., when he received a patent for 400 acres in Hanover County on the upper side of Taylor’s Creek on 18 February 1722 and called John Bunch on 2 July 1724 when he received a patent for another 400 acres adjoining his land. He patented another 400 acres adjoining his land on 17 August 1725 and another 400 acres on both sides of the Southana River on 28 September 1728 [Patents 11:162; 343; 12:244; 14:3]. He may have been the father of
i. Samuel, born say 1720, living in Louisa County on 28 May 1745 when he, Thomas Collins, Samuel Collins, William Collins, George Gibson, Thomas Gibson, William Donathan, and Benjamin Branham were presented by the court for failing to list a tithable (probably their wives) [Orders 1742-8, 152, 157, 172]. He received a patent for 400 acres in Louisa County on the Newfound Branch of Camp Creek on 8 April 1767 [Patents 36:1037].
3. Henry1 Bunch Sr., probably born about 1690, was a resident of Chowan County on 18 December 1727 when he purchased 200 acres in Bertie County on Reedy Branch. On 30 May 1729 he purchased 640 acres in Bertie on Conaritsat Swamp from Thomas Pollock [DB C:21, 266]. He was taxed on himself and two slaves in the 1750 Bertie County summary tax list and was a “Free Mulatto” taxable with two slaves in John Hill’s 1763 Bertie tax list. Henry made a will in Bertie on 21 April 1775, proved in August 1775. He had already deeded 840 acres of land on Conaritsat and Mulberry to his grandson Jeremiah, Jr., in 1765, and in his will left most of the remainder of his land to his grandson Cader Bass [WB B:34-7]. Henry Sr. named as heirs the following children:
5 i. Jeremiah1, Sr., born say 1715.
ii. Tamerson, married Thomas Bass.
iii. Susannah, married Lazarus Summerlin.
iv. Rachel, married Joseph Collins.
v. Nancy, married Isaac Bass.
6 vi. Embrey, born say 1730/35.
4. John2 Bunch, born say 1692, owned land adjoining Gideon Gibson’s land, and he probably named his son Gideon for him. He sold the land that “my father Paul Bunch bought of James Kelly on Occaneche” on 28 August 1728 and purchased 100 acres in Bertie County on the south side of the Roanoke River near Tuckahoe Marsh on 12 May 1729. He purchased 270 acres in Bertie on the south side of the river on 8 February 1728/9, and another 50 acres on the south side of the river, and sold these two plots as one parcel of 320 acres on 4 November 1732 [Bertie DB C:21, 142, 146, 288; Edgecombe DB 1:19]. Like the Gibsons he moved to Berkeley County, South Carolina, where he recorded a Plat for 350 acres northeast of the Santee River and lot 177 in Amelia Township on 15 November 1735 [Colonial Plats 13:425]. He recorded a plat for a further 100 acres on the Santee River and a half-acre town lot in Amelia Township a month later on 13 December 1735 [Colonial Plats 2:461]. On 15 December 1755 he and his wife Mary made a deed of gift of half this land to their son John, Junior [Charleston DB Q-Q:193-4]. Their children were
7 i. Gideon, born say 1713.
ii. John3, Jr., received half his father’s land on 15 December 1755.
iii. ?Jacob, who recorded a plat for 200 acres in St. Matthew’s Parish on 2 June 1772 which was land adjoining Gideon and John Bunch [Colonial Plats 13:425].
iv. ?James, who lived on land adjoining John Bunch in St. Matthew’s Parish, Berkeley County [Colonial Plats 13:425].
v. ?Naomy, married John Joyner, Junr., 23 December 1754 (both of Amelia Township) [History of Orangeburg, S.C., 137].
5. Jeremiah1 Bunch, Sr., born say 1715, made a will in Bertie on 8 Mar. 1797, proved a few days later. It did not identify his wife, who predeceased him, but named his children:
i. William, probably born about 1740, but did not marry until middle age, bond 23 December 1785 Mary Bunch, with Frederick Bunch bondsman. He left a will in Bertie in 1816.
8 ii. Henry2, born perhaps 1743.
iii. Jeremiah2, born about 1745, married, bond 14 January 1765 Judah Hill, Micajah Bunch bondsman. He died intestate in Bertie in 1809.
iv. Nehemiah, left a will in Bertie County in 1815.
v. Frederick, born about 1745/8, left a will in Bertie County in 1810.
vi. Nanny, married Collins.
6. Embrey Bunch, born say 1730/35, made a will in Bertie County on 20 July 1780, proved May 1789. He left a wife Elizabeth and children:
i. Micajah2 Sr., born circa 1760/65, married bond 8 April 1791 Levinia Holder, with Elisha Holder bondsman, and secondly, bond 17 November 1801 Teletha Smith, with Micajah Bunch Jr. bondsman. He moved to Christian County, Kentucky about 1803.
ii. Mary, married _____ Williams.
iii. Zadock, born before 1775. Unmarried, made his will 30 January 1801, proved May 1801.
iv. Nanny, married Rigdon Pritchard, 29 February 1792 Bertie County bond.
v. Milley, unmarried in 1801.
7. Gideon Bunch, born perhaps 1713, was probably John2 Bunch’s son since he sold the land John inherited. He was living in Brunswick County, Virginia, in 1740 [Orders 1732-41, 253; 1737-44, 41, 64]. He was a defendant in a June 1747 Lunenburg County, Virginia court case [Orders 1746-48, 209] and was taxable in Lunenburg County on himself and Cage Bunch (his son Micajah?) in 1749 [Bell, Sunlight on the Southside, 114]. He was taxed as “Gibion” Bunch on 2 polls in the 1750 Granville County, North Carolina tax list of Samuel Henderson [CR 44.701.19]. He was taxable on one black poll in 1755 in Orange County, North Carolina:
Bunch, Gideon a Molata 0/1 [T&C Box 1, p.4].
Members of the Gibson family were also taxed as “Molatas” in Orange County in 1755. He was indebted to Samuel Benton of Orange County for 3 pounds, 11 shillings in June 1756 [Haun, Orange County Court Minutes, I:171]. He moved to Berkeley County, South Carolina, where he recorded a plat for 100 acres on the northeast side of Four Hole Swamp on 5 December 1758 [Colonial Plats 8:30], and he was listed with (son?) Ephraim Bunch in the Berkeley County Detachment under command of Captain Benjamin Elliot: drafted 8 November 1759 and discharged 8 January 1760 [Clark, Colonial Soldiers of the South, 938]. He and his son William were “Black” taxables in Fishing Creek District, Granville County, in 1761 and in 1762 with the notation, Refs. to list his wife &c.
On 15 March 1763 while a resident of Berkeley County he sold 565 acres in Halifax County, North Carolina, of which 265 acres had been patented to Paul Bunch on 1 Jan 1725, the remaining acreage having been purchased by Paul Bunch from Thomas Wilkins on the south side of the Roanoke River joining Quankey Pocoson, Sims, and Gideon Gibson. William and Temperance Bunch were witnesses to the deed [DB 8:283].
On the following day, 16 March 1763, he bought another 150 acres in Berkeley County [SC Archives Index 9-3-8-79-01 & 30-2-6-455-01]. He was the plaintiff in a suit in Granville County, North Carolina, on 11 August 1765 in which he accused William Bowling of trespass, but Gideon did not appear [Minutes 1754-70, 138]. On 2 March 1773 he recorded a plat for 200 acres in St. Matthew’s Parish, Berkeley County, South Carolina, on a branch of Four Holes called Target, adjoining Jacob and John Bunch [Colonial Plats, 13:424]. Perhaps he was the Gidian Bunch whose 17 March 1804 St. James, Goose Creek, Charleston County, South Carolina will was proved 7 May the same year [WB 29:629]. His children were
9 i. Micajah1, born say 1733.
ii. ?Ephraim, born say 1738, in the Berkeley County, South Carolina detachment under command of Captain Benjamin Elliot: drafted 8 November 1759, discharged 8 January 1760 [Clark, Colonial Soldiers of the South, 938]. He married Lydia Crier, daughter of Thomas Crier/ Cryer and Elizabeth Powell. Ephraim and Lydia had three children according to testimony in Charleston District on 26 August 1813: Elizabeth Powell married Thomas Crier and they Begat a Daughter by name Lydia Crier who married Ephraim Bunch and they begat two daughters and a son, that is now living by name Martha, Deborah and Elisha Bunch, the deponents say that Elizabeth Powell before mentioned and all their family were white people clear of any mixt blood and that neither of them ever heard any reflections Cast on their Colour or Blood, William (X) Kennedy, Jesse Joyner [South Carolina Archives, Miscellaneous Records (Main Series), Volume 4-G, p. 207, cited by The South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research XVI:27].
iii. William, born perhaps 1740, an over sixteen-year-old taxable in his father’s household in the 1762 list for Fishing Creek District: “Son William.” A 7 November 1763 Granville County deed of sale for land from Henry Fuller to William Chavers refers to land on the north side of Tar River adjoining Chavis and William Bunch, and in 1764 he was a “Black” taxable in Henry Fuller’s household in the Granville County list of Samuel Benton. He may have been the William Bunch who witnessed Gideon Bunch’s sale of land in Halifax County on 15 March 1763 and owned land in St. Matthew’s, Berkeley County, South Carolina, on 2 June 1772 [Colonial Plats, 13:425].
iv. ?Liddy, born before 1743, taxable in the 1754 Granville County tax list of Gideon Macon with (her brother?) Micajah Bunch in John Stroud’s household.
v. ?Fanny, born about 1745-49, a 12-16 year-old taxable in the Fishing Creek District, Granville County household of John Griffin and his wife Miles Griffin in 1761.
Gideon’s children named in the South Carolina will were
vi. Jeremiah, who purchased land from John Bunch by deed recorded in Charleston District between 1800 and 1801 [Lucas, Index to Deeds of South Carolina, D-7:224].
vii. Hester Chern.
viii. Mary Chamberlain.
ix. Daniel, head of a white Charleston County household of 10 persons in 1800 [SC:60].
x. David.
8. Henry2 Bunch, born perhaps 1743, was taxed as a “Free Mulatto” in his father’s Bertie County household in the 1763 list of John Hill. He married Eleanor Bayson, 29 February 1764 Bertie County bond with Thomas Bass bondsman. In 1764 he was taxed on himself in his own household in Jonathan Standley’s list, in 1767 on one slave, and he was taxed for the last time in Bertie County in 1769 in the household of Abraham Moses. He moved to Orange County by 1780 when he was taxable on a 2,179 pounds assessment in St. Mary’s District [CR 073.701.1 by NCGSJ XI:155]. He was head of an Orange County household of 3 “other free,” 1 white woman, and 3 slaves in 1800 [NC:550] and 5 “other free” and 1 slave in 1810 [NC:953]. He may have been the father of
i. Thomas, head of an Orange County household of 3 “other free” and a white woman in 1800 [NC:550].
ii. Eleanor, married John Perry on 2 March 1797, (her brother?) Thomas Bunch bondsman. She obtained a divorce from the General Assembly in December 1798. In her petition she claimed that John Perry took to card playing, wasting his property, and abusing her soon after they married. She and her child moved to her father’s house [NCGSJ XVII:206].
9. Micajah1 Bunch, born say 1733, was probably identical to Cage Bunch who was taxable in Gideon Bunch’s Lunenburg County household in 1749 [Bell, Sunlight on the Southside, 114]. He was taxable in 1754 in the Granville County list of Gideon Macon in John Stroud’s household [CR 44.702.19]. He was called “Micager Bunch Molata” when he was taxed on 1 “Black” tithe in Orange County in 1755 [T&C Box, p.19]. He was a defendant for debt in Halifax County, Virginia, in June 1764, and in June 1769 the Halifax County court ordered that an attachment against his estate be dismissed [Pleas 4:312; 6:341]. He may have been the Micajah Bunch who was a delinquent taxpayer on “Indian Land” in Fincastle County, Virginia, in 1773. This probably meant that he was living in present-day Tennessee or Ohio [Magazine of Virginia Genealogy 34:10]. He was taxable on an estate of 42 pounds in present-day Ashe County in 1778 [NCGSJ X:15-18]. He may have been the father of
i. Clement, born perhaps 1770, an orphan boy bound to Anthony Cozart by the Orange County court on 25 November 1777. He was surrendered to the Granville County court by his bondsman, John Wilburn, on 1 November 1790 [Minutes 1789-91]. In December 1798 he posted a bastardy bond in Granville County for a child he had by Mildred Bass [Camin, N.C. Bastardy Bonds, 87].
Others in South Carolina
i. Lovet, head of a South Orangeburg District household of 8 “other free” in 1790 [SC:99]. He lived for a while in Robeson County, North Carolina, since “Lovec Bunches old field” was mentioned in the 1 March 1811 will of John Hammons [WB 1:125].
ii. Gib., a taxable “free negro” in the District between Broad and Catawba River, South Carolina, in 1784 [South Carolina Tax List 1783-1800, frame 37].
iii. Paul2, head of a Union District, South Carolina household of 6 “other free” in 1800 [SC:241].
iv. Henry3, head of a Newberry District, South Carolina household of 2 “other free” in 1800 [SC:66].
v. Ralph J., Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1950, probably descended from the South Carolina branch of the family, but this has not been proved. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, on 7 August 1904, son of Fred and Olive Bunche. The 1900 and 1910 census for Detroit lists several members of the Bunch family who were born in South Carolina, but Fred Bunch was not among them.
Endnotes:
1. Fortune Holdebee sold her land, “plantation where I now live … formerly Paul Bunches,” on 5 July 1727 [Bertie DB B:276] and received a patent for 640 acres in New Hanover County in August 1735 [Saunders, Colonial Records of North Carolina, III:52].
2. A runaway “Mallatto Man Slave” named Jack, who belonged to Samuel Harwood, Jr., of Charles City County, Virginia, apparently knew of John Bunch since he went by his name when he was living in South Carolina. George Rives, who had lived on Harwood’s plantation, stated in a deposition recorded in Prince George County court on 8 September 1719 that he had met Jack while trading in South Carolina in April 1719 and that Jack had been in the company of a trader from Prince George County named Robert Hix [Deeds, Wills, Etc. 1713-28, 350].
I need some help.
The author of this book claims that over the past twenty years he has read every colonial court record book in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. He said that in those areas, people of Indian descent blended into the free mixed-race community (which is true).
But then he went on to say he has not found a single community which was formed on the basis of Indian ancestry.
I don’t think MULATTO = AFRICAN.
I think MULATTO = ANY MIXED-BLOOD NON-WHITE
What do you think?
He also claims that Moses Riddle may infact be of African descent. See my other post here:
http://www.saponitown.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1848
Let’s examine the premise contained in:
“2. John Bunch, born say 1684, and Sarah Slayden, a White woman”….. in your 1st post in this thread….
….. and this is “16 August 1705, New Kent and James City” Counties…
“The Council was undecided on the issue since ‘the intent of the Law (was) to prevent Negroes and White persons intermarrying’ and John Bunch was a Mulatto”……
(that is an inexact rendering of that legislation).
And members of the Council (many held some Africans as slaves) in 1705 Virginia could not “decide” if someone was of African descent or was an ‘other’ non-white?
What do you think these labels could possibly mean, given the actual history of that time? (this “law” had more to do with discouraging ALL ‘interracial’ prodgeny than with “Negro/White” relations….. given that very few Africans had been ‘imported’ into the Virginia Colony prior to 1680 – that ‘trade’ didn’t hit it’s ‘stride’ until the late 17-teens.)
Heinegg always assumed that the 16th and 17th century use of the terms “mulattoe” and “intermarrying” are the same as ‘today’ and therefore, can ONLY refer to African/White relationships.
(don’t anyone ‘snap’ here, I’m referring to a specific cultural mindset in a specific time and place.)
Bill
Rockhound says >>>>>i. Clement, born perhaps 1770, an orphan boy bound to Anthony Cozart by the Orange County court on 25 November 1777>>>>>
Anthony Cozart was one of mine. I’ll see if I can find any other references to Clement in my Cozart notes.
And Bill……. are you saying that John Bunch MAY have been a non-african non-white? Well whatever else could he have been? 😉
Well I have been conversing some more with the author, Paul Heinegg.
From what I gather (and this is just my opinion) it seems that he refers to these people as African and says “where is the proof that they are not?”
Well, you can’t say either way, so to me it doesn’t prove him right, but then again you can’t absolutely say he is wrong.
Anyway, maybe someone can use the information they find on his website to further their search whether or not they agree with his opinion.
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