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I found this link in another link that Samarroq posted…
It refers to Micajah Bunch as the King of the Melungeons…
Is anyone familiar with this story or this title?
http://www.geocities.com/ourmelungeons/bunch1.html
MICAJAH BUNCH
King of Melungeons or Another Myth?
BOY’S DEATH MARKS END OF TRIBAL BLOODLINE
By Mark Hicks of the Journal Staff
Knoxville Journal, 17 August 1991
An eagle feather lay across the chest of Michael Joseph Bullard, a medicine bag was next to his right shoulder and a dance stick was propped against the lid of his casket.
The 15-year-old, who attended Rule High School last year, died Tuesday as the result of an accident at a swimming pool in Smyrna where he was visiting his sister. His death essentially marks the end of the bloodline of Cherokees who did not walk the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma.
“It’s the last of a bloodline”, said Richard Dykes, head of the American Intertribal Association. “That’s why he was so important to the other Indian tribes”, added Jerry Wetzel, a Comanche Indian who will participate in Bullard’s traditional ceremonial burial today at New Gray Cemetery.
Bullard was the great-great-grandson of Micajah Bunch, who was the last known King of the Melungeon people. Bullard’s mother, Sandra, was the granddaughter of Guy Bunch, who lived in Hancock County and was the grandson of Micajah Bunch. The Melungeons were a people of mysterious origins who had swarthy complexions, straight black hair, black or gray eyes and were found by the first pioneers.
The Melungeon, who called their leaders “king” instead of “chief,” intermarried with the Cherokee Indians and were considered a branch of the tribe. Micajah Bunch was part Melungeon and part Cherokee. Bullard was the (current) king, he just hadn’t evolved to claim that right,” Dykes said.
David Bullard, Michael’s father, said his son had traced his Indian heritage and was becoming more involved in it. The tribal council had recently voted Michael Bullard a warrior, signified by the eagle feather on his chest. The father and son had spent the summer working and learning at Indian Cave Park in Blaine, an Indian village which dates back 3,000 years. “We dropped all the modern conveniences and chose to live that way,” David Bullard said.
At the park, Michael Bullard was being groomed to become the chief tour guide, a title now held by Wetzel. He was also learning traditional Indian dance. Michael Bullard’s dancing stick had been handed down from Dykes, who used to be a dancer. A choker around his neck was made and handed down by Dykes’ son, Richard, who is a Western Indian dancer and Michael Bullard’s close friend. The medicine bag which is precious to Native Americans and contains rare items was placed in the casket by Billy White Wolf, who also will participate in the burial ceremony.
A white buffalo bag was sent to Michael Bullard from Nancy Fox, a tribal elder in Ohio. Such bags are only sent to chiefs, Dykes said. Fox also sent a message. “She said it was written in the stars that a great chief would die this week,” David Bullard said. “They thought it might be an old chief out West, but he didn’t die. So, it must have been Michael.”
I was proud of my son and his Indian heritage. I decided to let (the Indians) do his burial and I appreciate the interest the Indians have shown. At least this will be something they can remember. My family wanted to bury him today (Friday) but that wouldn’t give my son the honor he deserves.
Wetzel’s Indian name is Heyoka or “Thunder Dreamer” said Michael Bullard’s death leaves a void in the succession of replacing.” “He fulfilled his destiny on earth,” Dykes said.
Hello Rockhound….all y’all! *waves* I too had read the article about that 1991 death of the “King” of teh Melungeons and the death of his descendant…labelling him as the last of the bloodline of Micajah Bunch. Suffice it to say, that that article was however inaccurate as to the “ending” of that line…I also had bookmarked another link that actually showed numerosu pictures of some of the Bunch’s…including one amazingly aged fella who lived to see hsi 100th birthday…neato! This gent has since passed away but his pic (and other’s from that line of Bunch’s) can be viewed at URL:
http://www.fialcowitz.com/bunch/photos3.html
*Scroll down to the pic of George Lewis Bunch…he is 100 in that pic…taken before he passed away in 2004 at the wonderful age of 102.
The main page URL for this neato BUNCH family site can be accessed at:
http://www.fialcowitz.com/bunch/indexbunch.html
You can see pics of Micajah Bunch and his family at their URL:
http://www.fialcowitz.com/bunch/photos1.html
All told, there are 4 photos pages at their site…neat stuff.
They also have numerous names and family data sheets at the main weblink:
http://www.fialcowitz.com/index.html
*Note: for whatever reason, many of the “family lines/trees” are quite incomplete on the site…perhaps the site owner simply has not the time or stealth or health to continue and update etc? Irreguardless of the lack of family tree data…the photos alone on it are just gems in my opinion.
Micajah was undoubtedly one of the leaders of the group labelled “Melungeons”…being an earliest core member.
I thought the article from 1991 was really an interesting read too because it spoke at some length about the burial protocol for this young “King”…and in modern day too….who’d have ever guessed that such a ceremonial burial would occur in just the past 15 years? I think it is simply refreshing and shows such grace to embrace one’s heritage in such fashion. I would be interested in knowing where this young man was buried…and wonder too if they erected a headstone or not. The reason I say this is a wonderment of mine is that I spoke some time ago with a right groovy older gentleman locally (Warren Co, OH) and he located his mother’s gravesite after over 75 years of trying to learn of her true identity and when he located her grave…it was wide open at one end of the ground and bore no stone…Roger said that he was concerned about vandalism but upon further inquiry he discovered that his late mother (who died when he was a mere newborn) was buried in “customary” Native fashion: facing E to W (head to foot)…with the Eastern end opened up at the soil line…and with NO stone or marker…which he said: “would have tied her to the earth” and thus dissallowed her soul to escape to the Heavens.
I suppose I have babled enough for one nite….hope you like th elinks/pics of the Bunch family…I sure did. Blessings from here to there~~~~Laurie
Laurie,
I’m curious,would this directional pattern of burial have the feet facing east?:confused:
In the Eastern Orthodox church,the altar normally faces east.(Exception
is if architecture or geography prohibits it.)
During the funeral service,the deceased’s feet are towards the altar
to symbolize the hope of resurrection.
If the supposition of the 1st paragraph is true,it’s an interesting cultural
parallel.
Roca
Roca…yep…you guessed it! Color me weird but I really thoroughly enjoy visiting cemeteries myself and find it often to be a spiritual journey…that said, upon visiting some of my local family gravesites here in Warren County on my paternal side of the family tree…I noticed an even more interesting thing about some Quaker burials: some of the Quaker folks were buried in a standing UP position…my husband and I noticed how incredibly CLOSE to one another some of the graves were in some (but certainly not all or even most) of their cemeteries…and when we inquired further…we were told that in general, people of the Quaker faith did sometimes bury their deceased in an upright position because they felt that any land conservation was important. Another thing that we noticed was that many many of their headstones had a wheat shaft symbol or a hand with one finger pointing upward to the Heavens on them. I am not certain when the practice began or ceased but most of the Quaker cemeteries here also have not only the headstone but a footstone as well of they were buried in conventional lying down fashion. One cemetery called the “Old Whitacre Farm” Cemetery was literally unearthed this year by my husband and I and nearly ALL of the people buried there had a headstone base, headstne itself and initialled footmarker stone. If you wish to see some pics of these Quaker ancestors of mine and the work we did at that cemetery feel free to visit URL:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohwarren/Cemetery/whitacre/index.htm
or you can view our website concering this family cemetery unveiling at:
http://www.paintanddentwerks.com/Whitacre/index.htm
We are very blessed to have located this cemetery and moreso at even locating the gravestones….as they were 1-3 feet beneath the ground and we dug then up carefully one at a time…bringing them each to the surface…we still yet have lots to do at this cemetery and it is back breaking work but we are determined to eventually locate all of the people interred there so that they will never again be lost to history.
Sorry for straying off topic a bit but burials and cemeteries are, for me, the most imperitive piece of our ancestry and are worthy of much of our genealogical efforts. *jumps of my soapbox* LOL Thanks for your reply and interest…take great care~~~Laurie
Laurie,
Thanks for sharing the “Bunch” links and also the interesting faith/cultural burials. The Quakers were good stewards of the land; it makes one sad when you look around at the way things are now, more concrete, less nature. I spend a lot of time in the Northern Minnesota Boundary Waters, which is one of the few places where there are no buildings, motors allowed etc. I so enjoy the solitude and watching nature, it makes one wish they lived in a more “simple” time.
Shirley
Hello all 🙂 . Thanks all for your continued interest in this interesting “Bunch” of people …pun intended….silly humor…LOL. I wanted to post yet another fab link to more information and just awesome pics of the Bunch family. This link was emailed to me by another member who asked me to post it on their behalf…so check it out: http://www.home.earthlink.net/~ogemah/index.htm
This link owner not only makes mention of the Bunch family Cherokee connection but also notes a Saponi ancestry. Have a great day all~~~~Laurie
Rockhound….LOL…I had no idea….I just assumed you located your link at the Melungeon Heritage Associations LINK…LOL Funny…that is where I initially saw the link to the article you mentioned about Micajah’s last blood reltive from 1991. Anywho….obviously that lil piece of info is located on other forums. Not unlike our own family trees….we just keep circling around the fire and back again don’t we? Har. Take care….Laurie:p
sammarroq;22818 wrote: Laurie,
Thanks for sharing the “Bunch” links and also the interesting faith/cultural burials. The Quakers were good stewards of the land; it makes one sad when you look around at the way things are now, more concrete, less nature. I spend a lot of time in the Northern Minnesota Boundary Waters, which is one of the few places where there are no buildings, motors allowed etc. I so enjoy the solitude and watching nature, it makes one wish they lived in a more “simple” time.
Shirley
Wanted to share another link that has good Bunch genealogy info: http://mycollinsgenresearch.tribalpages.com
This site has shown me two branches of my family connect to the Bunchs.
Shared respect for the earth seems to be a big part of what brought groups like the Quakers and Saponi together. That and persecution.
17th century Quakers talked about how you could basically learn everything you needed to know about faith from quiet contemplation in nature. The ones in Europe as well as America.
Even though I wasn’t raised a Quaker (or in any faith), I have been involved with Quaker and Brethern groups. Learning about their history has made my life make a lot more sense. It’s amazing to me that I found my way into the same groups as my ancestors before I really knew who they were.
That feeling of needing solitude and watching nature is one I know well. Growing up in Ontario next to a wilderness area, spending time in the forest and clearings are among my most peaceful memories.
When I moved to the beach in Southern California I used to feel I was going crazy sometimes because of how much concrete there is and how many people live in such a small area. The counties between LA and San Diego have about as many people as the provinces of Quebec and Ontario combined. It seems like everything down there is paved or developed. Many wilderness tent camping trips to the deserts of CA, NV, AZ and NM always got me back to feeling normal though.
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