Ann BUNCH

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• _UID: 8D8CD9A22AE64FBAAA79EC0CF09AD837616E

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Birth: WFT Est. 1668 - 1691
Birth: 1688, Cohansey, Salem Co., NJ
Death: WFT Est. 1713 - 1779
Marriage: WFT Est. 1685 - 1728

The name "Bunch" is associated with a South Carolina Indian tribe knownas the Brass Ankles. Bunches can also be found in Ashe, Bertie, Chowanand Wilks Counties, NC. There is a definite tie to Grayson Co., VA andpossible ties to Henry, Botetourt and Orange, VA. Hancock Co., TN isconsidered the "home" of the Melungeons as that is where the most famousones lived. We have ties there through Benjamin and Rachel Bunch. Hancockwas split off of Hawkins County where Paul, Lambert, Joseph and JohnBunch lived.

Who are the Melungeons?
The Melungeons are a multi-ethnic people who were first documented in theAppalachian Mountains at the end of the 18th century. Since that time, they have become a part of Appalachian folklore - "sons and daughters of the legend."

Recent research has suggested a possible Mediterranean or Middle Eastern link in the Melungeons' ancestry in addition to their Indian and / orblack ancestry. They often faced discrimination, both legal and social, and tended to settle in isolated communities such as Newman's Ridge inHancock Co., TN. The Vardy Community is at the foot of Newman's Ridge.The community was named after Vardemon Collins, one of the first recordedMelungeon inhabitants, and was first settled around 1780.

We are related to Vardy Collins, through his son, Simeon, who marriedFrankie Bunch, daughter of Benjamin. Although dark skinned for the mostpart, Melungeons have also been fair skinned with red or blonde hair.This difference in coloration could appear in one family with some siblings dark and others light. This caused all sorts of problems when the census takers came around. Many did not know how to record the race of the Melungeons. In one census, a person could be listed as "mulatto"and in the next as "white."

Where are they from?
Depending on the family surname, their roots can be in South or NorthCarolina, Virginia and Tennessee. Since this site deals with the Bunchline, I will only list the places associated with the Bunch surname. Thename "Bunch" is associated with a South Carolina Indian tribe known asthe Brass Ankles. Bunches can also be found in Ashe, Bertie, Chowan andWilks Counties, NC. There is a definite tie to Grayson Co., VA andpossible ties to Henry, Botetourt and Orange, VA. Hancock Co., TN isconsidered the "home" of the Melungeons as that is where the most famousones lived. We have ties there through Benjamin and Rachel Bunch. Hancockwas split off of Hawkins County where Paul, Lambert, Joseph and JohnBunch lived.

Documentation / Sources
There are some extremely interesting references to our Bunches in thewritings of early Tennesseans. In a Plecker letter, an extract from thewritings of Capt. Jarvis states that he personally knew both Paul andBenjamin Bunch and refers to them as early Melungeon settlers in HawkinsCounty. He adds that the Bunches came with early white settlers fromVirginia which is what I find through the early tax records for GraysonCo., VA. They are listed there with several other Bunch families untilabout 1825. Then they are listed in the 1830 census for Hawkins Countywhich suggests they all moved together. Jarvis expanded on thisinformation in an article he wrote in 1903.

Micager Bunch, a mulatto, shows up on the 1771 tax record for BotecourtCo., VA from which Grayson County was later formed. A later noteindicates that he went on to Indian lands (probably Kentucky). He wasalso listed on the 1790 voter's list for Hawkins Co., TN. It is verylikely that he is the same Micager Bunch, mulatto, who was on the 1755tax lists in Orange Co., NC. This shows a definite western migrationmatching that of the other Melungeon families of Hancock Co., TN.

Taken from the Hancock County Times, Sneedville, TN, 4/17/1903
"Much has been said and written about the inhabitants of Newman's Ridgeand Blackwater in Hancock Co., TN. They have been derisively dubbed withthe name "Melungeon" by the local white people who have lived here withthem. It is not a traditional name or tribe of Indians. Some have saidthese people were here when this country was first explored by the whitepeople, and others that they are a lost tribe of the Indians and have nodate of their existence here, traditionally or otherwise. All thishowever, is erroneous and cannot be sustained.

These people, not any of them were here at the time the first whitehunting party came from Virginia and North Carolina in the year 1761 thenoted Daniel Boone was at the head of one of these hunting parties andwent through Cumberland Gap. Wallen was at the head of another party fromCumberland Co., VA, and named Cumberland Mountain for his home county andcalled the river beyond North Cumberland Wallen's Ridge and Wallen'sCreek for himself. In fact, these hunting parties gave all the historicnames to the mountain ridges and valleys and streams, and these names arenow historical names. Wallen pitched his first camp on Wallen's Creeknear Hunter's Gap in Powell's Mountain, now Lee Co., VA.

Here they found the name of Ambrose Powell carved in the bark of a beechtree, from this name they named the mountain, river and valley forPowell; Newman's Ridge was named for a man of the party called Newman;Clinch River and Clinch Valley these names came at the expense of anIrishman of the party n crossing the Clinch River, he fell off the raftthey were crossing on, and cried aloud for his companions to "clinch me,""clinch me," and from this incident the name has become a historic name.

About the time the first white settlement west of the Blue Ridge was madeat Watauga River in Carter Co., TN, another white party was then workingthe lead mines in part of Virginia west of the Blue Ridge. In the year1762 these hunters returned, coming through Elk Garden, now Russell Co.,VA. They then headed down a valley north of Clinch River and named itHunter's Valley, and it goes by this name today. These hunters pitchedtheir tent near Hunter's Gap in Powell's Mountain, 19 miles fromRogersville, TN on the Jonesville, VA road. Some of the party of hunterswent on down the country to where Sneedville, Hancock County, now standsand hunted there during that season. Bears were plentiful here and theykilled many, their clothing became greasy, and near the camp a projectingrock on which they would lie down and drink, and the rock became verygreasy, and they called it greasy rock, and named the creek Greasy RockCreek, a name by which it has been ever since, and here is the very placewhere these Melungeons settled, long after this, on Newman's Ridge andBlackwater. Vardy Collins, Shepherd Gipson, Benjamin Collins, SolomonCollins, Paul Bunch and the Goodmans, chiefs and the rest of them settledhere about the year 1804, possibly about the year 1795, but all these menabove named, who were called Melungeons, obtained land grants andmuniments of title to the land they settled on, and they were the veryfirst and came here simultaneous with the white people not earlier than1795. They then had lost their language and spoke the English very well.They originally were the friendly Indians who came with the whites asthey moved west. They came from the Cumberland County and New River, VAstopping at various points west of the Blue Ridge. Some of them stoppedon Stony Creek, Scott County, VA where Stony Creek runs into ClinchRiver.

The white emigrants with the friendly Indians erected a fort on the bankof the river and called it "Fort Blackmore," and here yet many of thesefriendly "Indians" lived in the mountains of Stony Creek, but they havemarried among the whites until the race has almost become extinct. A fewof the half-bloods may be found one darker but they still retain the nameof Collins, and Gibson, etc. From here they came on to Newman's Ridge andBlackwater, and many of them are here yet; but the amalgamations of thewhites and the Indians has about washed the red tawny from theirappearance, the white faces predominating, so now you scarcely find oneof the original Indians; a few half-bloods and quarter-bloods balancewhite or past the third generation. The old pure-bloods were finerfeatured straight and erect in form, more so than the whites, and whenmixed with whites, make beautiful women, and the men very fair lookingmen. These Indians came to Newman's Ridge and Blackwater. Some of themwent into the war of 1812-14 whose names are here given: James Collins,John Bolin and Mike Bolin, and some others not remembered; those whoquite full blooded. These were like the white people; there were good andbad among them, but the great majority were upright, good citizens, andaccumulated good property, and many of them are among our best propertyowners and as good citizens as Hancock Co., TN affords. Their word istheir bond and most of them are as true to their promise as the magneticneedle to the North pole. The first ones of them that ever came toHancock Co., TN, then to Hawkins County and Claiborne, are wellremembered by some of the present generation here now, and they have leftrecords to show these facts. They all came here simultaneously with thewhites from the State of Virginia between the years 1795 and 1812, andabout this there is no mistake, except in the dates these Indians camehere from Stony Creek. - - M. Jarvis

WHO ARE THE MELUNGEONS?
The Melungeons are most likely the descendants of the late 16th centuryPortuguese and Turks stranded on the Carolina shores when the settlementof Santa Elena, SC was abandoned by the Spanish. They later intermarriedwith the Powhatan, Pamunkey, Chickahominy and Catawba Indians.

After being abandoned in the outlying Spanish forts, they settled in theAppalachians and further intermarried with the Chreokees and much laterwith the northern European settlers; primarily the Scotch-Irish, becomingpart of the American Melting Pot. The word Melungeon is both Portuguese,meaning "white person" and Turkish, meaning "cursed soul."

The following surnames are considered to be of Melungeon descent
Adams, Adkins, Allen, Allmond, Ashworth, Barker, Barnes, Bass, Beckler,Bedgood, Bell, Bennett, Berry, Beverly, Biggs, Bolen / Bowlen / Bolling /Bowling, Boone, Bowman, Badby, Branham, Braveboy, Briger / Bridger,Brogan, Brooks, Brown, Bunch, Butler, Butters, Bullion, Burton, Buxton,Byrd, Campell, Carrico, Carter, Casteel, Caudill, Chapman, Chavis, Clark,Cloud, Coal / Cole / Coles, Coffey, Coleman, Colley, Collier / Colyer,Collins, Collinsworth, Cook(e), Cooper, Cotman, Counts, Cox / Coxe,Criel, Croston, Crow, Cumba / Cumbo / Cumbow, Curry, Custalow, Dalton,Dare, Davis, Denham, Dennis, Dial, Dorton, Doyle, Driggers, Dye, Dyess,Ely, Epps, Evans, Fields, Freeman, French, Gann, Garland, Gibbs, Gibson /Gipson, Goins / Goings, Gorvens, Gowan / Gowen, Graham, Green(e), Gwinn,Hall, Hammon, Harmon, Harris, Harvie / Harvey, Hawkes, Hendricks /Hendrix, Hill, Hillman, Hogge, Holmes, Hopkins, Howe, Hyatt, Jackson,James, Johnson, Jones, Keith, Kennedy, Kiser, Langston, Lasie, Lawson,Locklear, Lopes, Lowry, Lucas, Maddox, Maggard, Major, Male / Mayle,Maloney, Marsh, Martin, Miles, Minard, Miner / Minor, Mizer, Moore,Morley, Mullins, Mursh, Nash, Nelson, Newman, Niccans, Nichols, Noel,Norris, Orr, Osborn / Osborne, Oxendine, Page, Paine, Patterson, Perkins,Perry, Phelps, Phipps, Pinder, Polly, Powell, Powers, Pritchard, Pruitt,Ramey, Rasnick, Reaves / Reeves, Revels, Richardson, Roberson / Robertson/ Robinson, Russell, Sammons, Sampson, Sawyer, Scott, Sexton, Shavis,Shepherd / Shephard, Short, Sizemore, Smiling, Smith, Stallard, Stanley,Steel, Stevens, Stewart, Strother, Sweat / Swett, Swindall, Tally,Taylor, Thompson, Tolliver, Tuppance, Turner, Vanover, Vicars / Viccars /Vickers, Ware, Watts, Weaver, White, Whited, Wilkins, Williams,Williamson, Willis, Wisby, Wise, Wood, Wright, Wyatt, Wynn

Ann married about 1709 in Prince George's County, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• FamilySearch ID: GJ6J-FMY
• _UID: BE1777FBECAE4DCCB36729B7634B32C69ABB
• Alt. Birth: Between 1662 and 1667, Henrico, New Kent County, Virginia; Alt. Birth

Notes:

From Isle of Wight Co, VA?

John, married Mary Temperance, (Bates) on 16 Nov 1691 in Henrico County, Virginia. Mary was born about 1668 in Henrico County, Virginia; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• _UID: F49961AE250743908B00928BA230F33038BB

Notes:

Last name and parents names are unknown.

Marriage #1: Edward Bates
Marriage #2: John Bunch

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• _UID: 1B114CB1DE8044F1A45E25207EF555F8C386
• Residence: 1656, Virginia

Notes:

John Bunch came to Virginia before 3 Mar 1656. He arrived in a party of twelve brought by Gervase Dodson. John was assigned 450 acres in New Kent Co, VA on 18 Mar 1662 by Phillip Freeman. Phillip had bought it from the original grantee, Thos. Merriday.

John was given a court order dated June 6, 1654, requiring him to show evidence of a Mr. Toby Horton loaning guns to Indians. He failed to appear and was fined 200 pounds of tobacco. New Kent Co. VA deed book 5 shows that John was assigned 450 acres on both sides of the Rickahock Path.
Name: Source: Shawn Ann Griffith webpage, shawnann.com

From Tami Bunch:
Bunch family first found in Flanders. The family then moved from there to Scotland during a religious uprising. It is known that the family lived in Scotland for 400 years. According to Nugent's "Pioneers and Cavaliers of Virginia," John Bunch came to Virginia in 1651-1652. He purchased 450 acres of land in 1662, which land was located in New Kent County. From New Kent County, in 1720 Hanover County was formed. Then from Hanover County, in 1742 Louisa County was formed. In as much as there are now very few records that go back three hundred years, it is difficult to trace relationship that far back; however, it is felt reasonably safe to assume that this John Bunch referred to above is the grandfather of the John Bunch who died in 1742. It is felt reasonably certain that the farm that was purchased by John in 1662 is the same farm that was owned by David Bunch, 1722-1776, and passed on to his heirs in his will. The farm referred to in the will was owned by Miss Audrey Hughson, a spinster in her sixties. She says that she is a descendent of the Bunches; therefore, the ownership of the farm is still in the family, this written in 1966. She states that the last Bunch to own the farm was a Burl Bunch, who died sometime prior to 1873. one does not find the name 'Burl' in the lineage; however, there is a Burwell Bunch, who was born 12/6/1798. There is evidence that he did own the farm that was previously owned by David Bunch, 1722-1776, and this gives credence to her statement. The story has been handed down through the family that Burwell, 1798, came in possession of the port of the farm that had previously belonged to his father, Paul Bunch, 1772-1802. And that Burwell then rode horseback out to Missouri, looked up his father's brothers, and purchased from them their interest in the Bunch farm. It is also to be observed that Burwell's sister, Dorcas, 1801, married Ellis G. Hughson, and that their daughter married David L. Bunch. Miss Hughson believes that she is related to Ellis G. Hughson, but doesn't know the connection. She has an old Hughson family Bible in which is recorded the birth, 1/12/1850, and death, 5/28/1850, of Sarah Ellis Hughson, which apparently is some descendent of Ellis. While Miss Hughson feels sure that she is related to this person, again, she does not know how. she tells how she came in possession of the farm, her mother was Bettie Lewis Sanders, and was reared in Palmyra, Virginia, and when she was a very small girl, she went to visit her relative, Burl Bunch; and while there one of his dogs bit her on the cheek, and it left a bad scar that remained with her the rest of her life. Burl regretted this very much, and in an effort to rectify the matter, he gave her the farm. Miss Hughson and her brother inherited the farm from their mother, and now that the brother is dead, Miss Hughson is the sole owner. She knows very little about their ancestors, and she is unable to explain what the relationship was between her mother and the Bunch family.
There is a Bunch family that originated when five brothers came over named Paul, Jeremiah, Malachi, David, and Henry, and that they landed at Alexandria, Virginia in 1732. However records seem to indicate that our Bunch family were in America for a considerable period of time before the arrival of the five brothers. We do not seem to be related to these five brothers.

John married Mary BARNARD about 1661 in Virginia. Mary (daughter of Bartholomew BARNARD and Sarah BIRCHARD) was born on 3 Dec 1640 in New Kent, New Kent County, Virginia; died after 1669 in New Kent, Virginia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• _UID: 3C7A6CC202714A1EA4E6984510B6D5B2739E

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• FamilySearch ID: LYVM-2LD
• FindAGrave.com: ; Memorial ID#104994923
• _UID: 95C1753BF9B44DF8B8AEF540546AD4446920

Notes:

Note: Thomas' wife is mistakenly referred to by researchers as Sarah Bull from published accounts of a "Prob" probable marriage mentioned in A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, James Savage, a confusion with their son Thomas. However, age differences cannot be ignored and the lineage of Sarah Bull and her children are proved in Thomas Bull's will. Sarah, wife of THIS Thomas will remain unkown as to her maiden name, and Thomas' son Thomas b: 1648 will remain as the proven husband of Sarah Bull.

As one of an army of about 90 men raised from Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield, he served as an ensign in the Pequot Indian war of May, 1637...Thomas Bunce was granted 60 acres in 1671 and an additional 50 acres in 1672 by the General Court "for his Good service therein." His land was located near the present site of the state Capitol.

From The Connecticut Nutmegger, September 1991, page 238:
Thomas, the original immigrant who came from England around 1635, probably marched with Hooker from Cambridge to Hartford in 1636. He was there early enough to be considered a "founder", and his name is on the proprietor's list of 1639. He and his wife were members of the Second or South Church.
Thomas accepted civic responsibilities. He was a constable in 1648,
juror in 1649, townsman (selectman) in 1655, 61, and 65, rate setter and list maker
1668-71 and 1672-73. He served as an ensign in the Pequot War, and "for
his Good service therein" was later granted 110 acres of land. His home was
near the site of the present Capitol. He was evidently involved with
construction work, since records show he helped build a new mill, and he worked to repair the bridge across Little River in 1648.
His descendants were many in Connecticut, as evidenced by their numbers in
Barbour's 'Families of Early Hartford'.
Genealogical Guide to the Early Settlers of America, Henry Whittemore,
1967:
He had Thomas, John, Sarah, Mary 1645, Elizabeth.
References - Hinman's Conn. Settlers, 403; Tuttle Gen. 658; Savage's Gen.
Dict. vol. 1, 298.
Boston Transcript, July 2, 1930, #9800: The list of names on the Hartford
Monument is copied from the account of the Hartford, Ct., old burying
ground, by the Ruth Wyllys Chapter, D. A. R.
"In the center of the cemetery is a venerable monument erected in 1835 in
1835 to the memory of 'The Founders of Hartford.' One hundred and two names
including Thomas Bunce.
Boston Transcript, 22 July 1908, #9961: The inventory of Thomas Bunce was
taken August 3, 1683. Will not dated. To his son John Bunce he gave "my Lott
Lyeing over against Mr. Webster," etc. The two last parcels of land John Bunce
was "to possess immediately after the decease of me & my wife Sarah Bunce."
Founders of Early American Families, Emigrants from Europe 1607-1657,
1975:
Documentation of Son Thomas - attributed to father:
Bunce, Thomas. Hartford (Mass.) 1636 d there 1683. Ensign. Member of committee
of safety. Stiles, Wethersfield; Savage.
!A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, James Savage,
1965: Bunce, Thomas, Hartford 1636, serv. next yr. in the Pequot war,
had, prob. by a d. of capt. Thomas Bull, under wh. he had act. in that was, ch.
Thomas; John; Sarah, wh. m. John White of Hatfield, and, next Nicholas
Worthington; Mary, b 17 sept. 1645, wh. m. Thomas Meakins of Hatfield,
and, next, John Downing; and Eliz. wh. m. Jacob White of Hartford, br. of John
bef. nam.

SOURCES: Austin's Gen. Dict. Vol. 1 pg. 294
Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Mass.
Conn. Gen. Vol. 1 pg. 535
Abridged Comp. of American Gen. Vol. 1

Thomas, the original immigrant who came from England around 1635, probably marched with Hooker from Cambridge to Hartford in 1636. He was there early enough to be considered a "founder", and his name is on the proprietor's list of 1639. He and his wife were members of the Second or South Church.

Thomas accepted civic responsibilities. He was a constable in 1648, juror in 1649, townsman (selectman) in 1655, 61, and 65, rate setter and list maker 1668-71 and 1672-73. He served as an ensign in the Pequot War, and "for his Good service therein" was later granted 110 acres of land. His home was near the site of the present Capitol. He was evidently involved with construction work, since records show he helped build a new mill, and he worked to repair the bridge across Little River in 1648.

His descendants were many in Connecticut, as evidenced by their numbers in
Barbour's 'Families of Early Hartford'.

The Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut, p. 535, and other sources state that Thomas Bunce was born in 1612 in England, said to have been from "Saybrooke, England," of English or Scottish ancestry. He was a "sturdy Puritan, who was at Hartford in 1639, a landed proprietor."
He was considered a wealthy man, as he owned land in Hartford and Wethersfield at the time of his death. His wife survived him by ten years, dying in January, 1693/94, leaving a will dated 1689, which mentioned their grandchildren, Sarah, Thomas and Mehitabel Meekins, and the two oldest children of her son, John Bunce, leaving the remainder of her property to her sons John and Thomas Bunce, executors of her will. A copy of her will also appears in A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records, in Vol. 1, p. 283,

Thomas married Sarah in 1633 in Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut. Sarah was born about 1612 in Connecticut; died in Jan 1693 in Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• FamilySearch ID: G6N8-X3D
• _UID: C4EB8757E16142579B49C54FD68C0DEAB92C

Notes:

Note: Thomas' wife is mistakenly referred to by researchers as Sarah Bull from published accounts of a "Prob" probable marriage mentioned in A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, James Savage, a confusion with their son Thomas. However, age differences cannot be ignored and the lineage of Sarah Bull and her children are proved in Thomas Bull's will. Sarah, wife of THIS Thomas will remain unkown as to her maiden name, and Thomas' son Thomas b: 1648 will remain as the proven husband of Sarah Bull.

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• _UID: 753FC4B186DA4962A2FD08A76BE8A1DA5096

Notes:

1691, 9 Mar: Bartholomew BARNARD of Hartford wrote his will. Gives to daughters Elizabeth WADSWORTH, Sarah STEELE and Mary BUNCE 20 pounds each.

Bartholomew married Sarah BIRCHARD. Sarah was born on 22 Aug 1624; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• _UID: 81656198B6F342DF852F3C9A7342192E2F32