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Carney & Wehofer Family
Genealogy Pages
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 1658 - 1726 (~ 74 years)
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| Name |
Paul BUNCH [4] |
| Born |
Between 1652 and 1658 |
New Kent, Virginia, British America  [4, 5] |
| Gender |
Male |
| FamilySearch ID |
L835-WT3 |
| Residence |
1695 |
New Kent, Virginia, British Colonial America [6, 7] |
| 150 acres near Sweet Hall Road |
| Residence |
1704 |
King William, King William, Virginia, British Colonial America [6, 7] |
| 150 acres near Cohoke Creek where it flows into the Pununkey River |
| Residence |
1711 |
St. Paul's Parish, Hanover, Virginia, British Colonial America [6, 7] |
| Known as Paul Bunch's Quarter |
| Residence |
1724 |
Hanover, Virginia, British Colonial America [6, 7] |
| 400 acres by Black Haw Swamp. |
| Residence |
1725 |
Bertie, North Carolina, British Colonial America [6, 7] |
| 265 acres on south side of Morattock River |
| Died |
16 Nov 1726 |
Chowan, North Carolina, British Colonial America [4, 5, 6] |
| Person ID |
I594766055 |
Carney Wehofer 2024 Genealogy |
| Last Modified |
16 Apr 2024 |
| Father |
John BUNCH (BUNCE), Sr, b. Abt 1636, England Or Scotland , d. 1700, New Kent, New Kent County, Virginia (Age ~ 64 years) |
| Mother |
Mary BARNARD, b. 3 Dec 1640, New Kent, New Kent County, Virginia , d. Aft 1669, New Kent, Virginia (Age 29 years) |
| Married |
Abt 1661 |
Virginia [1, 3] |
| Family ID |
F8099 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family 1 |
Keziah Fortune HOLDEBEE, b. Abt 1700, Chowan, North Carolina , d. Abt 1755, Bladen, North Carolina (Age ~ 55 years) |
| Children |
| | 1. Elizabeth Naomi BUNCH, b. 1715, Augusta, Virginia, British Colonial America , d. 1807, Augusta County, Virginia (Age 92 years) |
| | 2. Keziah HOLDEBEE, b. Abt 1723, Augusta, Virginia , d. Yes, date unknown |
| | 3. Jemimah HOLDEBEE, b. Abt 1725, Bertie, North Carolina , d. Yes, date unknown |
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| Last Modified |
15 Dec 2022 |
| Family ID |
F536728594 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family 3 |
Amy WINIGUM, b. Abt 1668, North Carolina , d. Yes, date unknown |
| Married |
1689 |
North Carolina |
| Children |
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| Last Modified |
15 Dec 2022 |
| Family ID |
F2369 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Notes |
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PAUL BUNCH born possibly about 1652? 58, married by 1679, and died shortly before 16 November 1727, when his will was proved. He spent his earliest years in Virginia, in counties where most of the records have been lost for the period he lived.58 The first surviving reference to Paul is in 1695, when he purchased 150 acres near Sweet Hall Road from John Claiborne on 29 July 1695.59 Paul Bunch was taxed on 150 acres in King William County in the 1704 quit rent. His land was near Cohoke Creek where it flows into the Pamunkey River and just east of the Pamunkey Indian Reservation.
Paul Bunch does not appear to have been literate, because he signed with a mark on every record we have where he would have signed,
including two in Virginia: as a witness to a deed by John Claiborne on 20 May 1704, and also when he purchased a mulatto named John Russell from John West, gentleman, on 27 January 1700/1 and immediately assigned him over to Elizabeth Russell.
The Virginia Assembly had made it difficult to manumit slaves in 1691 by requiring that freed slaves had to leave the colony shortly after obtaining their freedom. Rather than freeing John Russell outright, granting his custody to someone else avoided an additional fine of ?10.
Paul Bunch settled southward in Hanover County by 17 "9br" [November] 1711, when his land became part of a district in St. Paul's Parish to be processioned. His neighbors included Emanuel Richardson, Nathaniel Hodgkinson, Captain Roger Thompson, John Richardson, James Whitlock, Widow Clough, Thomas Graham, and Thomas Lacy.This represents a completely different group of neighbors than those listed four years later, apparently indicating that Paul Bunch moved from one location to another in Hanover County between 1711 and 15 "9br." [November] 1715.
On 8 March 1715/6 (when Paul Bunch's land was called "Paul Bunch's Quarter"), Francis Clark, John English, John Venable, John Corley, Samuel Sperring, William Webb, Paul Bunch, Thomas WetherfordGilbert Gibson, William Thacker, tephen Ragland, and John Hart (and all their male tithables) were ordered to help clear the road from Stony Run to Half Sink Road. This would normally represent the landowners who lived near that road. Paul Bunch was described as owning land adjacent to Gilbert Gibson on 11 July 1719 when Gibson patented 224 acres in New Kent
County (now Hanover County), Virginia. Gibson's patent was described as beginning on Sunter's corner patent line, bordering Captain Dangerfield's line, a branch, bordering on Paul Bunch's line, and following his line back to Stephen Sunter's line to the beginning. William Timothy Sullivant, and others.
Paul Bunch patented 400 acres in Hanover County on 9 July 1724, apparently some distance west of his residence. This tract was on both sides of Black Haw (Swamp) in Hanover County. This was a few miles west of Paul's residence next to Gilbert Gibson. He probably turned around and sold the land soon after in preparation for leaving Virginia to settle in North Carolina, but the deeds of Hanover County are missing for this period.
Paul was granted 265 acres on the south side of Morattock River in Bertie Precinct, North Carolina, on 1 January 1725/6 joining land owned by Simms, Gideon Gibson, Wilkins, and Quankey Pocoson (recall that Paul Bunch was Gilbert Gibson's immediate neighbor in Hanover County as well). The yDNA results of some living Gibson descendants also indicate they have the E1b1a haplotype.71 It would make sense that mixed-race
descendants of early African-Americans in Virginia who spoke the same language and had the same cultural background would stay together, move together, and probably intermarry.
Paul died soon after he moved to North Carolina. He made his will on 16 November 1726. He stated that he was of sound mind and perfect
memory (the usual preamble, but hopefully accurate). First, after ordering that his debts and funeral charges be paid, he gave his son John Bunch "that part of this Land I now live on which he now lives on" up to a line of marked trees, with "one Negro fellow named Dick" and one iron pot. Paul gave the other part of his plantation to Fortune Holdbee for life, remaining after her death to Keziah Holdbee and Jemima Holdbee, to be equally divided between the two sisters, but "if these two Children die without Heirs lawfully begotten [of their bodies]" then it was to revert back to John Bunch.
The special favor Paul Bunch showed to Fortune and the two Holdbee children might indicate that Fortune was Paul's common-law wife. A late marriage for Paul to a woman of white race was forbidden in Virginia and outlawed in North Carolina in 1715. One might argue that a tenuous bequest to children illegitimate in the eyes of the law would require Paul to give something (even one shilling) to his other surviving children, so
they could not dispute his wishes.
In his will, Paul continued his bequests, giving Fortune Holdbee two feather beds and half the household goods (the other half to go to Joseph Meacham? a grandson?), and half of Paul's stock (the other half to Joseph Meacham), except two cows and calves that were to be given to Thomas Holdbee. Paul gave Fortune one Negro named Frank as long as she lived single (unmarried). Paul bequeathed "my Negro fellow named Daw" to Fortune Holdbee and Joseph Meacham to "help and assist [them] one as much as the other" and gave "one Mullatto Wench name Pegg" to Keziah Holdbee, to be kept in the care of her mother until Keziah reached age eighteen or got married. Paul gave Jemima Holdbee "one Negro Girl named Betty" on like terms, and gave Joseph Meacham "one Negro Wench named Moll and her child Fortune and one Negro Wench [named] Rose and all my Land that I have over Roanoke River" belonging to the plantation that Paul Bunch purchased from Thomas Wilkins. In addition, Paul gave "one Survey of Land only 100 Acres" to Thomas Holdbee. He gave his son John Bunch "one Buckaneer Gun." Paul Bunch appointed Joseph Meacham and Fortune Holdbee his executors, the residue of his estate to be equally divided between them. The last statement in his will reads, "I give Eliza Bunch one Shilling Sterling and my Daughter Russell I give one Shilling Sterling[,] this I appoint
my last Will and Testament as Witness my Hand and Seal this 16th Day of Novr 1726." Paul Bunch signed with a mark, as he did in the records we have of him in Virginia.77 Andrew Ireland and John Cotton witnessed the will, and the name Henry Irby is appended (he became Fortune's next husband).
Fortune Holdbee sold the plantation upon which she lived (and that was formerly Paul Bunch's plantation) to William Little for ?15 "silver money" on 5 July 1727. Fortune sought out better opportunities far away from Bertie and Chowan, moving to New Hanover County, North Carolina, the southernmost point in the colony on the Atlantic Ocean. Her petition to patent 640 acres there was recorded in 1735.
Fortune had already married again? or at least had taken another husband? and gave birth to two more children by 1733. Henry Irby, innholder, of Brunswick on Cape Fear, North Carolina, made his will on 30 January 1733/4. He declared that he was very sick and weak in body. He gave his son William Irby, a minor living in Virginia, ?40 when he reached age twenty-one. He gave his daughter Ann Irby the same amount at age 18. He gave his son Henry Irby [there was a second son of the same name] "born of the body of Fortune Holderby" ?40 at age twenty-one. He gave his daughter Elizabeth Irby, also his child by Fortune, the same amount at age eighteen. He gave Fortune, Henry, and Elizabeth, his house and lot at Cape Fear and made Fortune his executrix.
Henry Irby's first wife, Hannah Irby, who was still living, was none too pleased about his bequests, but there was not much she could do except sue for her dower rights, even though she declared that Henry had "deforced her" [sic, divorced her]. On 6 February 1733/4, Hannah Irby (by her attorney David Osheal) sued for the third part of one messuage and one tract of land that had been assigned to her as dower by Henry Irby ("in times past her husband"). Two days later, order was made to the Provost Marshall to command the officer of Edgecombe Precinct to render the widow her dower and appear before the General Court at Edenton. A note dated 15 March 1734/5 states that Henry refused to deliver the dower (if there had been a legal divorce she might not be entitled to dower).
Henry Irby did not settle all his accounts before his demise. Fortune Holdbee "of Onslow Precinct," as executrix of Henry Irby, was sued by William Wadill on 1 February 1734/5 and 21 August 1735 (for ?30). Hugh Campbell, merchant, sued Fortune Holdbee (then of New Hanover) on 26 May 1735 for ?100. On 14 August 1738, the entry calling her Irby was crossed out ("Fortune Holderby alias Irby") and it was stated that
Fortune had since married Thomas Brown, so the court summoned him (once married, a woman and her goods were the right of her husband
during his lifetime). The suit continued on 13 November 1738.83 John Hodgson brought suit against her for ?50 as executrix of Henry Irby on 26 June 1736 when her residence was described as Bladen Precinct. Again, it was stated that she had since married Thomas Brown, who was duly summoned. This case was continued until at least 20 November 1739.84 Records of New Hanover, Bladen, and Onslow Counties, North Carolina, all suffered heavy losses from courthouse fires.
Thomas Brown, of Wilmington, North Carolina, made his will on 16 July 1748; it was proved 10 May 1749. Being "very Sick and weak in Body," he gave his wife Fortune 400 acres on the sound and two slaves ("Petter & Old Betty"), gave his daughter Isabella Brown the plantation where he formerly lived and part of the land he purchased from Richard Quince, gave his daughter Elizabeth Brown the plantation he purchased from William Salter (the plantations
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| Sources |
- [S86] GEDCOM File : sovelenko.ged, MJS.
- [S629] Tami Bunch, Tami Bunch.
- [S88] GEDCOM File : ~AT4142.ged.
- [S1160] FamilySearch Family Tree (http://www.familysearch.org), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ((http://www.familysearch.org)), accessed 15 Dec 2022), entry for Elizabeth Naomi Bunch, person ID G33B-HZW. (Reliability: 3).
- [S630] 1POPS.FTW.
- [S1160] FamilySearch Family Tree (http://www.familysearch.org), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ((http://www.familysearch.org)), accessed 13 Dec 2022), entry for Paul BUNCH, person ID L835-WT3. (Reliability: 3).
- [S1160] FamilySearch Family Tree (http://www.familysearch.org), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ((http://www.familysearch.org)), accessed 15 Dec 2022), entry for Paul Bunch, person ID L835-WT3. (Reliability: 3).
- [S1160] FamilySearch Family Tree (http://www.familysearch.org), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ((http://www.familysearch.org)), accessed 15 Dec 2022), entry for Fortune Holdebee, person ID GW3K-Q1P. (Reliability: 3).
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