William Bunnell

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William Bunnell, whose ancestry is unknown (or not traced here), died after 1654.1

William married Ann Wilmot, daughter of Benjamin Wilmot and Ann Ladd, at New Haven, Connecticut, about 1638.2,3

A William Bunell was a member of a jury in 1630 in Boston, but there are no further records of a man of this name until 1640 and 1642. One was admitted as a townsman of Boston in March 1642, had children by two wives and died in 1660. There are Massachusetts General Court records of a second William Bonnell and his indigent family from 1640-1646 when he returned to England, but his family appears to have remained in New England, probably staying with Ann's father, Benjamin Wilmot of New Haven.

Ann is mentioned in a New Haven Court record in 1649, and the next year their daughter Mary was born there. In 1651, William sued to overturn the apprenticeships of two of his children, but the court disagreed. In one remarkable statement, Ann was asked, "What direction her husband left for providing for the children; she said he left little or nothing to maintayne them, and she asked him what she should doe wth them; hee said they were hers as well as his, and he left them wth her. And the boy saith he remembers his father did say so to his mother."

In 1653 Ann was reported sick and the town took action to put out the younger children (Nathaniel & Mary). She died before 1 May 1654 when William asked for assistance to return to England where "he hath some frends to take care of him." The townsmen and treasurer were authorized to send him on a ship from Milford to Newfoundland and presumably from there to England. They felt that this was a better choice than continuing to support him.

His death has not been found in any records, but a William Bunnell did die in Barbados, 5 August 1678. It's not considered likely due to his probable age (70-80) and the number of Atlantic crossings he would have made (5).2,4,5

Family

Ann Wilmot b. 1622, d. bef. May 1654
Children
  • Nathaniel Bunnell6,7 b. say 1639
  • Benjamin Bunnell6,7 b. say 1641, d. 1696
  • Lydia Bunnell+6,7 b. say 1643, d. 1 Apr 1708
  • Mary Bunnell6,7 b. 4 May 1650, d. 20 Jul 1724
  • Ebenezer Bunnell6,7 b. 28 Aug 1653, d. 1654
This person was last edited on28 Sep 2017

Citations

  1. [S1277] William R. Austin, The Bunnell/Bonnell Family in America: Consisting of Volume I Revised and Volume II: William Bunnell of Massachusetts Bay and New Haven Colonies: Comprising Full Accounts of the First Six generations, Vital Records of the Seventh Generation, and the Names and Relationships of the Eighth Generation, 2nd ed. (Westminster, Maryland: Heritage Books, 2007), 29-30, further cited as Austin, The Bunnell/Bonnell Family.
  2. [S53] Donald Lines Jacobus, Families of Ancient New Haven, 9 vols. in 3 (1924-1932; reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1974), 358, further cited as Jacobus, New Haven Families.
  3. [S1872] Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700, 3 vols. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011), 245, further cited as Torrey, New England Marriages (2011).
  4. [S1277] Austin, The Bunnell/Bonnell Family, 27-30.
  5. [S2281] Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I–III, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 1:276-77 (William Bunnell), further cited as Anderson, GMB.
  6. [S53] Jacobus, New Haven Families, 358-359.
  7. [S4] Donald Lines Jacobus, "The Wilmot Family," The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 59 (Jan 1905): 67-73, further cited as Jacobus, "Wilmot Family."