The Bunch family also descended from a white woman who had children by a slave in Virginia, probably about 1630. I had no way of knowing this when I researched the family many years ago because they lived in New Kent and Hanover counties which have few surviving records. However, DNA testing as well as significant additional research by Ancestry.com and the Core Melungeon Project  has proved the family descend from a West African man. A few months ago this information was published by Ancestry.com as the Obama Bunch Descendancy since Samuel Bunch (born about 1720) was one of the president's ancestors. The only indication from the records that Samuel had some measure of African ancestry is the fact that he was indicted, along with several of the other mixed-race heads of household in the area, by the Louisa County Court in 1745, apparently for failure to list his wife as a tithable.

http://c.mfcreative.com/offer/obama_bunch/PDF/descendancy_final.pdf . See also http://www.familytreedna.com/public/coremelungon (Y-DNA Results)].

What is interesting about the Bunch family is that Samuel Bunch's brother William was called "Mr. William Bunch" by the "Gentleman" merchants with whom he had an account in Orange County for purchases of a silk handkerchief, paper and ink, and an ivory knife and fork. William had excellent handwriting, so that might indicate he was relatively well educated. And his education might explain why he was so well regarded [Orange County Judgments, February-March 1742, LVA microfilm reel no. 84, frames 644-9; July 1742-February 1742, reel no. 86, frames 427-32; September 1742-March 1743, reel no. 88, frames 369-371; June-December 1743, reel no. 90, frames 532-5; Judgments May (K-Z)-July 1744, frames 283-6]. Samuel's other brother James was called "Mr. James Bunch" in Louisa County court documents in 1773.
Paul

______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html