Isaac Bunker (bef. 1740 - abt. 1828)

Born before 1740 in Brunswick, Maine

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 1828 after about age 88 in Gouldsboro, Maine, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Gary Bunker [send private message]

Biography

Isaac Bunker performed Patriotic Service in Massachusetts in the American Revolution.

Isaac Bunker is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A016951.

Isaac Bunker is an NSSAR Patriot Ancestor.
NSSAR Ancestor #: P-124802
Rank: Patriotic Service

This profile is part of the Bunker Name Study.

Isaac Bunker was born before 1740 in Brunswick, Maine, son of Benjamin Bunker (1710–1818) and Abigail Goodwin (1715–~1785).

Isaac married Esther Ives on Oct 10, 1767. Their known children were:

1. Anna Bunker (1760–1842)
2. Dorcas Bunker (~1767–1846)
3. Esther Bunker (~1771– )
4. Isaac Bunker (1773–>1850)
5. Jacob Bunker (1775–1861)
6. Nahum Bunker (~1780–1861)
7. Jeremiah Bunker (~1780– )
8. Benjamin Bunker (1782–1852)
9. Theodore Bunker (1783–1869)
10. John L. Bunker (1785–1871)
11. William Bunker (1788–1875)
12. Samuel Bunker (1788–1872)

Isaac died about 1828 in Gouldsboro, Maine, United States, aged about 87.

March 30, 1776.:
4th. Voted that Mr. Ezra Young and Mr. Levi Higgins and Mr. Stephen Richardson and Mr. Isaac Bunker and Mr. Thomas Richardson be a committee of correspondence, safety and inspection for ye insueing year.

20. ISAAC 4 (BENJAMIN 3, JAMES 2), b @ 1740, prob. Brunswick, Maine. Married before 1760, prob. Brunswick or North Yarmouth, Maine, ESTHER IVES, b @ 1740, d 1820-1824. (Sarah Ives 6 Bunker, dau William 5 and grand-dau Isaac 4, according to her dau Frances Helen, was named after her grandmother Esther Ives.) She signed deeds 1788 and 1820, but did not sign releasing dower in Feb. 1824 deed of last of homestead place and therefore probably died between Dec. 1820 and Feb. 1824. She may have been related to “Ezra Ive” who served in Captain Daniel Sullivan’s Company on Majorbagaduce Expedition 28 July 1779 (Bangor Hist. Mag. 6:68).
      He was at Cranberry Isles, Mt. Desert, Maine, in 1762 (Street’s Mt. Desert 170). His family was probably one of the “four families settled upon one of the Cranberry Isles” as reported by Governor Francis Bernard in his “Journal of a Voyage to the Island of Mount Desert, 1762” (Sparks Manu¬ scripts in Harvard College Library; Bangor Historical Magazine 2:186; Street’s Mt. Desert 109). On 1 August 1768 Benjamin (7) Bunker of Great Cranberry Isle deeded land there to “my son Isaac Bunker” (Lincoln Deed 13:121).
      With his father Benjamin (7) and his brother Benjamin Jr. (22) he took up land at Norwood’s Cove on the main island of Mt. Desert “including the whole Minister’s (now Clark’s) Point” in 1775. Hancock Deed 10:42, transferring this same land from Nathaniel Bennett of North Yarmouth (to whom the Bunkers sold by unrecorded deed) to Rev. Ebenezer Eaton of Sedgwick 21 Oct. 1801, states “the said lots were taken up and settled in the years 1775 and 1776 by Benjamin Bunker, Benjn Bunker Jr. and Isaac Bunker”—270 acres in all. He had the first Ebenezer Eaton lot and improved it in 1779 (Coll. Me. Hist. Soc., 2nd Series, 2:439, 440). This property was also de¬ scribed as “on the point at Southwest Harbor” (Maine Hist. Mag. 8:22). At the first public meeting of the Plantation of Mt. Desert 30 Mch. 1776, he was chosen member of the “Committee of Correspondence, Safety and Inspec¬ tion” (Mt. Desert T.R. 1:20; Street’s Mt. Desert 173; Bangor Hist. Mag. 1:190). The Naval Officer at Portsmouth, N. H., was ordered to permit Joseph Wal¬ lace to export to Isaac Bunker, 14 bushels of corn for Mt. Desert (Committee of Safety Records Jan. 1779, quoted in Collections New Hampshire Historical Society 7:174). At a meeting on 1 Feb. 1779 of Mt. Desert citizens, voted that each subscriber contribute 3 shillings to James Richardson for legal work; contributors included Isaac Bunker (Mt. D. T.R.). At Mount Desert Town Meeting 11 April 1780, he was chosen member of Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety (Mt. Desert T.R.). Included among “Names of Persons in possession of Land at Mt. Desert 23 June 1785”; this referred to property in the Bernard Grant only (Coll. Me. Hist. Soc., 2nd Series, 2:439, 440, 447)
      On 14 Oct. 1788 Isaac Bunker yeoman and wife Esther Bunker deeded to “Margaritt Stanley the wife of Sans Stanley” 100 acres on Great Cranberry Island, also Bar Island (Washington County Deed 1:131), thus apparently dis¬ posing of his Great Cranberry Isle property deeded to him in 1768 by his father. The 1790 census of Mt. Desert lists his family as 1 male over age 16, 9 males under 16, and 3 females; this accounts for his entire family except his daughter Anna who was married in 1787 and therefore not included. Stated to have taken up a lot on the Eastern (DeGregoire) half of Mt. Desert prior to 1791 (Bangor Hist. Mag. 1:188; Maine Hist. Mag. 8:21); this may have re¬ ferred to his old lot taken up at Great Cranberry Isle. “Mr. Isic Bunker ye 1793 April 30” appears as an item on the fly leaf of Samuel Hadlock’s ac¬ count book at Islesford on Little Cranberry Isle (Islesford Collection, Isles- ford, Me.).
      He removed to Gouldsboro prior to 31 March 1797, on which date he was described as “of Gouldsboro” in the deed to him of 100 acres in Goulds¬ boro, “bounded on west by Frenchmans bay,” by Nathan Jones of Gouldsboro (Hancock Deed 7:436). Listed 1800 census Gouldsboro, family consisting of one male and one female over age 45, 3 males age 16-26, and 3 males age 10-16. Listed 1801, 1802, 1803 and 1804 Gouldsboro tax lists (Gouldsboro Town Rec. Vol. 2). Listed 1810 census Gouldsboro, family consisting of one male and one female over age 45, and 2 males age 16-26. On 12 Oct. 1812, he deeded to his son Samuel Bunker, with reservation of a portion thereof, “the same lot which I purchased from Nathan Jones,” 100 acres (Hancock Deed 37:152). Being unable however to collect the $500 consideration, he brought suit in July 1819 (July 1819 term of Hancock County Court of Com¬ mon Pleas 19:151) and received the property back by deed (execution) on 23 March 1820 (Hancock Deed 39:388). The 1820 census of Gouldsboro does not list him by name, but does list an elderly couple, both over age 45, prob¬ ably Isaac and his wife Esther, living with the family of his son Theodore Bunker who was then age 37.
      On 21 Dec. 1820, as of Gouldsboro, yeoman, with wife Esther signing, he deeded to his son Theodore Bunker of Gouldsboro “one-half of the lot on which I now live, the same I bought of Nathan Jones, containing 50 acres” (Hancock Deed 42:499). On 3 Feb. 1824, as of Gouldsboro, yeoman, con¬ sideration $300, he deeded to his son Benjamin Bunker of Gouldsboro the other half (50 acres) of the land he bought of Nathan Jones, and refers in that deed to having deeded the southerly 50 acres of this original 100 acre lot to “my son Theodore Bunker” (Hancock Deed 76:59). Although he thereby deeded the last property he owned, and his homestead, his wife Esther did not sign releasing dowry, indicating she died between Dec. 21, 1820 (see above) and Feb. 3, 1824. He appeared personally to acknowledge this deed on 28 August 1824. He died @ 1825-1828 Gouldsboro, Maine (Historical Researchers Gouldsboro 82; Gouldsboro Town Register 56). Both he and wife Esther are buried on the Oliver (363) Bunker place at South Gouldsboro on the shore of Frenchman’s Bay, where their plain rock slab grave markers are plainly seen. This is part of land Isaac deeded to his son Benjamin (54) which in turn descended thru Thomas Hill (155) to Oliver (363). All of his descendants qualify for membership in Sons of American Revolution or Daughters of American Revolution on account of his service as a member of the Mt. Desert “Committee of Correspondence, Safety and Inspection.”

Sources

See also:

• 1810 Census: "United States Census, 1810", citing Page: 503; Affiliate Name: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Affiliate Publication Number: M252; Digital film/folder number: 005157115; FHL microfilm: 0218682; Image number: 494, FamilySearch Record: XH2W-NFS (accessed 25 November 2023) FamilySearch Image: 33SQ-GYY8-S28G, Isaac Bunker in Gouldsboro, Hancock, Maine, United States.
• United States War of 1812 Index to Service Records, 1812-1815, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q29V-TKQG : 11 March 2016), Isaac Bunker, 1812-1815; citing NARA microfilm publication M602 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); roll 29; FHL microfilm 882,547.
• Moran, Edward Carleton,. Bunker genealogy : descendants of James Bunker of Dover, N.H.. Rockland, Me.?: unknown, 1961?. Page 34
• Street George Edward and Samuel A Eliot. 1905. Mount Desert; a History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.