The Bunce and Rowlands Families

England

Our thanks to Terry Bunce of Denham, Bucks, England for sharing this wonderful reproduction of the Bunce Family crest.

This Coat-of-Arms was provided by Bonnie Bunce, my mentor and guide in researching the Bunces.

The information on Thomas Bunce came serendipitously. There were a few feelers out on the web, and, in less than a month, two responses arrived within a day of each other. A common source was mentioned in both, so the evidence is pretty convincing. Many thanks to Bonnie Bunce whose link above, correspondence, and web page (Bonnie Bunce’s Web Page) have proven invaluable. Bonnie copied and sent me this letter from Louise Howes Burnett.

From xerox copy of letter enclosed with cover letter from Mrs. Alice (Kennedy) Howard dated May 6, 1977:

From:

Louise Howes Burnett

Mrs. Howard’s handwritten note: “She was assisting me in gathering data of Nathaniel b. Mar. 10, 1780 and Cynthia (Fish) Bunce. – Their son Nathaniel R. m. Mary J. Suffern & their dau. Ella Augusta m. Henry Rowlands. Another dau. Florence de La Mongagne (d. unm.)

Pg. 3 of letter:

“I can send you data on Henry Rowlands and his wife Margaret when I find it after xmas.” [Mrs. Howard scribbled note that “she never sent it.”] I have been, for the past year, busy working on a joint venture under the jurisdiction of Fairleigh Dickinson Univeristy (sic) in Rutherford, the Johnson Library in Hackensack, the Pease Memorial Library in Ridgewood, Bergen Community College and the Bergen County Historical Society. I have been Librarian of the Hist. Soc. for the past eleven years. We have zeroxed (sic) the MSS Coll. [probably means manuscript collection], which will be microfilmed, and then an index printed. I am working now on the index. This is the first time that a college library, area library and Historical Society Library have combined their efforts and is supposed to make big news in the library world. For this reason, I have not had time to do my own research, and cannot get to these records for another month. Henry Rowlands had several children, now scattered, but I have their records.

“Caroline Bunce, who mar William Hoff removed to California. In 1875, when my mother was about 6 months old her mother took her and on a ship went to California to see this branch of the family. On the way back, they came by t rain, and stopped to see the Indians who came down to the station selling wares. Grandmother said one of the Indian women wanted to trade babies, taking my mother and giving her one of hers. Caroline Bunce was connected with the Shilliber family in some way. We have an old photograph of them taken out there, but I have no idea of who is who in the picture.

“In the possession of the Rowlands family is a paper once owned by Florence De La Montagne Bunce, who collected family history. It reads as follows:

“Abraham Settled in New York State and had a family which scattered to Long Island and the western part of Conn. From the family the only Bunces in England, belonged D’Bunce and four sons at Isle of Wight all living in 1821.

“Jacob died old Batchelor.

“Jared died, no issue.

“Jonathan settled in Hartford in 1681 and had 9 children:

i. Theodosia mar. a Spencer and moved to Canaan and New Hartford she has numerous offspring. I remember seeing her children in 1794.

ii. Abraham.

iii. Isaac

iv. Jacob

v. Gerusha died with lung manu…. (sic)

vi. Jared, my grandfather, had Jared 73; Polly m. B …….

vii. Gerusha, died with lung manu….. (sic)

viii. Isaiah

ix. Abigail, mar Chadwich and had Caty Skinner.”

Jared Bunce, 73 (I assume this means he aged 73 when paper was written) had Mary, William, Sarah, Jared, Elizabeth Lydia, Harriat (sic), Anna and Lydia Pittice.

Mary Bunce and Rev. B.M. Palmer 48; had Sarah 23, Mary 21; Ruth, 18; Jane, 16; Sarah is married to Basile Leneard, Charleston, 1 son.”

The librarian at Fairleigh Dickinson was not supposed to allow the manuscript referred to in the letter to be checked out. You were only supposed to read it in the library. Because I was faculty, she let me take it for a few days. There really was nothing I needed in there. It was mostly records of property deeds, but it was nice of her to let me take it.

There is a bit of controversy about the name of Thomas’s father, but this genealogy, provided by Rod Davis on the Church of the Latterday Saints web site, seems pretty definitive in tracing his line back to a Richard Bunce, born 1520 in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. It coincides best with information found at other sources. Thomas was born in Kent, probably Seabrook (here’s a map).

He immigrated to Connecticut where he married Sarah Bull who was born in Hartford. There is not a lot of information about Sarah, but it seems that it is the Bull line that goes back the furthest in New England. There is some indication that Thomas came, not alone, but as a youngster with his own parents, since his sister Katherine is listed as having been born in 1620 in Hartford./p>

In early July, 2001, I spent an afternoon exploring Hartford in search of landmarks significant to the family and this page.

A Visit to Hartford

Center Church is the 1st Church of Hartford. Thomas Bunce and Sarah Bull Bunce were original members of this church. Later, they joined the Second Church. As we shall see, however, some of the children remained at this original church and are buried in the cemetery. The choice to change churches may have had less to do with religious differences than with convenience. The newer church may simply have been closer to where the parents lived.

Here we see it from the south.

This cemetery at the Center Church is known as “The Ancient Burial Ground”. The obelisk at the center of the photo is the “Founders Stone”. The names of all the original proprietors of Hartford (and, by definition, also the original parishoners) are etched in the stone.The name of Thomas Bunce faces east. If I had zoomed in (but my camera did not have a zoom) you would see his name right on the front. Just a bit forward and to the right of the photo is the plot where various Bulls and Bunces are buried.

Two views of the Founders Stone.

Below are a few Bunce gravestones. The Thomas Bunce here is Junior (you can see the notation on the stone). The stone to the right of his appears to be that of his sister, Elizabeth, although it is in bad shape and hard to read. On the lower left, the gravestone of Susannah reads that she is the daughter of Elizabeth and the wife of Stephen Hosmer Jr. Stephen Hosmer Sr. built a saw mill with Thomas Bunce Sr. according to .

For more about Hartford, click here. I strongly recommend the “History” link.

Here is the Bunce line from Thomas to my grandparents.

Thomas Bunce (b. 1612, Seabrook, Kent d. 1683, Hartford, Connecticut) & Sarah (Bull) Bunce

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John(1650-1734) & Mary Barnard Elizabeth Thomas Jr. Sarah(1634) Mary(1645)

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John Jr. & Abigail Sanford (1692-1774) Sarah Jonathan Elizabeth Deborah James Jacob Abigail

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Jacob (1715) Anne (1716) John III (1718 – 1791)& Anna ?(1727-1781) Isaac(1717) Rebecca (1719) Jerusha (1721) Theodosia(1723)

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John IV (1750) & 1. Susannah Kilbourne (d. 1780) Unknown daughter (1753 – 1782) Jenny (1756 – 1825) David (1757) 2. Sarah ? (1758 – 1796)

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(with Susannah): Unnamed(1774 – 1775) Russell (1776) Unnamed (1778 – 1779) Unnamed(1781 – 1784) Nathaniel (1780) & Cynthia Fish (with Sarah): John V (1788 – 1794)

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Nathaniel R. & Mary J. Suffern

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Cynthia Josephine Edna John Nathaniel Joseph Ella Augusta & Henry Rowlands Florence de La Montagne

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Josephine Harry Edward Rowlands & Margaret Treanor

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H.E. Jr., Eleanor, Doris, Nathaniel B./James T.(twins), Margaret T.

Wales

The Rowlands Family

Numerous searches have traced the name back to Wales. I have also seen the name attributed to Scotland, but when I sought the family crest, not knowing the country, I specified none. The crest above is what I received from a distributor in the UK along with the following information: Name: Rowlands; Record: 35610; Carew, in the Isle of Anglesea; Arms: Or (not a conjunction – French for “gold”), a lion rampant gules. Of course I then wondered about the Isle of Anglesea. Here’s where it is:

Today it is also known as the Isle of Anglesey, and, as newlyweds, Kate and William lived there for awhile when he was stationed there. According to Martha Stewart the best sea salt comes from Anglesey. Other maps of this location are available here. I like this one. It is very clear. Notice Hillary Point right at the top – where anything named ‘Hillary’ belongs!

My Aunt Margaret Tammany Rowlands Casey and my cousin, Lynn Rowlands Knoll, are my most recent sources of information and collaboration. According to them, the family came to the U.S.A. when my great-grandfather, Henry Rowlands was a little boy. Searches of ships’ lists finally turned up the list for The Steamship Kangaroo which arrived in the port of New York from Liverpool on September 25, 1859. Aboard, and disembarking in New York were three generations of the Rowlands family, the youngest of which included Henry, age 11. This information provides us with the lines cited here.

The Rowlands Line

Robert Rowlands married Mary ________

(b. 1800 approx.) (b. 1805 approx.)

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Thomas Rowlands married Margaret _______

(b. 1823 approx.) (b. 1828 approx.)

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Mary Rowlands, Henry Rowlands, Thomas Rowlands

(b. 1845 approx.) (b. 1848 approx.) (b. 1851 approx.)

⇓

Josephine Rowlands, Harry Edward Rowlands married Margaret Treanor

(no dates) (1876 – 1957) (1878-1963)

⇓

H.E. Jr., Eleanor, Doris, Nathaniel B./James T.(twins), Margaret T.

The passenger list was found at the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild website in Volume 2 of ships from Liverpool to New York, September 25, 1859. The link is no longer available, and the website of ISTG has changed. I made a pdf of the list from the original site.

Margaret T. Rowlands Casey remembers that her grandfather Henry Rowlands had a jewelry store in Albany. I was lucky enough to find Henry’s trade card from 1881. According to Aunt Peg, he later sold his store and accepted a position with Tiffany’s in New York City.