William Bunbury (1670 - 1725)

My eighth great-grandfather.

Born:  1670 in Stafford Co., Virginia Colony, Colonial America
Died:  17 September 1725 in Stafford Co., Virginia

Father:  Thomas Bunbury
Mother:  Mary Banks

Siblings:
   Robert Bunbury, 1660
   Thomas Bunbury, c.1666
   John Bunbury, c.1668

Married: Frances Mason

Children:
   William Bunbury, 1696
   Catherine Bunbury, 1702
   Thomas Bunbury, 1703
   Dulcebella Bunbury, 1705
   Eleanor/Helinor Bunbury, 1717 or 1718 I have trouble with this one - too much time had passed.


Frances Mason (1688 - 1737)

Born: c. 1688
Died: 4 April 1737 in Stafford Co., Virginia Colony

Father: George Mason II
Mother: Mary Sarah Fowke

Siblings:
   George Mason III, 1690
   Elizabeth Mason, 1693
   Nicholson Mason, 1694
   French Mason, 1695
   Ann Mason, 1695
   Mary Mason 1700
   Sempha Rosa Mason, 1703

Half-siblings:
   Catherine Mason, 1707
   Francis Mason, 1711
   Mary Mason, 1712
   Gerard Mason, 1713
   Thomas Mason, 1714
   Sarah Mason, 1715
 
 I've had a lot of problems with this one and have less confidence in the info than in most of them. Part of the problem is that they were rich and well-known, so a lot of people seem to have written about them - and all with conflicting information.

The family is mentioned on a website called Early Colonial Settlers of Southern Maryland and Virginia's Northern Neck. I think that was the site that had a bunch of wills. I will look into it more thoroughly with the next generation and will change anything here that I might find to be wrong. 

Frances' father George II had four different wives. Geni.com lists someone else as her mother, but that women is not listed as one of the four! I went with what seemed to be the most reliable information - a biography of her brother George III - which said that Mary Sarah Fowke was George II's first wife, so it seems likely that Frances must have the same mother. One large problem with this is to decide which family to follow back in time. Unless I find something that changes my mind, I'm going to go with Mary Sarah Fowkes' ancestors.

Frances' brother George III was a Lieutenant Colonel and was the father of George IV, who was one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, although he was one of three men who refused to sign the Constitution.

Also, these dates make Frances only about thirteen years old when she married the 31 year old William. There is another site that lists her birth date as 1674, which works better with William's age but does not really work with the birth dates of her siblings.

This project can be very frustrating sometimes!