Thursday, September 4, 2014

Stephen Decatur Bunker

1850 United State Federal Census
Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina
Name / Age
Chang Bunker 39
Eng Bunker 39
Sarah A Bunker 27
Adalade Bunker 22
Catharine Bunker 6
Josephine Bunker 6
Julia A Bunker 5
Christopher Bunker 5
Decator [sic] 4
Nancy Bunker 3
James Bunker 2
Mary A Bunker 3 months
Patrick H Bunker 1 month

The North-Carolina Standard
(Raleigh, North Carolina)
October 2, 1850
The Siamese Twins at Home.
...and at the time our informant visited them—Chang and Eng were residing there, while Sarah, Eng’s wife, and her children were at the Trap-Hill establishment. As in point of time, the first call was upon her—she, at first, is here entitled to notice.

He found her with three children—two girls and a boy; the latter of whom is called Decatur. Their flat, swarthy features, black coarse hair, and low, retreating forehead, indicated clearly their Siamese paternity....

1860 United State Federal Census
Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina
Name / Age
Eng Bunker 49
Sarah Bunker 40
Kate Bunker 17
Julia Bunker 16
Stephen D Bunker 14
Jas Bunker 13
Patrick Bunker 12
Wm O Bunker 6
Fred Bunker 5
Razila Bunker 1
L G Baily 42

Confederate Soldier Service
S. D. Bunker; 18 years old; enlisted 1864; served in the 37th Battalion, Virginia Calvary; Private (see Chinese in the Civil War, bottom, for details)

Winston-Salem Journal
(North Carolina)
August 1, 1926
...When they [Chang and Eng] came South and settled at Mt. Airy they transferred their allegiance to the South. The Civil War found them casting their fortunes and the lives of their children on the side of the South. They were fifty years old, too old for the military service even if they had been capable of it, but they had sons, and each sent a son. Chang’s son, Christopher W. Bunker, now a veteran eighty years old, resides in Haystack in Surry County. Stephen D. Bunker, son of Eng, distinguished himself as a soldier and was wounded....

1870 United States Federal Census
S.D. Bunker was not in his father’s household and has not yet been found in the census.
Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina
Name / Age
Eng Bunker 59
Sarah Bunker 40
Catherine Bunker 25
Montgomery Bunker 21
Patric H Bunker 20
William C Bunker 15
Fredrick M Bunker 13
Ranziler V Bunker 11
Robert Bunker 11
Peter Razy 18
Grace Gates 55


New York Herald
March 23, 1874
Chang and Eng.






































1880 United State Federal Census
Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina
Name / Age
Sallie A Bunker 56
Stephen D Bunker 33
Rozella V Bunker 21
Robert L Bunker 13

North Carolina Marriage Index
Stephen D Bunker and Susan A Nicols
January 13, 1887, Surry County, North Carolina

(North Carolina)
July 2, 1896
Roll of Old Veterans.
The following Confederate veterans, members of Surry County Camp, No. 707, attended the Reunion at Richmond this week: ...C. W. Bunker....The following Veterans are members of the Camp, but did not attend the Reunion: ...S. D. Bunker....
(The Confederate Reunion of 1896 began June 28.)

1900 United State Federal Census
Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina
Name / Age
Decater [sic] Bunker 52
Susan A Bunker 38
Stephen D Bunker 9
Nettie M Bunker 5

1910 United State Federal Census
Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina
Name / Age
Decatur Bunker 63
Susan Bunker 48
Nettie Bunker 17
Dock Bunker 14
Wu Bunker 7

1920 United State Federal Census
Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina
Name / Age
S D Bunker 72
Susie Bunker 58
Dock Bunker 24
Eng Bunker 17

North Carolina Death Index
Stephen D Bunker, 73
birth 1847
death March 25, 1920

Find a Grave
birth 1846


Further Reading

Association to commemorate the Chinese serving in the American Civil War
Chinese serving in the Confederate army force

Ruthanne Lum McCunn

North Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial

North Carolina Digital Collection
Pension application by his wife

Our State: North Carolina
The Civil War

Surry County
Carolyn Boyles, Wilma Hiatt
Arcadia Publishing, 2000
Page 63 photograph of a Confederate reunion in Mount Airy probably included the Bunker brothers, Christopher and Stephen.

Bunker is in the National Park Service book, Asians and Pacific Islanders and the Civil War.

(Next post: Chon Ah Pon)

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