In the last note, I introduced the Bunger family which is a good example of one the later families. An early record of them in the Robinson River Valley (RRV) was the purchase of 100 acres of land on a branch of Deep Run by Felta Bunger from Michael Wilheit and his wife Mary in 1775. Felta was a nickname for the formal name Valentin(e). Valentine Bungard or Bangert signed the Church Covenant of the German Lutheran Church May 27, 1776, and also the petition of the church members on October 22, 1776. Both petitions had only the men. The Covenant was a constitution which governed how the church was to be run and the petition was a request for relief from having to support the established Anglican church.
Veldun Bonger, or perhaps Banger, and his wife Elizabeth sold the 100 acres above to their son John on January 22, 1795. The personal property taxes of Madison County show that “Felty Bunger” was levy free for the first time in 1800 indicating he was around 60 years of age and born about 1740. Therefore, the first appearance of the family in the RRV was when the family was young.
Felty and Elizabeth Bunger purchased 100 acres of land on Hutcheson’s Mountain from Alex Tull in 1788. This was sold in 1802 to John Henshaw. Shortly after this time, the family moved away from the RRV. The will of Felta Bunger was executed in 1806 in Greenbrier County, Virginia, which is now in West Virginia. [Note that the November 2006 meeting of the Virginia Genealogical Society et al is in Lewisburg in Greenbrier County, see germanna.com. ]
There seems to be some relationship between Valentine Bunger and his wife Elizabeth and the family of Matthew House and his wife Mary Margaret. Valentine Bungert and Elizabeth were godparents (sponsors) of Salome, daughter of Matthew and Mary Margaret House in 1776, and of another daughter, Catherine Elizabeth House in 1778. Matthew House’s sons, Michael and Jacob, and their wives, appear as sponsors of the children of Valentine Bungard’s son Jacob at the German Lutheran Church during 1790 to 1798.
The church records show active participation by the Bunger family. Seven children were confirmed at the church and these are thought to be all of the children. They are:
John Bunger,
Magdalena Bunger,
Margaret Bunger,
Jacob Bunger,
Philip Bunger,
Henry Bunger, and
Catherine Bunger.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.