John was born in Nantucket MA on May 2, 1774. He was the son of George (1740-1827) and Phoebe Barnard (1774-1836) Bunker. Her married Susan (Susanna) Chase, born in 1785, daughter of James and Mary Chase, in Nantucket on July 3, 1806. They had three children: Rebecca Kilton (possibly Hilton) (1809-1893), Susan Foster (1811-1852), and John (1814-1842). After the death of Susan, he married Elizabeth Sisson Peirce, born in 1786, widow of John Peirce, on June 30, 1818. John died of consumption on December 18, 1854 in Fairhaven MA where he and his family had lived for many years. Elizabeth died in 1855. They are buried and memorialized in adjacent headstones in Woodside Cemetery in Fairhaven.
John was master for one voyage of one ship with New London as home port:
CONNECTICUT (AS1144): (ship, 390 tons, length 107’, built in Norwich Ct in 1822). It sailed on October 17, 1822 to the Pacific, returned in April 1825. T.W. Williams was the agent. AV03261. The Connecticut Ship Database, Colby, Decker and Starbuck all show New London as home port. AOWV shows Norwich as home port.
John also served as master for five voyages on four ships with Fairhaven or Nantucket as home ports: HERALD (AS0776) for its 1815-1816 and 1817-1818 voyages; JOHN JAY (AS1713) for its 1818-1821 voyage; ORIGON (AS2112) for its 1825-1829 voyage; and PINDUS (AS0451) for its 1830-1831 voyage. Nantucket was home port for JOHN JAY; Fairhaven was home port for the other three ships. Note: AOWV spells the name of John’s ship for the 1825-1829 voyage as ORIGON for that and three subsequent voyages on that ship. That name is confirmed by New Bedford Ship Register #2363. Starbuck and Adams both show the name of the ship on the 1825-1829 voyage as OREGON. Neither Starbuck or Adams show a ship named ORIGON.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text. Also, Thomas R. Adams, Whaling Vessels.
George Shaw
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
December 2024