THIRD GENERATION

Joseph Buntyn (1809-1894) and Elizabeth Matthews (1817-1879)

Joseph Buntyn was born February 12, 1809, evidently in South Carolina (probably the Abbeville/Laurens County area). Joseph was the son of Joseph Buntyn, Sr. and Elcy Everett, and based on his grandfather James Everett's 1823 will, his middle name may have been Everett like several of his siblings (though the family bible seems to indicate M. for his middle initial). Almost nothing is known about his father, other than his name and the fact that he died on April 6, 1826, both of which are recorded in the bible. Following his father's death, Joseph's mother moved with her family to Pike County, Georgia to live near her younger sister Eleanor Everett Matthews, who had lived in Georgia with her husband Enoch since before 1820. On December 28, 1831 Joseph purchased his own land lot in Pike County. This deed was witnessed by Enoch Matthews, apparently Joseph's maternal uncle and the father of Joseph's future wife Elizabeth Matthews (May 11, 1817-July 12, 1879), whom he subsequently married on February 9, 1832.

Although Joseph's brother Benjamin and mother Elcy lost their land to seizure by the Pike County sherriff in 1834 and 1840, respectively (his brother James raised his family in Henry County), Joseph Buntyn ultimately became a respected citizen of Pike County, and served as Militia Captain of District 540 from October 3, 1833 until April 3, 1836. Joseph Buntyn and Elizabeth Matthews had 10 children, raising them on the family farm in the section of the 3rd District of Pike County that was cut off into the new Spalding County in 1852. Joseph was elected as County Surveyor at least as early as 1857, and served this office for many years (his 1894 estate appraisal included surveying instruments and a county map). Based on the later recollections of his grandson James Marion Bagwell, Joseph's barn was burned one night during the Civil War by Union soldiers, probably corresponding to an April 19, 1865 assaul on Griffin by Wilson's Raiders. Following the death of his wife Elizabeth on July 12, 1879, Joseph died on May 27, 1894. Both are buried in a family plot in the Crawley-Futral cemetery east of Griffin in Spalding County. See photographs of the Buntyn headstones.

Children of Joseph Buntyn and Elizabeth Matthews

1. Daughter, born c.1834.
2. Enoch Buntyn, born c.1835; married Elizabeth R. Bagwell on January 3, 1858 in Spalding Co.
3. Benjamin Franklin "Frank" M. Buntyn, born September 30, 1837; married Mary Holland Rhodes on October 19, 1865 in Butler Co., Alabama; died February 16, 1887 in Ga.
4. Martha A. Buntyn, born 1840, married 1st William Bagwell-Holden c. 1855 in Spalding Co.; married 2nd James William Brown on December 15, 1868 in Spalding Co.
5. Morgan Buntyn, born 1843; died November 3, 1862 in Savannah, Ga. (CSA).
6. Elizabeth Buntyn, born July 18, 1844; married William James Futral on March 8, 1866 in Spalding Co.; died July 9, 1914.
7. Caroline Buntyn, born December 25, 1845; married Moses C. Bowles on January 13, 1901 in Spalding Co.
8. Sarah F. Buntyn, born February 10, 1850; married Moses C. Bowles on September 26, 1889 in Spalding Co.; died July 31, 1900 in Spalding Co.
9. Joseph B. Buntyn, born c1852.
10. James Buchanan Buntyn, born c1856; married Mary Tillman Ansley on May 5, 1881 in Spalding Co.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thanks very much to Frank and Josephine Trowbridge of Macon, Georgia and Sara Buntyn of Houston, Texas for sharing information and corrections regarding this family.

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