My great-grandfather was Wiley/Wylie BUNN. The name has been spelled so many different ways, I guess nobody knows for sure. Emma BROOKS-BUNN (his daughter-in-law) kept all the information in the family pages of her Bible. The entry for him was: "Wiley Bunn, no middle name, born 1836 in Alabama, died in Dallas, TX in 1912". After I received a short pedigree chart (15 names) from a cousin, I started trying to find out more about him.
I grew up with or knowing most of his children and all his grandchildren but never knew who his parents were. Then I learned thet he had named my mother. Deduction: she was born 17 October 1912, so he must have died between October and December 1912. right? Then last year, I found "TEXAS DEATHS, 1890-1976" online with copies of original Death Certificates. I entered: Name: BUNN; Event: Deaths; Place: Dallas, Texas. Only one hit! Wyley Bunn, b. 24 June 1835, d. 6 November 1913 in Dallas. I had known they lived on Beaumont Street at one time and the date of birth was exact except for the year. Informant was "Mrs. O'Brien", his oldest living daugnter, Alice O'BRIEN. Now I know his father's name, where he is buried and all the information I could never find before. Even found a 'new' way to spell 'Wiley'.
Grandma BUNN was much easier. Her name was Susan Elizabeth BUNN, daughter of William and Mary (LOWE) BUNN. She was a second or 3rd cousin. In different census records she is Susan, Susie, Lizzie, et al. I have found her in every available census from September 1850 (at one month old) through April 1930. She died in Houston, Texas on 27 July 1935. She was about three weeks short of 85 years old. She had worked as a seamstress at Neiman-Marcus Wiley & Susie's children were: Mary L.; Alice Mae and a twin brother born in Mississippi; Charles Leander; John Wylie; Annie, Launa and Martin Luther all born in Texas. Alice's twin lived only a few days and was never named. Charley was my Grandpa.
Grandpa Wiley's death certificate shows his father was Henry, born in Alabama. The 1880 census has his parents born in TN; 1900, both in GA; 1910, both in NC. Lizzie's parents, in all census records were born in TN/AL. One exception, the 1920 census has them both born in AL. This leads me to believe that someone else gave the information to the census taker.
In the 1910 census, two grandchildren are living with Wiley & Lizzie. They were Tinnie MEDLEY, b. 1895 and Homer ARNOLD, b. Nov 1899. They were the children of Mary L. BUNN-MEDLEY-ARNOLD. It also shows that Lizzie has only 6 children living. We always knew that Mary and Annie had "died young", but have found no further info about them.
Well, that is my BUNN family. I would like to find which Henry BUNN was my gg-grandfather and who was his wife, where they came from, etc. Would also like to find what happened to Tinnie and Homer. The 1910 census is the only record we have of Tinnie. Homer ARNOLD is in the 1900 census with his parents in Texarkana, AR. Mary is a cook at a boarding house, where they live. He is listed as six months old. iN 1920, there is a Homer O. Arnold, Pvt, USArmy, at Kelly Field, TX. Then an entry in the SSDI showS Homer ARNOLD, b. 4 Nov 1899; d. Oct 1976 in Shreveport LA.