Peleg BUNKER

  General Notes:

The first actual settlement within the present limits was probably made by Isaac Bunker in 1822, Mr. Bunker was an industrious, energetic man, was educated as a mechanic, and did an extensive business as wagon-maker in Vermont. It is said that during the last season of his stay in his native State he built and disposed of sixty " iron-bound " wagons. His growing family of boys, however, demanded more scope for their proper development and prosperity, and he determined to move to the West. The Benedicts, to whom he was related, had come to Peru during the interval of 1809-12, and he made up his mind to follow them. He built a large wagon after the Pennsylvania type, bought a stage team, and, hiring a. experienced driver to manage this four-horse power, he embarked his family and goods and came to Peru. He was not quite satisfied with the prospect here, and soon began to look about for a place more suitable for his projects. He went to the present site of Caledonia, and, selecting a suitable mill-site, he prepared to set up a mill. Here his plans were frustrated by the petty jealousy of those who bad preceded him at this point. They threatened to build a dam above where he proposed to build, and annoyed him until he sold out his property and left the place. While undecided as to his further movements, his attention was called to the advantages offered by the Whetstone, as it passed through the present site of Cardington. Examining the place with Cyrus Benedict, Mr. Bunker decided to settle here, and purchased forty acres, afterward increasing his purchase to 160 acres, extending from where the northern line of the corporation now runs to about Walnut street on the south, and from the eastern boundary of Wolf's tannery on the east to the American House on the west. On the 28th of March, 1822, Mr. Bunker came to his new purchase with a force of eight or ten men, chopping out a road from the Peru settlement as he came; and, selecting a site for his cabin where the Resley House now stands, he began to make a, clearing." With the force at his command, the building of a cabin was short work, and on April 1, 1822, he bad a home for his family in the forests of what is now known as Cardington. In the following month the family, consisting of a wife and eleven children, came from Peru to possess their new home. His family established in their new quarters, Bunker pushed his plans with characteristic vigor, and soon had a log blacksmith-shop on the lot adjoining his house lot, and a log barn located a little east and across the frontier road which ran along where Main street now furnishes an avenue for travel, These finished, a brush dam was built across the Whetstone, on the site of the present structure, near the iron bridge, at the western end of which the framework for a saw-mill was erected, and a little below this a grist-mill was put up, being supplied with water through a short race. The latter was in most demand, and was finished first, doing its first grinding in the fall of 1822. The saw-mill was completed immediately afterward, doing business in the winter, or early the following spring. The buhr-stones for the grist-mill were cut out of a large "nigger head" on the Peru farm, and measured some three feet and ten inches in diameter. These stones were cut by Henry James and Slocum Bunker, and cost weeks of hard work. In all these enterprises Mr. Bunker was forced to rely on his own unaided resources. He was not a man of large means, but, with a thorough and extensive mechanical education, he was a carpenter, blacksmith, millwright, and engineer at once, and, by shrewd management and barter, he secured the erection of his building without expending any cash. A little later, he built a cabin on the east side of Water street, the lot on which it was located now being owned by Mrs. Corwin; Slocum Bunker, his son, built a cabin on the southwest corner of the old cemetery, which was afterward used as a schoolhouse and public hall.


Facts about this person:

Fact 2 1812 came into the area of what is now Mw.Co. Oh.

Fact 3 a brother to old Issac Bunker- Quakers

Peleg married Hannah BENEDICT, daughter of Aaron BENEDICT and Elizabeth KNOWLES, on 31 Oct 1805 in Peru Twp., Clinton Co., New York, USA. (Hannah BENEDICT was born on 2 Dec 1783 in Prob. Peru Twp. Clinton Co. N.Y. and died on 24 Dec 1852 in Cardington Twp. Buried Woodlawn Cem. Morrow Co. OH..)