Person:John Mathas Bunts (1)

John Mathas Bunts

Excerpt from History of Virginia, Virginia Biography, Vol VI, pgs. 621-622, 1924:

John Mathas Bunts was born near Wytheville, Wythe County, Virginia, January 16, 1829, and died on his farm (click here for info on the Bunts homestead) five miles south of Max Meadows November 27, 1899. He was reared and educated in Wythe, County, receiving the equivalent of a college educator under private tutors, and began teaching in private schools at the age of eighteen years. Subsequently he was principal of various public schools in Wythe and adjoining counties, continuing in tire educational field for half a century, becoming one of the best known educators in Southwest Virginia. In addition to this important work he was also a land surveyor, and in this capacity did much of the early engineering work in Wythe County. He also was elected and served as a justice of the peace for more than thirty years, and held the distinction of never having one of his decisions reversed by a higher court. He was a stanch democrat and took a very active part in promoting the principles of his party. For many years he was a sincere member and loyal worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Enlisting in the Confederate Army at the beginning of the war, he continued to serve in it until the close of hostilities, during this time being a member of the Fiftyfirst Virginia Infantry.

He married first Miss Matilda Jane Aker, who was born in Wythe County and died a few years after marriage. They had three children, namely: Mary Rosena, who married James Atkins; Nannie Jane, who married James Armbrister; and John Samuel, (who died in infancy). After the death of his first wife, John M. Bunts married Miss Lucinda Elizabeth Carnal in 1873. She was born in Granville County, North Carolina, September 7, 1854, and died in a hospital at Roanoke, Virginia, May 8, 1918, although at the time she was a resident of the old homestead. To this union there were born the following children, namely: Robert, who was the oldest; Henry Clay Neal, who is superintendent of the General Chemical Company's shops at Pulaski; Moses Tycurgus, who is general foundry foreman of the Mathieson Alkali Works of Saltville, Virginia; Walton Mathas, who is a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and a member of the Holston Conference; James Erastus, who was general foreman of the General Chemical Company's shops at Pulaski, Virginia; Richard Sanders, who is a traveling salesman residing at Pulaski; Margaret Lucretia, who died in 1921, and Clarence, who died in infancy.