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John Punch

Also Known As: "“First slave in America", "” João", "Bunch", "Bunche"
Birthdate:
Birthplace: Ivory Coast, or, Cameroon
Death: after circa 1640
New Kent County, Virginia Colony, Colonial America
Immediate Family:

Partner of N.N.
Father of John Bunch, I

History: John Punch was an African slave brought to Virginia in 1640. He was owned by Hugh Gwyn. Married a white woman. His name became Bunch.
Managed by: Jan Fouchia
Last Updated:
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Immediate Family

About John Punch

Biography

retrieved 19 September 2019 from Wikipedia article (link below)

John Punch (fl. 1630s, living 1640) was an enslaved African who lived in the Colony of Virginia. Thought to have been an indentured servant, Punch attempted to escape to Maryland and was sentenced in July 1640 by the Virginia Governor's Council to serve as a slave for the remainder of his life.

indentured servant (later slave) of Hugh Gwynn/Gwyn

1st documented African slave in colonial America

Genealogy notes

The National Park Service, in a history of Jamestown, notes that while it was a "customary practice to hold some Negroes in a form of life service," Punch was the "first documented slave for life."

In July 2012, Ancestry.com published a paper suggesting that John Punch was a twelfth-generation grandfather of President Barack Obama on his mother's side, on the basis of historic and genealogical research and Y-DNA analysis. Punch's descendants were known by the Bunch or Bunche surname. Punch is believed to be one of the paternal ancestors of the 20th-century American diplomat Ralph Bunche, the first African American to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Biography

From https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/176878786

John Punch

  • Birth: 1605, Cameroon
  • Death: unknown
  • New Kent County Virginia, USA

John Punch was an African slave brought to Virginia by 1640. The DNA of his descendants suggest that John Punch probably came from Cameroon or Ivory Coast. He was owned by Hugh Gwyn. John Punch and two white slaves ran away to Maryland and were captured and returned to Virginia. John Punch received a lifetime indenture in punishment for running away. The white slaves received whippings and were still set free at the end of their seven years indenture. John's wife is unknown, but his grandson was referred to in court as a "mustee" which was the child or grandchild of a mulatto, so it is probable that whoever John Punch's consort was, she was white. John Punch's descendants were known by the surname "Bunch."

Family links:

Children:

  • John Bunch (1632 - ____)*
  • Calculated relationship

Burial: Body lost or destroyed

Created by: KM Record added: Mar 01, 2017 Find A Grave Memorial# 176878786

References

GEDCOM Note

See http://corporate.ancestry.com/press/press-releases/2012/07/ancestry...

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John Punch's Timeline

1605
1605
Ivory Coast, or, Cameroon
1637
1637
of, York County, Virginia Colony
1640
1640
Age 35
New Kent County, Virginia Colony, Colonial America