Bio:Ira S. Bunker
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According to American fiction, 1901-1925: a bibliography, by Geoffrey Dayton Smith (entry B-1191, p. 94), the author "Ira S. Bunker" is "Ira Sweet Bunker", born 1848, who published "A Thousand Years Hence, or, Startling Events in the year A.D. 3000: A trip to Mars, Incidents By The Way" in Portland, Oregon. This implies that this is almost certainly the same person as the Ira Sweet Bunker on this genealogy page. From this page we get the following facts:
- He was born in 1848 in Starksboro, Addison Co., VT
- He died March 4, 1904 in College Place, Walla Walla Co., WA
- He is buried at Mt. Hope Cemetery in College Place, a private cemetery maintained by the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
- He was married twice, first to Mandana Ravin, who died young, then to Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" Hoover, with many children. Lizzie was the gr-gr-granddaughter of the famous pioneer Daniel Boone.
- He was also an inventor and, according to the Library of Congress, had several patents issued
The evidence that these are the same people is not only the relatively unusual name, but the agreement on birth year and the geography: This person lived in Freewater, Oregon in 1902, later moving to Washington. The author published his book in Portland, Oregon. (From the genealogical records of Ira's children, we can determine that he was in Missouri until at least 1898, and had moved to Oregon by 1902 and Washington by 1910. The book was published in 1903.) In addition to these facts, there is a Civil War record that implies that this person, while in Vermont, and when 15 years old, joined the 7th Vermont Infantry to fight in the Civil War.
