Biweekly Newsletter - July 4, 2026

​In every time and place there are disreputable characters. Early Easton was no different. The following story comes from Chaffin in the History of Easton. This character, described as a half-breed from Canada (Canadian & Indian) or a Frenchman, who had a ‘swarthy’ complexion and struck terror into the hearts of women and children, came by his reputation honestly. A wood carver and a thief, it seems he worked particularly hard at the latter.

​This man arrived in Easton from Raynham in July of 1759. He brought a wife and two sons with him. Chaffin, describes the wife as a woman “simple enough to marry him.” While living in Easton, a third child, a daughter, was born to the couple. He was known as “Old Bunn” though he had numerous aliases including Benjamin Edy, Eddy Beniway, Eddy Bennawine, Edy Benoy, and many more.
“Old Bunn” and his family moved within Easton often as no one wanted him in their neighborhood; wherever he lived items disappeared. He was the go-to suspect whenever something was stolen, although occasionally he wasn’t responsible. Chaffin posits that his first residence in town may have been the old unfinished Presbyterian church at the Green where profanities were found written on the interior walls. Neighbors whom he’d stolen from were known to take him into the woods and give “him a good thrashing.” So, the family was constantly on the move from one part of town to another. Finally, an exasperated Oliver Howard hired Hopestill Randall to come with his oxcart and physically move the family. Their belongings were thrown on the oxcart and after a full day of wandering, with no neighborhood willing to accept them, Hopestill dumped the belongings on the side of the road where they were “speedily converted into smoke.”

There is evidence that the family bought a house in 1776 for 12 shillings. It is described as a “shanty with no cellar.” In 1781 Bunn and his two sons received a bounty of 900 dollars in silver for enlisting in the army but by 1785 the family were paupers. The town was ordered to take care of them but there is little evidence Easton ever did. By 1787 the family had vanished.
With his swarthy appearance Old Bunn might have been initially judged unfairly but with so many strikes against him I believe he earned his bad reputation. I doubt anyone was sad to see him go.

​Anne Wooster Drury

Sources:
Easton Historical Society and Museum
Chaffin History of Easton, MA  Vol 1 - 1886