Edward Bunker Sr.
For whom the mother town in Virgin Valley is named, descended from that special breed of stout-hearted men who tamed the New World in the mid 1600s.
No less an adventurer than his intrepid forebears, his new-found faith fired his will to accept the hardships it would impose. In the shadow of the atrocities of Nauvoo, Edward Bunker and Emily Abbott were married, crossed the Mississippi River with the fleeing Saints and embarked upon a life of pioneering.
Their journey west was postponed by his enlistment in the Mormon Battalion. Released, he returned to his family to begin again. He wrote, “In the spring of 1850, I started for the Salt Lake Valley in Capt. Johnson’s hundred and Matthew Caldwell’s fifty. I was captain of a ten. At the end of three months we reached Salt Lake Valley, our haven of rest, September 1, 1850.”
Settled in Ogden, he built a cabin, fenced his farm, married Sarah Browning, a widow with two little girls. In 1852, he was called to a mission in England. Edward labored there for four years and returned home in October of 1856.
Edward married Mary McQuarrie in 1861, and was called to the Dixie Cotton Mission. In 1862, he became the bishop in Santa Clara, and served 12 years. Hard years with drought and meager crops, floods and destruction of homes and farms. During the 12-year tenure as bishop, Brigham Young introduced the principle of United Order, which Edward and many embraced.
When the order failed, there were still some devoted to the principle. They organized into a company to make a new settlement on the Rio Virgin, 50 miles south of St. George. Edward wrote: “Having gathered sufficient number, including Dudley and Lemuel Leavitt and families, JW Lee, S. C. Crosby, Edward Bunker Jr. and families, we were organized as a company the first of January 1877 at Santa Clara. We left soon after and reached what was then known as Mesquite, but that was afterward named Bunkerville. We began work the 8th of January, myself presiding over the company and later was ordained as bishop. Edward Bunker Jr was my first counselor and Myron Abbott as my second counselor.”
‘We labored there in the order three years. During that time we attempted to organize into stewardships. The result was we broke up. The brethren not understanding the principle sufficient to accept of it.”
His health suffering, Edward Bunker sought rest and restoration in Arizona and eventually Mexico. He died November 17, 1901, while serving as a patriarch, leaving 3 wives, 28 children, 70 grandchildren and a record of devoted service to the faith he cherished.