For nearly fourteen years a resident of Colorado, and during the whole of that time connected with the press of the Western slope in a prominent and influential way, Isaac N. Bunting, manager and editor of the Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction, has been effective in promoting the best interests of the section and making known to the world its resources and wealth of opportunity to home seekers and men of activity and enterprise. He was born in 1862, at Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and is the son of S.M. Bunting, then living there, who established the S.M. Bunting Hat and Fur Company, one of the oldest firms in Pennsylvania. This was started in 1850, and the elder Bunting was its proprietor until his death, in 1885. In this period of thirty-five years he built up an extensive trade for his firm, became widely known in the business world, and also rose to prominence in social circles. He married Miss Hannah Slonaker, a Pennsylvanian of German descent on the maternal side, who is still living at Pottstown. Their family consisted of five children: John A., who succeeded to his father’s business; Howard S., who is a representative of and stockholder in the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company of St. Louis, and in 1887 was a member of the Kansas legislature; William W., who is secretary and treasurer and manager of the Keystone Agricultural Works; Anna M., wife of W.H. Maxwell; Isaac N., the subject of this review. He received his education in the schools of his native town and at the Pennington, New Jersey, Seminary, from which he was graduated in 1882. Afterward he was employed four years as a traveling salesman, part of the time for the Dunham Manufacturing Company, of St. Louis and New York, and part for Dodge & Seward, confectioners, of St. Louis. In 1886 he went to Kansas and, in partnership with his brother, engaged in the cattle business and merchandising, remaining there until 1890, when he came to Colorado to take the management of the Grand Junction Daily Star, an Associated Press newspaper, which he managed until 1893. Then, in partnership with Howard T. Lee, he established the Daily Sentinel, Mr. Bunting assuming full charge of the local and business departments, and later of the editorial department also. Of this he has made a gratifying success, his subscription list and the popularity of the paper showing a steady and continuing increase, and growing constantly in influence and power. His part in political affairs, local and general, has been a prominent and forceful one, and his paper has proven a valuable organ of his principles. Positive in his opinions and fearless in declaring them, he has established a wide reputation as a man who always has the courage of his convictions. He is past chancellor of Grand Junction Lodge, No. 55, Knights of Pythias, and a member of the grand lodges of Pennsylvania, Kansas and Colorado in the order. He is also prominent in the order of Woodmen of the World and the Elks. In 1886 he was united in marriage with Miss Maude Stanley Wilson, of Pennsylvania. They are the parents of three children, Helen S., Mark R. and H. Margaret.
Source: Bowen, A. W. Progressive Men of Western Colorado. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., Publishers. 1905.