William Bush was born in about 1641. He arrived in Virginia by 1658 or 1659 and settled near the Weyanoke or Nottoway River. In 1701 he immigrated to Bath County, North Carolina and eventually settled in Chowan Precinct, North Carolina. In 1707 he gave a deposition in support of North Carolina's boundary claim with Virginia. He died in Chowan County, North Carolina in 1716.