The November issue of the Bunker Banner is out for printing and mail delivery to members, and has been sent via electronic delivery to members who receive that way.

Gil Bunker, BFA President, notes in his column this issue about the tribulations of being an editor of a quarterly newsletter:

Copy for the Bunker Banner is difficult to locate; articles that might be of interest to all the readers is a judgment call, primarily a function of the editor.  I am relegated to gleaning newspaper copy that, hopefully, will spark your curiosity. There are too few contributors so once again I solicit your assistance. Please keep the Banner flying and send your stories; even a couple of lines about recent events that occur in your family. The gossip column is void of current happening.

Thankfully, we will not read about your funeral in this edition. Filling the last page/s with obituaries is not a pleasant chore and I am delighted you heard my request to stop kicking the bucket. Please keep up the good work.

 

The following was posted on Rootsweb, which is the hosting site for the Bunker mailing list:

“Lists are now available to use, meaning you can now send and receive email on RootsWeb email lists just like you used to in the past. In addition to making the site more secure, we’ve upgraded our backend system to provide an easier-to-use interface to manage your email list subscriptions.

To get started managing your subscriptions, go to Setting Up My New Mailman Login. …

Any email that is sent will go directly into a new archive. We are in the process of importing the old archives into the new archives and due to the massive amount of content, that process will take time. We will continue to update you on the progress when we can.

Thank you for your patience as we continue to bring these features back online.”

Gil Bunker, President of the BFA, notes in the lead article in the February 2018 issue of The Bunker Banner:

Bette [Vice President and Historian Bette Bunker Richards] and I were delighted to receive correspondence from Anne Morddel, a French Certified Genealogist who requested information about an inmate, and stated Peleg [Bunker], who along with Christopher (N-30) and Henry (N-31-III) were prisoners of war during the Napoleonic era. Anne is researching American mariners, as revealed in French resources, for submission to Legacy webinars while using Peleg as a case study. She also stated Job Bunker “was a bit of a privateer.”

Whoa, back-up here. What’s this tidbit about Peleg being a prisoner of war? The 1965 genealogy reads only that he died in a French prison. There is no mention in the 1965 Bunker Genealogy or the BFA Military Database about POWs during the Barbary Wars (Napoleonic era).

Anne wrote:

I also have been researching American prisoners of war in Napoleonic France for some years in preparation for a biographical dictionary listing them all. Among them is Peleg Bunker who, as you know, died at Verdun in 1806. Other Bunkers were also captives.

More information about Peleg Bunker and a fascinating article by Anne Morddel titled “Bunker Prisoners of Napole0n” can be found in issue #182 of the Banner.  If you are interested, please join the BFA before February 15, and a copy of this issue will be provided to you. See our membership page for dues information.

An application form for this year’s Annabelle Moore Scholarship may be accessed at the following link:

http://www.bunkerfamilyassn.org/lists/lt.php?tid=jPEyAXjWqEuaFrqywdkl8w79uGfVYpgAlDvBa3/UbCjWrNgRWT72LaJsnMqnqhBV

The file is a Microsoft Word file, and may be completed and sent electronically along with the other required documentations. The scholarship is awarded to a child or grandchild of a Bunker Family Association member in good standing. Applicants must be high school seniors or college freshmen. Do not miss the May 1 deadline.

The Bunker Family Association will hold its 105th anniversary reunion June
14-17 in Portland, Maine. The host hotel is the Best Western Merry Manor
Inn, site of the association’s reunion 10 years ago.

The registration form (please register by May 15) is now available at the
following link:

http://www.bunkerfamilyassn.org/lists/lt.php?tid=6wzMCUSQuVuPFoHBe88NzC0YncRNcI9GgvC3eDhTsCzWrNgRWT52LaJsnMqnqhBV

We would encourage those planning to attend to register as soon as possible
for the meeting, and to plan to attend the business meeitng on Saturday
June 16.  The reunion schedule will include trips to Dover, New Hampshire
on June 15 and a banquet on June 16.

On August 5, BFA Graveyard Committee Chair Mary Bunker Peterson and Edward Solomon visited two graveyards in New Hampshire monitored by the BFA. In her written report to BFA President Gil Bunker, Mary noted:

“It was a foggy, overcast morning and I took a number of photos to show the condition of the site. I was impressed that there were few changes since I was there last spring, and there were almost no branches down. The posts are the same – some needing repair and some with the rails pulled out. But overall it is still a peaceful and undisturbed spot. The bench is just the same and looks as though it has always been there.

“Ed examined the gate, you will see in the photos, and it has come completely off the hinges. The frame needs to be replaced as the board for the hinges is no longer solid. The gate itself is intact, and the opening side is propped up on the granite post.”

In addition, she stated: “…at some point we will need to think about more stable repairs to the fencing. It would be nice to have the stones cleaned as well.”

The graveyard has received attention recently as it is included as one of the “attractions” of the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Because of concerns raised by the BFA, the administrators of the reserve have agreed to downplay the graveyard lest if become too attractive a target for vandalism. Mary noted in her report that “The path down to the graveyard is thickly overgrown – the pictures show this too – and may not appear very inviting to casual visitors. In fact, if I had not known where the path is, I might have been hard put to find it. That’s probably a good thing!”

https://douglasdetling.smugmug.com/BFA/Bunker-Graveyard-Update-2017/

You may access Mary’s pictures in two ways:

Click on the photo caption above that is linked to the photo album, or used a shortened URL in your browser bar (clicking the link will take you there):

http://goo.gl/4vD7VR

No password is required to view these photos.

As noted in an earlier post (https://www.bunkerfamilyassn.org/?p=605) members of the Bunker Family Association expressed concerns about tourist incursion into the Bunker Garrison graveyard in Durham, New Hampshire. BFA Vice President Bette Richards fired off a letter of protest to Great Bay headquarters.  Thankfully, it had a positive effect, as the following was received from a spokesperson of the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve:

I am sensitive to the family wishes and am working on a
solution. We originally highlighted the graveyard in the
Passport to Great Bay because we sincerely believe the
history of your family is important to the region. We try
hard to accommodate family wishes, stay true to the
mission of the reserve and terms of the deed, and ensure
we are teaching people about the importance of local and
natural history.

The Passport original document had an associated flyer
for each property. We have not handed out the passport
flyers at our Visitor’s Center for some time, because some
information is outdated. We will not include directions to
the graveyard in the next printing, nor include prompts for
people to explore the graveyard. However, the effort to
update the materials will not happen this summer and the
passport is available online. I will look into the easiest way
to edit the online pdf or take it down with assistance from
our web support personnel.

Sincerely, Cory Riley

Thanks, Bette, for taking swift action on this issue.

This is an amazingly beautiful site; a great many thoughtful people designed a trail that explores twelve different areas around the Great Bay estuary. Each destination can be found using the given coordinates or a map specific to that spot. The photography almost makes you want to investigate each attraction, explore and find the answer to a particular question. Explore ten of the twelve venues and you will receive a Great Bay Estuary mug for your excursions through the salt marshes. It is truly a great way to learn about Mother Nature, while keeping in shape!

Officers of the Bunker Family Association were not pleased to see our little bit of paradise being thrust into the limelight by references to the peaceful Bunker graveyard (included with the reserve and thus making it a destination for wandering trekkers and explorers), we are happy to have worked out an agreement with reserve  authorities to protect the graveyard by limiting knowledge of its location from reserve publicity materials. Elsewhere on our site, pictures of previous acts of vandalism and storm damage are shown, making it important that visitors to Bunker Creek respect the final resting place of our ancient ancestors.

When revised versions of the reserve materials are available, this page will be updated.

The fiscal year for the Bunker Family Association ended June 30, and membership renewal postcards are being mailed to BFA members who receive printed copies of the quarterly newsletter–the Bunker Banner. This is our annual electronic dues renewal notice, so please take a few moments to read and act on it.

As part of your membership benefits in the BFA, many members receive the newsletter electronically and pay a reduced membership rate. Most of us
familiar with other family association newsletters recognize that a quarterly newsletter of 16 pages each for $20 is one of the best family history values on the planet.

The financial status of the Association can only be improved by prompt dues payments. You can continue or extend your membership by making a renewal payment of $20 for electronic copies of the Banner; $25 if receiving printed copies by mail; $30 if from Canada, and $35 from all other countries. To renew your membership through June 2018 or to extend your membership for another year (extensions definitely improve our financial situation), please send your renewal payment to: Bunker Family Association, 690 E. 2780 N., Provo, UT 84604.

Did you know you can renew your membership through PayPal. If so, please select the option “Send money to friends and family” to avoid a service fee reduction from the payment. After you make that selection, you can enter the amount to send with an optional entry to “write a note” where you state you wish to “renew my membership  for another year”. Send payments to
LKBunker@gmail.com and as BFA Treasurer he’ll return an e-mail receipt for your account.

And, as always, if you have any problems receiving your Banner copies electronically, you can contact me (doug.detling@gmail.com) and I will assist you.

The Bunker Family Association’s shared photo gallery has been moved to a new web site due to the previous site being phased out.  The new address for the photo gallery is:

https://douglasdetling.smugmug.com/BFA.

Some shared photographs are already in galleries or albums where no password is required. However, a few folders in the BFA folder require a password, which is: CND_BunkY!

If you wish to see all other photos intended for general viewing, you can go to: https://douglasdetling.smugmug.com.  No BFA funds are used to maintain this photo site; Doug has made this storage space available as a general contribution to our family association.