Our web site will be down for approximately one hour for a system upgrade on Wednesday, October 22. The system downtime will occur sometime between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. Central Time.

BFA member Clara Reese has sent along photographs from the Bunker Family Reunion in June, and these have been added to others posted at:

http://albums.phanfare.com/3459565/2148967

BFA Web Master Doug Detling is pleased to announce the birth of another granddaughter, Nora Kay
Detling, born August 22, 2008. She was a great birthday present for Doug’s youngest son, Shannon, who will share his birthdays from now on.

Mother Amanda is doing well, and of course older brother Daniel is excited to have a baby sister.

Like her brother, father and grandfather, Nora will also have the designation D15-II in the BFA numbering system.

Our own Bette Bunker Richards has been selected for a distinguished service award by the Federation of Genealogical Societies. The award will be presented September 5 at the FGS annual banquet in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Here’s an excerpt from the award message by FGS Awards Committee Chair Sue Kaufman:

“The Federation of Genealogical Societies is proud to award Bette Bunker Richards a Distinguished Service Award for her service to the Bunker Family Association and researchers far and wide.

Her distinguished service in evidenced by her long history in genealogy - ‘long before’ 1976. Her love for helping researchers, ‘pulling rabbits out of hats’, adding to the Family archives….the ‘wealth of new data is staggering.’ It is for these activities and more, such as carrying on of the Dover branch genealogy research by releasing a CD on that branch the award is given. As a librarian I know how valuable those compiled family histories are, especially the one of this magnitude and scope. And bringing the family into the 21st century by marshalling the Bunker DNA project brings distinguished service to the community of genealogy by archiving the family history through science – and understanding what the report means! In addition to her service to the genealogical community her giving spirit helps the community at large through additional activities. The Federation is proud to award Bette Bunker Richards a Distinguished Service award for her ’spectacular and inexhaustible’ service to the genealogical community.”

Maralyn Anderson has sent along her photos from the BFA Reunion in Portland.
They’ve been added to the web photo album at:

http://albums.phanfare.com/greencity/2148967

10 of our newly published CDs on the Devon Bunkers appear to be defective due to a corrupt file. We have accounted for all and they have been replaced.

Many thanks for the quick responses so we could replace these.

Steve Bunker’s presentation at the Maine reunion dinner was so very interesting. Steve and Sharon run the China Sea Trading Co. shop in Portland, Maine (http://www.chinaseatrading.com) and have some very interesting things in it.

Some are made by Steve. He collects all kinds of “stuff” and looks for more all the time. If you are interested in Maine stuff, coastal or maritime stuff, Bette Richards recommends contacting Steve and Sharon. Steve will look for things that you are especially interested in and maybe he can even find some Bunker stuff. Steve is from the Cranberry Island Bunkers, descendants of James Bunker of Dover, New Hampshire.  The e-mail address is:  chinasea@chinaseatrading.com

The picture below is St. Nicholas Church at Tingrith, Bedfordshire, England. The date on the church is the year 1300, and it was was remodeled in the 1500s.

This photo, taken in 1983, will be the cover art for Bette Richards’ Bedford Bunkers CD, currently in process. The Bunker Family Association hopes to have this CD ready before Christmas 2008.

Doug Detling, BFA website coordinator, has posted photographs from the Bunker Family Association’s 95th reunion, held June 11-14 in Portland, Maine. The photos are on the web at the following location:

http://albums.phanfare.com/greencity/2148967

Also included is a section on the Great Cranberry Isle trip, with photos by Bette Bunker Richards.

Feel free to visit any of the other photo albums.

This post updated June 25, 2008.

Nathaniel Winslow, husband of Elizabeth Williams (daughter of Sobriety Bunker), was age 74 in the 1850 Census, listed as living in household of son Stephen Winslow, along with wife “Betsey” at age 63. Nathaniel died in 1852, and was buried on a small hill in Letter E township (originally called Letter E Plantation), Franklin County, Maine.

Dan Earl, who visited the gravesite in 2005, provided this photograph and exact location: Nathaniel’s grave is located Twp. Letter E, near Madrid, Franklin County, Maine. Access is via a private paper company dirt road 6.6 miles off Route 4 (south of Smalls Falls), then down an old brush grown dirt road about 100 yards, thence 20 yards to the north.

Last Friday (June 13, 2008) Manuela and Doug Detling traveled to Farmington, Maine, and met up with Pete and Priscilla Ross, who graciously drove us up into Letter E and shared Franklin County history with us.  We were able to verify the coordinates of the gravesite, which is much overgrown just in the last few years. The timber company that owns the land has marked off the “cemetery” with pink and blue tree ribbons to prevent cutting in this small area.

GPS coordinates are as follows: 44° 50′18.54″ N, 70° 31′ 51.97″ W. The area is approximately 1675 feet above sea level.

There are two other graves, Nathaniel’s grandson Stephen F. Winslow and Joel W. Bryant.  Priscilla Ross says she has been unable to find any link between the Bryant family and the Winslows.

Photos of the area may be seen at the following: http://albums.phanfare.com/3459565/2149078