UD library book leads to discovery of 8,000 kin

One day in 1941, Claude Bunnell discovered a book in the University Library that listed a William Bunnell who emigrated from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. Bunnell wondered if he might be related.

He began researching his lineage and has never stopped. He has collected 30,000 names.

By the time he established his link with William Bunnell in 1970, he had collected 3,000 names. Bunnell said he was "flabbergasted" at how much information he was getting from records and from other researchers.

In 1983, he bought a computer to record his burgeoning collection of Bunnells, Bonnells and Burnells. His computer-savvy son Steve created a user-friendly system to store and retrieve the information.

Now, he has more than 30,000 Bunnells, Bonnells and Burnells in his database, and he has proven that more than 8,000 of them are direct descendants of the William Bunnell he first noted in the University Library.

In retirement, Bunnell spends 20 to 30 hours a week researching family ties. He forecasts another 10,000 names may eventually be added to the William Bunnell tree.

He corresponds with about 400 individuals researching their Bunnell roots.

The family recently posted a Bunnell web page. It was designed with a handy program that allows visitors to type in a person's name or a location and find out if that person is related to the Bunnells.

The web address is [http://bunnellbonnellburnellfamily.com/]

Steve Bunnell incorporated a wild-card feature that allows researchers to type in the portion of a name that they know if they aren't certain of the entire name.

Claude Bunnell's material was gleaned from several states' records, church records, family histories and all the U.S. Census records compiled between 1790 and 1920.