Hi,

I found your cemetery listing for Cuyler-Ledyard Cemetery, in Cayuga
County, New York online while researching our Bunker genealogy.

I haven't been able to determine if what is written (follows) in the
article about Dr. Ledyard Cuyler Bunker and his name is accurate, but
I can confirm that he was born in Cayuga County. His mother was born
in Vermont and did marry James Carrolton Bunker in "Aurelia" or Auburn
in 1811. I haven't been able to confirm this in the records there but
there is a lot of documentation for that.

His mother said that her family moved to Aurelius, Cayuga County around
1808 and they lived on "York Street."

Ida Shipe
Boca Raton, Florida
----------------

GREENSBURG STANDARD
Friday March 8, 1907
THE PIONEERS
Our Oldest Citizens, Who Made This Country What It Is
A Veteran of the Mexican War, A Great Reader
With A Well Stored Mind

DR. L. C. BUNKER

Men are the creatures of their own environments. The history of a
people is a generalization of the collective careers of the
individuals, and the importance of an historical epoch is measured by
its future influence on the human family. The persecution of the
Huguenots resulted in an immigration of many of these French
Protestants to America, and these people have so impressed the social
institutions of the country, that this simple biographical sketch may
well begin at the beginning, and look to the ancestory of the subject.
Late in the reign of Louis XIV, a Huguenot family was sorely pressed
by the arrogance and injustice of the popish officials, who were
sustained by the ministry, and their acts in turn endorsed by the
king. This family bore the name Bon Coeur, which translated means Good
Heart, and resolved to leave France. Under this euphonious name, they
came to America, and made good the qualities of citizenship, which the
name indicated. With nine other families, they purchased Nantucket
island, which lies off the south coast of Cape Cod, just east of
Martha's Vineyard. These families were all of good repute, and
refugees for conscience sake, not possessed of means, and the little
colony established by them was a pure democracy, marked by a religious
liberty that could only exist where all believed alike, and it is
still spoken of as a real Utopia. It is worthy of notice that one of
these ten families was the Franklin family, from which descended the
philosopher and statesman.,Benjamin Franklin. The Bon Coeur family was
a leader in this community on account of a superiority in education,
and an advantage which they possessed in being the wealthiest family
on the island. Later the good old French name became corrupted bv
association with neighbors of the English settlement, and it came to
be spelled as it was pronounced. Thus the name Bon Coeur became
Bunker-but the "good heart" still lives in every one of the
descendants, notwithstanding the classic query, "What's in a name?"
The full name of Dr. L. C. Bunker is Ledyard Cuyler, a name given to
him by a noted physician of New York, whose son Ledyard Cuyler, was a
Presbyterian evangelist, and a religious writer of the world-wide
fame. His parents were James Carrolton Bunker, who died in Wheaton,
Illinois, in 1872, and Elizabeth Rebecca Pennock, who died in
Greensburg, Indiana, January 10, 1876. They were married in Cayuga
county, New York in 1811. They moved from New York to Oberlin, Ohio
and from there to Branch county, Michigan, in 1833. Later they went to
Boone county, Illinois, but settled in Ripley county, Indiana, in
1848.

Dr. Bunker was born in Cayuga county, New York, October 19, 1821,
and by the removals of his parents, was given the benefit of an
extensive knowledge of the country. During the period of his first
twenty-eight years he saw much of life on the frontiers, and became a
student of mankind. From his earliest boyhood days he had been
familiar with the Indians. In Cayuga county, New York, his father kept
a hotel, and on one occasion that he recalls, the Genesee Indians
chartered the hotel for a week for the purpose of holding a pow-wow.
While living in Michigan at the age of sixteen-while Michigan was yet
a territory-he associated himself with an Indian tribe near the lakes,
and spent two years with them. The doctor is somewhat reticent as to
his experience while accompanying the tribe on their hunts, but
discloses enough to prove that he is familiar with Indian life and
character. He is able to discuss the different dialects of the several
tribes, and to explain peculiarities of the Indian tongue, one of
which is that their words invariably end with a vowel sound pronounced
with open lips, as Manitou, Catawba, Ohio, Mississinewa, etc.
An incident of some historical interest, which occurred at the
beginning of the settlement of Toledo, is related by Dr. Bunker. The
town at the west end of Lake Erie consisted of but two cabins, it was
on land owned by the Watomie Indians. They claimed a boundary line
from Lake Erie to Lake Michigan, north of Toledo. The Astors, fur
traders, who owned what is now called the northern peninsula of
Michigan, gave that land to the Indians if they would consent to
the-location of the boundary line fourteen miles further south-the
present northern boundary of western Ohio and Indiana. This averted a
clash of arms, as the claimants were on the disputed ground to "fight
it out."

At the breaking out of the Mexican war, young Bunker joined the
Second Illinois Regiment of Infantry, and was under Gen. Taylor in the
northern campaign, which ended at Buena Vista. An incident of that
battle that impressed him was the death of a son of Henry Clay, of
Kentucky.

He had begun the study of medicine in 1845, in the office of Dr.
Wright, a prominent physician at Belvidere, Illinois. After the
required term of "reading in the office" he attended a course of
lectures at the Rush Medical College at Chicago, and located for the
practice of medicine in Ripley county, Indiana. Later, in 1842, he was
graduated from the Eclectic Medical College at Cincinnati. He
continued to practice after his graduation, in Ripley county, and that
he was successful goes without saying, when it is stated on the
authority of one who knew of his work, that he had to keep three
saddle horses to be able to make his rounds and visit his patients.

In 1865 Dr. Bunker located in Greensburg, and for many years held
the confidence of the people as a safe family physician and "a good
doctor." In 1897 he sold his property on East Washington street, to
Dr. T. B. Gullefer, and removed to his farm, west of the city, on
Columbus road, retiring from active practice, though scarcly a day
passes that he is not consulted by some one of his old patrons, who
will not give him up.

Though nearing the close of his eighty-sixth year, and physically
enfeebled by the infirmities of age, he retains the possession of his
mental faculties to a remarkable extent. His memory is clear: he is
never at a loss for dates or names, and his conversation betokens a
still active mind. Dr. Bunker has been an extensive reader. He has
been an exhaustive student of the scriptures, not merely for a
knowledge of what the "Book" says, but what it means. He has read the
best literautre, especialy the classic poets, and in his conversations
has been noted for his readiness to make an apt quotation -historical,
poetical or scriptural.

He was married November 15, 1849, at Pennsylvaniaburg, in *Ripley
county, to Miss Alvira E. Alden. Their family consisted of eight
children, two of whom died in infancy, and five are living. Lucy E.
married William Montgomery, and now lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee;
Henry A. Bunker is a practicing physician in the city of Brooklyn, New
York: William B. Bunker practiced medicine at Winston, Illinois, but
died in 1892; George Bunker is in business at Dover, Delaware; May,
who is now Mrs. Fred Wise, resides in Brooklyn, New York, and Arthur
Clifford Bunker, the youngest son, is an electrician at Mont Claire,
New Jersey. Dr. Bunker was married April 5, 1849, to Mrs. Ida V.
McEivain. She is a native of Pennsylvanisburg, Ripley county, and is
the daughter of Abram Van Zile, a lifelong friend of Dr. Bunker.

The doctrines of the Baptist church have been his creed. He never
belonged to any of the secret orders. He is passing the evening of his
days in quiet, every want studiously anticipated and tenderly supplied
by loving hands; and as even the twilight of life comes on he has been
heard to say "Waiting-I am only waiting."

(* Marriage record in Dearborn County, Indiana) BH