Bunnell family

Rufus William Bunnell (1835-1909) practiced architecture for over forty years in Bridgeport and Stratford, Connecticut. He designed numerous residential, commercial and public buildings, including the Bridgeport Hospital.

Rufus William Bunnell was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on February 11, 1835. He was the son of William Rufus Bunnell (1806-1872), a Bridgeport area woolen manufacturer and mill owner, and Sarah E. (Haight) Bunnell of Meredith, New York. Upon Sarah Bunnell's death during Rufus's early childhood, William Rufus Bunnell married Cornelia Sterling.

Rufus William Bunnell attended Bridgeport schools, and in 1852 entered the Bridgeport office of Chauncey Graham, carpenter and architect, where he was trained in drafting and surveying. In 1854 he entered the architectural office of Albert C. Nash, who had studied with the prominent architect Henry Austin. While working in Nash's office, Bunnell met his colleague and future partner E. Richard Lambert. In July of 1855, Bunnell joined Chauncey Graham's architectural office in Trenton, New Jersey as chief draftsman. In September of that year, he moved to Toledo, Ohio to enter the architectural office of Frank J. Scott. He became partners with Scott in January of 1857. In 1858, Bunnell returned East and worked as an architect for a brief time in the office of Woollett & Ogden, Architects, Albany, New York, and in the Bridgeport surveying office of E. R. Lambert (father of E. Richard Lambert).

Through colleagues, Bunnell learned of an architectural position in Wilmington, North Carolina, and in May of 1858 he joined the office of James F. Post. In 1860 he returned to Bridgeport where with E. Richard Lambert he formed the partnership Lambert and Bunnell, Architects. In September of 1862, Bunnell volunteered for the Union Army, and served in the Civil War for one year in Company I of the 23rd regiment, primarily in New Orleans, LaFourche, and Brashear City, Louisiana.

Upon returning to Bridgeport, he resumed his association with E. Richard Lambert, which continued until 1901 when Lambert became ill. In 1901 Bunnell opened an office in his home in Stratford, Connecticut. He died in Stratford in February of 1909.

During his career, Bunnell designed numerous private residences and public buildings, including the Bridgeport Hospital and the Bellamy mansion in Wilmington, North Carolina.

In 1869, Bunnell married Catharine Mary Sterling (1840-1931), daughter of Captain John William and Catharine Tomlinson (Plant) Sterling of Stratford, Connecticut, and sister of Yale benefactor John William Sterling (1844-1918) and Cordelia Sterling (d. 1931). Her father was the son of David and Deborah (Strong) Sterling and brother of Cornelia (Sterling) Bunnell, second wife of William Rufus Bunnell; her mother was the daughter of David and Catharine (Tomlinson) Plant. Catharine Sterling Bunnell attended the Stratford Academy as well as finishing school in New Haven, Connecticut.

William Rufus and Catharine Sterling Bunnell were the parents of three children: Sterling Haight (b. 1871-1959), Frank Scott (1872-1959) and Catharine Tomlinson (1876-1955).

STERLING HAIGHT BUNNELL, 1871-1959

Sterling Haight Bunnell was born in Stratford, Connecticut on January 30, 1871. He attended Bridgeport High School and received the Bachelor of Philosophy degree in mechanical engineering from the Yale Sheffield Scientific School in 1891, and a graduate degree in mechanical engineering from Yale in 1893. In his early career, Sterling Bunnell worked as a draftsman. He held positions with E. & B. Homes, Buffalo; Holly Manufacturing Company at Lockport, New York; Farrell Foundry & Machinery in Ansonia, Connecticut; and Twin City Iron Works in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In November 1899 he became engineer and manager of the Cochran Company at Lorain, Ohio, producers of small refrigerating machines. Subsequently he held positions with Watertown (N.Y.) Engine Company (1904-1907); Griscom-Spencer company, a marine repair and jobbing business (1907-1910); Clinton H. Scovell & Company, accountants and engineers of Boston (1911); and Griscom Russell Company for whom Bunnell worked as engineer-in-chief (1911-1916). From 1916 until 1918, Bunnell was chief engineer for R. Martens & Company, a business headed by British cabinet member Lord Rhondda and managed by Richard Martens. Bunnell worked as an independent consultant from 1918 to 1928. From 1928 until 1932, he worked for the industrial department of National City Company of New York, investigating the operating and financial conditions of industrials. In 1935, Bunnell became the secretary of the consulting firm George S. Armstrong and Company, Inc. of New York, and retired from the firm as vice-president. He died September 13, 1959.

Sterling Bunnell was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Franklin Institute, and the Yale Engineering Association. He was the author of Cost-keeping for Manufacturing Plants (1911) and Industrials...their Securities and Organization (1923).

In 1900 Sterling Bunnell married Rebecca Lapham Peterson, daughter of Charles and Jennie Gray (Lapham) Peterson of Lockport and Syracuse, New York. Their marriage produced two children, Charles Sterling (b. 1901) and Elizabeth Lapham Bunnell (b. 1904).

FRANK SCOTT BUNNELL, 1872-1959

Frank Scott Bunnell was born in Stratford, Connecticut on October 2, 1872. He was educated at schools in Bridgeport and New Haven, and graduated from Yale in 1894. Following his graduation, he taught for one year at Mount Holly Academy, Mount Holly, New Jersey, and from 1895 to 1898 was classical master and assistant principal of the Minneapolis Academy, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He pursued and was granted a Masters degree by the University of Minnesota in 1897. During the academic year 1898-1899, Bunnell was an instructor in Latin at the Lewis Institute in Chicago, Illinois. He began the graduate program in Greek at Yale in 1899, and received the Ph.d. in 1903. He was classical instructor at Staten Island Academy, New Brighton, New York during the academic year 1902-1903. In 1903 he was appointed instructor in Greek at Norwich Free Academy, Norwich, Connecticut, a position which he held until his retirement in 1933.

On June 30, 1904 Bunnell married Katharine Steele Day, daughter of Richard Day and his late wife Catharine Amelia (Smith) Day, of Toledo, Ohio. They were the parents of two children, Richard Day (b.1906) and Catharine Sterling (b.1910). Richard Day Bunnell attended Phillips Academy and Yale College. He married Elizabeth Wood in 1928. They were the parents of a daughter, Patricia (b. 1929). Catharine Sterling Bunnell attended Wellesley College and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Katharine Day Bunnell died in 1940. In 1954 Frank S. Bunnell married his second counsin, Susan Plant. He died in 1959.

CATHARINE TOMLINSON (BUNNELL) MITCHELL, 1876-1955

Catharine Tomlinson (Bunnell) Mitchell was born in Stratford in 1871. She attended Bryn Mawr (1894-1897) and studied journalism and literature at Yale (1896-1898). While pursuing a writing career, she worked as a copyholder and editor for a number of New York publishing houses including The Century Company.

On January 23, 1915 she married James Mitchell, a childhood friend of her parents. She and her husband moved to Torrance, California where James Mitchell was involved in agriculture and oil businesses. They had no children. Catharine T. (Bunnell) Mitchell died in Stratford, Connecticut in 1955.

From the guide to the Bunnell family papers, 1772-1958, (Manuscripts and Archives)