Frank Charles Bunnell (March 19, 1842 – September 11, 1911) was a Republican member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

Formative years

Born in Washington Township in

Wyoming County, Pennsylvania Wyoming County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 26,069. Its county seat is Tunkhannock. It was created in 1842 from part of Luzerne County. The county is part of the Northeast Penns ...

on March 14, 1842 (alternate birth date: March 19), Frank C. Bunnell was a son of Pennsylvania natives James Bunnell (1814–1899) and Mary (Harding) Bunnell (1817–1898). Reared and educated initially with his sister, Savannah (1840–1864), in the common school of Dauphin County, he later attended the

Wyoming Seminary Wyoming Seminary, founded in 1844, is a Methodist college preparatory school located in the Wyoming Valley of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The "Lower School," which consists of preschool to eighth-grade students, is located in Forty Fort. The "Up ...

Kingston, Pennsylvania Kingston is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located on the western bank of the Susquehanna River opposite Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre. Kingston was first settled in the early 17 ...

Civil War

Frank Bunnell became one of the early responders to President Lincoln's call for volunteers to help preserve America's union. After enrolling on September 20, 1861, at the age of 19 at Mehoopany, Pennsylvania, he then officially mustered in on October 11, 1861, at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg as a private with Company B, 52nd Pennsylvania Infantry. Promoted to the rank of

quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land army, armies, a quartermaster is an officer who supervises military logistics, logistics and requisitions, manages stores or barracks, and distri ...

sergeant of his regiment on March 1, 1862 during the

Peninsula Campaign The Peninsula campaign (also known as the Peninsular campaign) of the American Civil War was a major Union operation launched in southeastern Virginia from March to July 1862, the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater. The oper ...

under General McClellan, he fought with his regiment in multiple engagements, including the

Battle of Williamsburg The Battle of Williamsburg, also known as the Battle of Fort Magruder, took place on May 5, 1862, in York County, James City County, and Williamsburg, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the first pitc ...

(May 5, 1862) and

Battle of Seven Pines The Battle of Seven Pines, also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks or Fair Oaks Station, took place on May 31 and June 1, 1862, in Henrico County, Virginia as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. The Union's Army of the Po ...

(May 31-June 2, 1862). He was subsequently discharged from the military on April 2, 1863, on a surgeon's certificate of disability.

Post-war life

Following his honorable discharge from the military, Bunnell returned home to Luzerne County where, from 1864 to 1869, he worked as a merchant. He then relocated to

Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania Tunkhannock ( ) is a borough and county seat of Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located 31 miles (50 km) northwest of Wilkes-Barre, Tunkhannock is in the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. I ...

, where he worked in the agricultural and banking industries, and began a 20-plus-year tenure as president of the Wyoming County Agricultural Society. On October 1, 1898, he wed Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania resident Martha A. Smith in Tunkhannock. An unsuccessful candidate for federal office in 1872, he was elected to the Forty-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of

Ulysses Mercur Ulysses Mercur (August 12, 1818 – June 6, 1887) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Early life and education Ulysses Mercur was born in Towanda ...

. In 1884, he was elected burgess and borough treasurer of Tunkhannock. A Republican, he was then elected again to the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses, but did not seek renomination in 1888. Still residing in Tunkhannock two years later, he was documented as suffering from rheumatism and deafness, according to the special census of Union veterans and widows of the Civil War which was conducted that year. Residing alone in Tunhannock at the turn of the century, he relocated to Philadelphia sometime during or before 1911.

Death and interment

Suffering from

Bright's Disease Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine. It was frequently accompanied ...

and

aortic regurgitation Aortic regurgitation (AR), also known as aortic insufficiency (AI), is the leaking of the aortic valve of the heart that causes blood to flow in the reverse direction during ventricular diastole, from the aorta into the left ventricle. As a conse ...

, Bunnell died at his home at 2320 North 19th Street in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, on September 11, 1911. Following funeral services at the M.E. Church in Tunkhannock on September 15, he was laid to rest at that community's Gravel Hill Cemetery later that same day."Bunnell, Frank Charles (1842-1911)", in "The Political Graveyard".

External links

*
Frank Charles Bunnell
(memorial and gravesite information). Salt Lake City, Utah: Find A Grave, retrieved online September 2, 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunnell, Frank C. 1842 births 1911 deaths Union army soldiers Pennsylvania lawyers People from the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives