"BUNNELL, Noah L. The life record of this venerable citizen of Moran, Owen township, is one of interest and instruction, for it has been active, always so modulated as to be of the greatest service to those whom it touched. Mr. Bunnell has lived to see the transformation of a great country from the primeval forests and the wild prairies and he has performed well his part in this work. He is one of our oldest native born citizens, and most all of his nearly four score years have been spent here, devoted to farming and merchandising. He grew up amid pioneer conditions and it is indeed interesting to hear him relate incidents of those early days, of the different customs and manners prevailing then, of the hardships and privations, of the wilderness filled with wild animals, and many things unknown to us of the present generation. Noah L. Bunnell was born January 20, 1834, near the village of Jefferson, Clinton county. He is a son of Noah and Catherine (CONLEY) BUNNELL. The father was born in 1796 in New Jersey where he spent his early years, finally removing to Ohio then to Clinton county, Indiana, where he began as a typical frontiersman, erecting a log cabin and clearing and developing a farm, and there he spent the rest of his life, dying in 1871. He was a wheelwright by trade at which he worked in his earlier years, finally devoting his attention to farming. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. His wife was born in Maryland in 1800, and her death occurred in 1875. To these parents five children were born, Noah L., of this review, the youngest, Harriet, James, Seneca and Mary, all four deceased. Noah L. Bunnell grew to manhood on the homestead near Jefferson and there he found plenty of hard work to do when a boy, and he received a meager education in the old-time rural schools. He married Julia A. BELL, who was born in Ohio in 1839. She was a daughter of William and Mary (HAMILTON) BELL, and to this union five children were born: Mary C., James, Elver, Clyde and Thomas (deceased). Mr. Bunnell began life for himself on a farm where he remained until 1864 then entered the mercantile field at Kilmore, Clinton county, where he remained three years, then went to Lafayette, where he remained in the same business until the Vandalia railroad was built through Clinton county, whereupon he returned here and laid out the town of Moran. Owen township, which was first called Bunnellsville, after our subject, but later was named Moran. Mr. Bunnell has remained at this place ever since and has built up a large and lucrative trade with the surrounding country, his store being a favorite gathering place for the people of this vicinity in their spare time, for they have always received honest, fair and courteous treatment at the hands of our subject. He carries an up-to-date stock of general merchandise at all seasons and his prices are laways (sic) reasonable. He is also owner of a valuable and productive eighty acre farm adjoining Moran, on which land Mr. Bunnell has a pleasant and well furnished home. At present he is assisted in his store by his son, Elver. Politically, Mr. Bunnell is a Republican and has always been faithful in his support of the party. Religiously, he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church
."I don't have a picture of Noah L. Bunnell, but this is his brother and my g-g-g-grandfather, Seneca Bunnell.
The following is another brother, Daniel James Bunnell (Uncle Jim).
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