Bunnell (and variant spellings) families came mainly from England, France, Scotland, and Sweden. This first volume covers ancestors and descendants from the late 1500's to the early 1800's, with a focus on English immigrant William Bunnell. William settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony ca. 1630. Around 1635, he married Ann Wilmot, the daughter of Benjamin and Ann Wilmot. They moved to New Haven Colony, Massachusetts, ca. 1650. Their children were Lydia, Benjamin, Nathaniel, Mary and Ebenezer. Nathaniel moved from New Haven to Elizabethtown in 1665, and later to Chatham, New Jersey. Many Bunnells lived in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York in the 1600's-1700's. During the 1800's, some moved into New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (Canada), and to Kentucky, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Vermont. Later descendants and relatives also lived in California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Washington, Washington D.C., and elsewhere.

William Bunnell was born in England and emigrated to North America with John Winthrop and the Puritan movement. He settled in what became Watertown, Massachusetts and married Anne Wilmot, ca. 1640, and later moving to the Connecticut colony until his wife and youngest child's deaths, when he returned to England. Descendants, relatives and allied families lived in England, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Netherlands, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.

Beginning in 1924, Proceedings are incorporated into the Apr. no.