The following article appeared in the New England Historic and Genealogical Society newsletter this week. We have numerous Bunkers in Washington state. There are about 200 listed in the digital archives. Washington State Digital Archives http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Index.aspx Washington State Archives http://www.secstate.wa.gov/history/search.aspx The Washington State Digital Archives facility and website was made available to the public in October 2004. Their website describes it as "the nation's first archives dedicated specifically to the preservation of electronic records from both State and Local agencies that have permanent legal, fiscal or historical value." The physical facility, located in Cheney, Washington, houses both the Eastern Washington Regional Archives (paper records) and the Digital Archives, a floor of computer workstations loaded with the same databases that are accessible at no charge to you on their website. The website features historical databases from various counties in Washington State. It is a work in progress and more databases will be added as time goes on. Currently available are the indexes to: * County censuses from 1847 to 1892 * Naturalization records from 1854 to 1988 * Records from two correctional institutions between 1877 to 1914 * Military records, including listings of residents from two veterans' homes and WWI serviceman cards * Death indexes of selected counties and cemetery records * Births from two counties and one city (1890-1914) * Marriages (plus images of some records) from three counties * The names of nearly 16,000 elected officials who took an oath of office between 1854 and 1978 * A listing of physicians who practiced in Washington State between 1872 through 1938 You may either perform a simple surname search on a single database or on all of them at once. There is also a Detail Search, which provides advanced search options. Each database contains different information, and the Detail Search is designed to follow the fields of each specific database. Interestingly, the State Archives hosts a separate website from the Digital Archives. The two websites appear to share the same indexed databases, but the State Archives site has more search and viewing options as well as scans of original unindexed records, and interactive features. To access the State Archives website, click on the Archives link at the bottom of any page of the Digital Archives site (or click the link above). Once on the home page, click on the Historical Records Search link under Research. Here you will see a full list of all databases on the website, an option that is not offered by the Digital Archives site. You can also select and search any combination of databases, as opposed to the "one or all" options of the Digital Archives site. While the Digital Archives site only has the indexes to select transcribed County Census records, the State Archives site provides scanned images of the censuses that have yet to be indexed. Each database name on the State Archives site is linked to an information page which includes introductory material, a citation, a browse option, ordering information, and links to additional information about the record type. Most interesting of all are the Share Information links that appear when a result page is accessed. Once you have found your ancestor, you are invited to submit additional information on the individual, which can be read by anyone. It is unclear why the State Archives and the Digital Archives would maintain separate websites, but it is interesting that while the Digital Archives project is getting all of the attention, the State Archives site is superior to it in every way. Both, however, are well worth a visit, especially if your New England ancestors went west to try their luck in the rough-and-tumble Washington Territory. ____________________________________________ Check out the Bunker Family Association. http://www.bunkerfamilyassn.org. If your name is Bunker and you are a male, consider joining our surname DNA project.