Cost of Junkins Burial Ground Deed and Trust Secured by Donations

By Donald Junkins; published in JFA Newsletter no. 2, Spring 1990

In 1963 Roland and Donald Junkins visited the site of Robert Junkins' Garrison House on the old Scotland Road in York, Maine, and retrieved red bricks from the original hearth and fireplace. The area was overgrown with high grass and briars, and they were not at that time aware of the burial ground in the "front yard," so close to the current highway that gravestones had fallen over the precipitous side of the land created by the highway cut. (The neighbor across the street in the former Moody house later confided that she had several times lifted grave markers back up off the slope overhanging the road.) The Robert Junkins poem (below) describes this visit by Donald and Roland. Not until the late seventies would they return to the site of the Garrison House in York.

In the meantime, Alan Junkins of Aston, Pennsylvania, also made a pilgrimage to his ancestral home in York, Maine. He photographed extensively the area of the Garrison House, found the addresses of existing Junkins relatives, and sent family greetings to those he had identified. He also conceived of and created the Junkins Family Association and the Junkins Family Newsletter. By mail, information was exchanged between the brothers Roland and Donald, and Alan, and the problem of the Alexander Junkins Burial Ground discussed. As a result, legal proceedings produced the deed directing ownership of the Alexander Junkins Burial Groun to the heirs of Alexander Junkins, and the Trust protecting this ownership. Part of the attorney's fees for this dual project came out of the Junkins Family Association's treasury (dues from the membership of the Association), and the rest came from contributions of more than $1000. each from Alan, Donald and Roland Junkins, gifts to the Alexander Junkins Burial Ground Trust and the Junkins Family Association.

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