The following article was published in JFA newsletter no. 15, Winter 2006.
The Junkins Family Scottish Heritage Room is dedicated to, and to preserve, the history of the Scottish families of York, Maine and their descendants. It will be developed as a permanent repository for objects and archival collections that illuminate their lives and contributions to the history of this country.
On Friday, October 21st of last year, the trustees, staff, members and representatives of some of York's oldest families met to dedicate the new Junkins Family Scottish Heritage Room. This was made possible by a generous bequest of Roland Winslow Junkins (1925-2002).
The large room adjoins the research library, and was formerly the Director's Room of the York County Trust Company when it occupied the building in the first half of the twentieth century, In recent years, it has served as the conference room where Old York Historical Society volunteer committees and the board met. Richly appointed with mahogany paneling and a carved mantle piece, the room has been refitted as a center dedicated to the study and preservation of material associated with the first settlers of western York's "Scotland District."
Roland Junkins was a passionate historian who reclaimed many forgotten family graveyards and set about recording his family's history in southern Maine. His bequest endowed the maintenance of eight family graveyards in York and provided funding to establish a room devoted to the Junkins family and other descendants of Scottish prisoners exiled to the area after their defeat by English forces at Dunbar, Scotland in 1650.
Prominent among the materials in the Junkins Room are the artifacts and photographs related to Roland's service in the Army during the closing days of World War II and an archive of his, organized by Junkins descendant Kay Wood and other Old York library volunteers. Also on display is an early 19th century tall clock by the Berwick Quaker clock maker, Paul Rogers, complete with a rocking ship of painted tin, that belonged to Roland's ancestors. There are a number of paintings documenting the Junkins Garrison house that burned in 1889, and the famed "Junkins cradle" recognized since the 19th century as an antiquarian relic of early settlement in which numerous generations of Junkins babies were rocked. Relevant materials are filling newly installed bookcases in the room. The arrangement of the room anticipates additions to the collections already housed there so that information and relics associated with the Scottish families of York may continue to be collected, preserved, and made available for future study.
DEDICATION PROGRAM
Welcome and Introductions by
Scott Stevens
Executive Director, Old York Historical SocietyAcknowledgments and Dedication by
Calvin Hosmer, III
President of the Board of TrusteesReverend Joseph Crocker
a life long friend of RolandComments on Behalf of the Junkins Family
Alan D. Junkins, Founder, The Junkins Family Association
Kenneth Junkins, President, The Junkins Family Association
Donald A. Junkins, Vice President, The Junkins Family Association
A Few Thoughts from Donald Junkins
"When my brother Roland Winslow Junkins was a chubby little boy growing up on Pine Hill in Lynn, Massachusetts in the mid twenties, someone remarked that he was a little buster of a boy, and the remark stuck as a nickname within the family. He's always been 'Buster' to me; he will always be Roland to all of you. Buster/Roland would be extremely warmed and proud of all of you being here today to honor him and dignify this new Junkins Family Scottish Heritage Room, and on his and my immediate family's behalf, I thank you."
