Thomas Bonner's Family of New Brunswick, Canada

The initial information that I gathered about Thomas Bonner and his family came from the New Brunswick Genealogical Society in a special project named First Families of New Brunswick. The link for the index to all of the first families is:
http://www.nbgs.ca/firstfamilies.html

The link for the "B" section where the Bonnars are found is the following:
http://www.nbgs.ca/firstfamilies/FAMILY-B-2006.pdf

I was pleased to find this much information on the first look at New Brunswick records. Here is the Bonner information from First Families.

BONNAR: James Bonnar b. 1806 Ireland: came to NB in 1835 settled at Nashwaak, Saint Mary’s Parish, York County: m: Margaret b. 1807 Ireland

Children:

William Bonnar b. 1832
Matilda Bonnar b. 1835, married 14 Sept 1854 David Ross
James Bonnar Jr. b. 1836
Ann Bonnar b. 1838
Edward Bonnar b. 1840
Isabelle Bonnar b. 1842
Margaret Bonnar b. 1844, m. David Henry Pond
Mary Bonnar b. 1845
Thomas Bonnar b. 1846
Henry Bonnar b. 1848, m. Amanda- settled in Durham, NB and had two children
Robert Bonnar b. 1854, m. 15 Apr 1891 Louisa Greer

Since obtaining the original information about the Bonners from First Families, I have gathered additional information. A very helpful person, who happened to be a professional genealogist, inquired about some Bonner information I have on my family tree at ancestry.com and as we began our email chats, I learned that she has specialized in Irish genealogy for over 30 years. She said that the given names of the children in my Bonner family were very typical of families in Ulster Province in Northern Ireland. She also made some other suggestions that included looking into the Tithe Applotment records for each county in Ulster Province. I have just begun that process to see if I can locate the family of great great grandfather, James Bonner. It will take a while to learn my way around the Irish references and sources. Another great suggestion she made was to focus on the children of James and perhaps find a death certificate that might show exactly where James and Margaret were from. I am looking more closely at the children and have learned very little about some and a good deal more about others. Here's a short overview of the children of James and Margaret Bonner, Thomas' siblings.

I have found something about most of the siblings of Thomas Bonner, except William. Just found an 1851 New Brunswick census which included William and nothing more. There are several William Bonners in the records of the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, but they are much younger than William.

Matilda Bonner married David Ross and they first moved to Nova Scotia and then to Chelsey, MA. I have the names of some of their children. I also found a listing for the Directory of Chesley, MA for 1912 that showed Matilda was widowed and she and her son Charles G. lived at #59 Blossom Street in Chelsea. Matilda and her brother William were born in Ireland. All of the other children were born in New Brunswick. Matilda Bonner Ross was interviewed by the pension examiners in 1904 for information about Thomas Bonner. I will include that later when I tell more about Matilda.

James Bonner Jr. married Mary Ann Good and they remained in New Brunswick. I have also learned about some of his children. On the census in 1861, James Jr. was age 25, married and living with his parents on lot #31 in Upper Durham. His wife is Ann and she is 19.

Ann Bonner married James Good and they had six children. The Bonner family and the Good family were neighbors. The Bonners lived on lot #31 and the Good family lived on lot #34 in Upper Durham. James was born in Ireland. After James Good died in 1871, Ann married John Clarke. After John died, Ann went to Massachusetts for a while and lived with her son, James. The information about the lot numbers came from the book, And The River Rolled On.... Two Hundred Years on the Nashwaak published in 1984 by the Nashwaak Bicentennial Association. The book is a wonderful reference.

Edward Bonner married Louisa Hines. Edward also enlisted in the US Army about the same time that Thomas enlisted in 1862. Edward was in the artillery. Edward and his wife Louisa lived in Danforth, ME. Both Edward and Louisa were also interviewed by pension examiners in 1904 for information about Thomas Bonner. I will review that very interesting information in a later blog posting.

I haven't found information about Isabell, as of this time. Margaret Bonner married Henry David Pond and they stayed in New Brunswick their entire life. They had 15 children. Their property was also near the Bonner family. The original Pond homestead was Lot G East containing 40 acres. Henry Pond and Margaret stayed there and built a large two story house. Their daughter Eva lived there after her parents died in the 1920's. Eva died at age 93 in 1959.

Mary Bonner married John Wesley McConnell. That's all I know about her right now. Henry Bonner married Amanda Horne and they stayed in New Brunswick also.

I found that Robert Bonner (brother of Thomas) did not marry Louisa Greer as stated on the First Families site. Instead it was Robert, a son of Henry Bonner who married Louisa Greer. Robert Bonner, brother of Thomas, stayed in New Brunswick and lived on the original homestead, known as lot #31. He sold the homestead in 1911 to a member of the Estey family.

In the next blog, I will tell you more about several of the siblings of Thomas Bonner. As I have gathered information on these families, rather than just being another search for information, it is truly a search for family. Thomas' siblings were my great aunts and uncles and are now looking much like other aunts and uncles that I have.

(Addendum: May 14, 2011- I received the death certificate of Robert Nelson Bonnar, the son of James Bonnar and Margaret Chambers rather than Chalmers. Robert was born in 1855, was 72 when he died in 1928. The certificate noted that he was the husband of the late Johanna Harris. His daughter, Alwilda Bonnar was the informant. This death certificate clarifies that it was Robert Nelson Bonnar and not Robert Douglas Bonnar who was the son of James and Margaret Bonnar. Now I can go on to write about the family of Robert Nelson Bonnar in another blog entry.)