Alexander Bonham
ABRAHAMS, BONHAM, KLINGENSMITH, MACK, MCKENZIE, PEARSON, PIERCE, PHILLIPS, STUMP, YARNELL
Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 9/15/2004 at 20:59:42
“The History of Madison County, Iowa”
Union Historical Company, Des Moines, 1879
page 589A. Bonham is a Grand River township farmer, living on Section 23, P. O. Macksburg. He was born in Virginia in 1811, and when six years of age, his parents removed to Ohio. He came to this county in 1857, owns 210 acres of land, and has improved the farm on which he now lives. He has held township offices. He married Miss Susan Yarnall in 1833. She was born in Ohio. They have six children living: Mary, David, Benjamin, Hannah, William G., Samuel. Three children were lost.
__________________________________________________“History of Madison County Iowa and Its People”
Herman A. Mueller, Supervising Editor
Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1915Alexander Bonham, who was very successful as a farmer and who in 1888 retired to Macksburg, lived to be one of the oldest citizens of Madison county and passed away on the 2d of March, 1899, in his eighty-eighth year, his birth having occurred July 20, 1811. He was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, of the marriage of David and Tacy Bonham, who in 1817 removed with their family to Harrison county, Ohio. There Alexander Bonham grew to years of maturity and on the 22d of November, 1833, he married Miss Susan Yarnell, who was born in that county, October 6, 1816.
In 1837 they removed to Coshocton county, Ohio, where they resided for twenty years, removing to Madison county, Iowa, in 1857, the date of his arrival here being the 4th of November, of that year. Mr. Bonham settled in Grand River township and for more than three decades was actively engaged in farming, his labors yielding him a good financial return. In 1888 he retired to Macksburg and the remainder of his life was passed in honorable retirement from business cares.
To Mr. and Mrs. Bonham were born nine children. David, born on the 11th of September, 1834, in Harrison county, Ohio, was married on the 8th of September, 1860, to Miss Byancy Abrams, and died in Macksburg, Iowa, on the 8th of April, 1907. Mary D., whose birth occurred on the i5th of March, 1837, in Harrison county, Ohio, married Dennis Stump on the 13th of September, 1865, and passed away in Grand River township on the 25th of August, 1884. Benjamin S., born on the 28th of July, 1839, in Coshocton county, Ohio, married Rosa Goodwin on the 8th of November, 1867, and died in Oklahoma, January 16, 1910. Hannah J., whose birth occurred in Coshocton county, Ohio, on the 22d of September, 1841, became the wife of Dr. J. H. Mack on the 22d of August, 1858, and she resides in Macksburg. Tacy, whose birth occurred on the 8th of October, 1843, in Coshocton county, Ohio, married J. H. Pierce and passed away in Grand River township on the 15th of June, 1870. Mattie, born in Coshocton county on the 10th of April, 1851, died in Grand River township on the 17th of June, 1870. Phoebe, who was born on the 23d of October, 1853, in Coshocton county, married J. Pearson on the 8th of March, 1870, and died in Grand River township on the 28th of November, 1877. George W., born on the 24th of February, 1857, has been twice married and is now residing in Lorimor, Iowa. He married Miss Susan Phillips, on the 24th of February, 1875, and she passed away on the 3d of January, 1894. On the 13th of September, 1897, he was united in wedlock with Miss Malissa Klingensmith. Samuel, whose birth occurred on the i7th of June, 1858, is a native of Grand River township. On the 18th of September, 1882, he married Miss Molly McKenzie, and they make their home at Lorimor.
Mr. and Mrs. Bonham lived together for sixty-five years and their married life was characterized by true companionship. Mr. Bonham gave his political allegiance to the Republican party but was never an office seeker. He was a consistent Christian and was for seventy-two years a member of the Baptist church, as he united therewith in his sixteenth year. His wife, who became a church member at the age of ten, was likewise deeply religious and possessed the Christian spirit. She passed away on the 30th of June, 1910, and many who knew her felt that her demise was a personal loss. Mr. Bonham was one of the most venerable residents of the county at the time of his death and received in full measure the respect and honor that should always be given to those who have lived a long life well and have served their community to the best of their ability. He was willing to cooperate with others in efforts to advance the moral and civic interests of the county and his personality was such that he held a place in the warm regard of many.
Madison Biographies maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
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