Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 57

Author: Runk, J.M. & Co
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chambersburg, Pa.
Number of Pages: 1500

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Without going further into the history in England of this noble family of Bonvilles, we now speak of their advent in America. George Bonwill came from Leamington, near London, England, and settled first in Vir- ginia, between 1750 and 1770. Not much is known of him and his family while in Vir- ginia, except that he was a most ingenious and well educated engineer, and was engaged in the grist mills, carding machines and every- thing connected with milling by water power. Ile was evidently possessed of means when he came to America. From here he gradually worked up to near Vienna in Maryland, then a rather frequented port of entry. Here we find he had acquired much land and was con- sidered very rich; and here he continued to be engaged in rearing mill properties, as the land was so situated all through this country that the water courses were available for grist mills. He was evidently a man of great me- chanical ability and resources for opening up a new country; which talents and qualities he transmitted to his only son, Michael Hall Bon- will. The same traits have been transmitted to the present generation, and have been cul- tivated by some of the family to a very high degree, so much so, as to gain a world-wide reputation; of this we shall presently speak in detail. George Bonwill died at Hall's Seat, near Vienna, in October, 1782. He had one son, Michael Hall Bonwill, and a dangh- ter, Betty Bonwill.

At his death he was possessed of 5,000 acres of land and 400 slaves who were emanci- pated by his son, Michael Hall, the widow and daughter retaining 250 of them. Many works of art and ingenious contrivances, still in pos- session of the family, give evidence of the skill and talent of the first George Bonwill. One of

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these is an instrument for measuring miles, perches and furlongs; another is a miniature, which he painted. His whole personality re- vealed his high character and the usefulness of his life.

His son, Michael Hall Bouwill, was born in England and was but four years of age, when George Bonwill came to America. Hle was born February 27, 1783, died in 1833. He was married February 23, 1786, to Mary Moore, daughter of Ralph Moore, one of the carly governors of Virginia. She died, April 11, 1799, at Leamington Mills, in Delaware. He was known as a very handsome man, of most exquisite tastes, and possessed of mechan- ical genius to an extraordinary degree; he was the sole builder of grist and saw mills and carding machines, below Wilmington. Mich- ael Hall Bonwill had three sons: 1. George Bonwill; II. William Moore Bonwill; III. William Henry Bonwill, by his first wife. By his second marriage to Miss Lowber, he had three daughters, Margaret, Maria and Eliza- beth, and one son, Peter Lowber Bonwill.

George Bonwill, 2, was born November 23, 1786, in Maryland, but always lived in Delaware, near Frederica, at the Leamington mills, founded by his father. He was an inde- fatigable worker and, like his ancestors, very ingenious. He had the credit of having in- vented the first wood planing machine, but, lie had too many ideas, and failed to get it patented. By his marriage to Anna Stanton In had children: I. Isaac; II. Rebecca; III. Mildred, died early; IV. Huldah Hoag; V. Mary Anna, who was married to James Kite, of Philadelphia. He was successful in acquir- ing some property, but he lived a most secluded life after the early death of his wife. He died March 23, 1855. Huldah Hoag Bonwill, eldest daughter of George Bonwill, of Delaware, born 1826, is the only one of the females in this family who has shown any marked ability. A stanch orthodox Quaker, she has been closely allied with their interests. She has been a most devoted school teacher, i. not only the states, but territories, among Indians, over whom she had great control. Her life has been unusually active and use- ful. She has evinced many of the peculiar characteristics of the Bonwills, notably their indomitable energy and persistence. She has certainly been a central tigure in pioneer life,

wherever any good was to be achieved. She is entitled to great consideration for having led a most active and useful life. She is still active, at seventy-two years of age.

William Moore Bonwill was born near Can- terbury, Del., February 6, 1796, and died September 23, 1864. To the age of twenty- one, he was a millwright with his father, Michael Ilall Bonwill. On attaining his ma- jerity, he fell heir to his share of his mother's estate, which enabled him to spend three years in the University of Pennsylvania; in 1827. he graduated in medicine and surgery. While not highly educated, yet he had gained much culture by association with his father, who had been well trained, and possessed native abil- ity and genius for mechanics. He was a re- markably successful doctor, especially in sur- gery, where his ingenuity had ample scope. He was a man of very marked character and refinement, gifted with no mean order of poet- ical talent. He never idled away a moment, but was always engaged in his work-shop upon some invention. He held the first pat- ent on a corn harvester; indeed, all he did was of an original character; he never copied or pirated the product of another's brains. He was married June 12, 1820, to the widow of Dr. Ezekiel Cooper, who was formerly Miss Louisa Mason Baggs; her father was a success- ful sea captain. She had four children by Dr. Cooper: I. Richard; HI. Ezekiel; III. An- drew; IV. Louisa. The children by Dr. Wil- liam Moore Bonwill were: I. Mary Justina Melross; II. William Gibson Arlington; III. Charles Edward Hall Bonwill. The wife of Dr. William Moore Bonwill was known as a remarkably beautiful and lovely woman; she was the idol of his life, and her early death, in 1837, was such a blow to her husband that he never married a second time. She came of a wealthy, influential family in Maryland when slavery was in its prime.

Had Dr. W. M. Bonwill been highly edu- cated, and lived in a large city, he would have risen to distinction. He settled first in Can- terbury, Kent county, Del., and soon after in Camden, Del., where he practiced for forty- seven years. The best evidence of the high esteem and love in which he was held by the community was found in the long procession of carriages which accompanied his funeral to Dover, where he was buried in the family lot.

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In this lot his son, William, has deposited the remains of nearly all the deceased members of this family. Dr. W. M. Bonwill was a most loval Master Mason, and the order honored him by special services at his grave. Of all his family, up to his time, he ranked the high- est in his achievements and broader useful- ness. Ile was an honest man. Ilis only daugh- ter, Mary, born May 14, 1831, died December 27, 1834, at three years of age, which was a severe blow to him. It was soon followed by the decease of his adored wife, March 11, 1837.

William Gibson Arlington Bonwill, the first son, was born, Friday, October 4, 1833. From his seventh year to his fourteenth, he was at such schools as Camden afforded. He was not sent to college, but went to the Mid- dletown, Del., Academy. He spent only seven years in school, but at his- fourteenth year of age, when he left school, he had gone through all branches of mathematics, inelnd- ing algebra and mensuration, and was just entering geometry and chemistry. Latin was easy to him; he had reached Caesar and had entered upon Greck. In these few years he had laid the foundation for a successful and eventful life which we can well relate, since it so far overtops those of all his predecessors. While not scholastic, yet the education was enough, with his native talents and mechani- cal genins, to place him in a position which no other man had ever reached in his chosen profession. While not physically strong in early life, yet he lived such a philosophical and exemplary life, in everything, that his en- ergy and persistence, up to his present age of sixty-six, has never for a moment failed. Ilis motto has always been, "To put two minutes into every one," and finish every day's work before he retires, which, for twenty-five years, has been at one, two and often three o'clock in the morning. Seldom sick, because he carly learned to think more of his stomach than of his soul, and to realize that hard work never killed anyone in legitimate lines.

From his adin to school he was engaged until nineteen, as cabinet maker, carpenter, store clerk, and finally, as a pedagogue, near Burlington, N. J. He supported himself from fourteen years of age to nineteen, when he commeneed the study of dentistry with Dr. Samuel W. Neall, of Camden, N. J. He had

only six months' tuition in the mechanical do- partment, and three months with the cele- brated Dr. Chapin A. Harris, of Baltimore, the founder of the first Dental College. Af- ter making his own dental operating chair and all the appurtenances of his office and lahora- tory, Dr. Bouwill started practice, without a diploma, and with one suit of clothes and three dollars in pocket, at Dover, Delaware, in () .- tober, 1854, where he remained until Febru- ary 1, 1871. He then went to Philadelphia, where he is still in full practice.

Dr. W. G. A. Bonwill was married, June 18, 1861, to Miss Abigail Elizabeth Warren, daughter of Charles and Mary Warren, who was born in New Castle, Del., but was living in. Dover, with her aunt, Mrs. MeDowell. She was a most accomplished lady. Brilliant in conversation and of high practical gift- and the most popular of all who ever graced the society of Dover, she was the centre of at- traction. Her aunt, Mrs. Francis MeDowell, was a good tutor, for she was, beyond all com- parison, the leading spirit and genius of all the ladies of her day in Delaware. Up to the time of her death in Philadelphia, April 15, 1889, Mrs. Bonwill maintained her reputation and her queenly character. While not beauti- ful, she was a perfect model in every way for a sculptor. The children of Dr. and Mrs. Abigail E. Bonwill were: I. Lenore Bonwill, born March 23, 1862; 1I. Madeleine Bonwill, born January 11, 1864; III. Edward Warren Bonwill, born February 9, 1869. Lenore was married to Caleb JJ. Milne, Jr., of Phila- delphia, October 24, 1882. Madeleine was married to Edward I. Gellatly of East Orange, N. J., October 4, 1893. Edward Warren Bonwill was married in Rangoon, India, in 1897. The children all showed the peculiar talents and genius for art and mechanism which characterize their ancestors and their father. The daughters could make anything they wished, and never copied from another -- always original like their proud stock before them.

The son, who studied dentistry at the U'ui- versity of Pennsylvania, finally went, in 1852, to practice at Hong Kong, then at Singapore and latterly at Rangoon, India, where he has made a great success and become very popu- lar. Lenore Bonwill Milne has four children: 1. Lenore: HI. Caleb: 11. Marguerite: IV.

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Gladys. Madeleine Gellatly has but one child, a son, William Bonwill Gellatly, born June 25, 1897.

Charles Edward Hall Bonwill, youngest son of Dr. Win. Moore Bonwill, was born in Cam- den, Del., November 18, 1935. His educa- tion was about the same as that which his I rother, William, had received. He was carly sent to Philadelphia to learn lithography with Mr. Win. H. Rease, a very good man in every way, who received the youth into his home and treated him as his own son. After reach- ing his majority, Mr. Bonwill was engaged at map-making. He accompanied the Union Army, during the Rebellion, sketching for Frank Leslie's Journals, and finally he went to New York City, after the war, 1865, where he has been ever since. He is consid- cred a fine artist in his line of copying with a lead pencil, but not as a painter. He can copy, but not create, great pieces of art; in this respect he is unlike his brother, William, who will not copy even his own inventions. Ile has remained a bachelor, lives in an at- mosphere of smoke, and is a regular Bohe- mian.

To go back to William Gibson Arlington Bonwill: He practiced dentistry from Octo- ber, 1854, to February 1, 1871, when he went to Philadelphia, to develop his inventions con- ceived in Dover, Del., and have a more (X- tended field of practice. While in full prac- tive he found time to go to Philadelphia in 1865, and study medicine in the Jefferson Medical College. He has the honor of having been the inventor of more practical appliances in dentistry than all others, and has instituted more to advance dentistry during the past quarter of a century than any other living Than. In his forty-four years of practice, he has traveled over quite all Europe, parts of Asia, and all of the United States, carrying the flag of his profession and planting his ideas and machinery everywhere on the face of the globe. Among his inventions in dentistry and surgery are: The Dental Engine in 1869, the Surgical Engine in 1872, the Elertro- Magnetic Mallet for filling teeth by Electric- itv, 1869; the Mechanical Mallet, 1575, also for imparting gold into human living treth, ste as the electric. The anatomical artien- lator, his greatest achievement, made in 1858, which resulted from the discovery that the jaw of man is normally an equilateral triangle; by

drawings and models it is demonstrated that man was at first formed perfectly, and that there never has been a deviation, except for the worse. Dr. Bonwill's deduction from this absolute and unchangeable law is that the theory of evolution is false. There is no doubt as to the clearness and logie of his dem- onstration. The Gifford Injector was invented by him in 1855, but he had no money then to have it patented. Gifford, a French mechanical engineer, did the same thing four years afterwards and made millions by it. The Safety Pointed Pin in 1864. The Fountain Pen in 1876, was made practical and commercial. His appliances for the Den- tal and Surgical Engine, cannot be enummer- ated. A practical aerial car, to be run on the same principle as the trolley cars, but in mid air.

All Dr. Bonwill's inventions and discover- ies have brought him recompense and fame, while he is yet in his prime at sixty-five. He is a member of many scientifie societies, and holds many diplomas from foreign countries as well as many handsome gold and other medals. Everything done by him has been original. In 1856 he discovered that rapid breathing would obtund the senses to pain, and that all minor operations in surgery could be performed painlessly. Besides all this, Dr. Bonwill has written volumes of manuscript for societies on various subjects. Since 1857, he has composed one hundred and fifty dis- tinet poems, which came through the same in- spiration as the inventions. Notwithstanding his large practice he finds time to entertain many professionals at home and from abroad and to lecture frequently every winter to 1500 students. Going upon the principle of put- ting two minutes into every one, and retiring at one and two o'clock every day, he has filled his life brimming full.

William Henry Bonwill, third son of Mich- ael Hall Bonwill, was born in 1798, at Leam- ington Mills, near Frederica, Del. He went to Indiana, when quite a young man and reared a family. He died about 1865. H. was a farmer and became possessed of much land. Of his children we have no exact record .- Contributed.

JAMES JEFFERSON ROSS, P. O. Sea- ford, Del., eldest son of ex-Governor William II. II. and Elizabeth (Hall) Ro-s, was born in

REV. NICHOLAS MANLY BROWNE.

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1×46, on the Ross estate, near Seaford, Del. James J. Ross attended the public schools of Seaford, Del., and in 1863 was placed un- der the instruction of Dr. Clemson, at Clay- mont, Del. He completed his scholastic stud- ies at Edinburg, Scotland, and after a two- years' course there returned to his home to de- vote himself to agriculture. He is an enthu- siastic husbandman and pomologist. Mr. Ross is now in charge of the Ross estate, on which he has carried forward the many im- provements begun by his father. He has planted several new orchards, paying particu- lar attention to the varieties. Small fruits also have well repaid his investments. Ilis blackberries are chiefly of the Wilson variety; and his large beds of raspberries and strawber- ries yield abundant crops. In order to utilize his surplus fruit, Mr. Ross has large evaporat- ors in which he can prepare 18,000 pounds. Fruit culture is, however, but one of the in- terests which claim his attention. His farm produces annually from 500 to 1,000 bushels of wheat and 2,000 to 4,000 bushels of corn; his cattle and sheep are of the best breeds, his herd of short horns and his Cotswold sheep having taken the premium at the State Fair, held at Dover. Mr. Ross is a member of the board of directors of the Delaware Railroad.

In April, 1873, James J. Ross was married to Sarah A., daughter of George Levan, of Lancaster county, Pa. They have one child, Brooks Levan. Mr. Ross is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, and has been a vestryman for eight years.

HON. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON ROSS, ex-Governor of the state of Delaware, son of Caleb and Letitia (Lofland) Ross, was born at Laurel, Del., June 2, 1814.

C'aleb Ross, an influential citizen of Sussex county, Del., was born March 1, 1784; he died November 1, 1841. He married Letitia Lottand, of Milford, Del., who was born March 5, 1787, and died in 1832.

William IT. HI. Ross attended the public schools of Laurel, Del., until 1832, and after studying for two years in a Friends' school at Claremont, Pa., became a clerk in his father's mercantile and commission house. In 1836 Mr. Ross accompanied his father to Europe, traveling through England, Scotland and Ire- land. After having been engaged in business

for one year in AAdams county, III., Mr. Ross returned to Delaware, and opened a store at Laurel, where he was also interested in a mill and a tammery. In 1845 he removed to his estate near Seaford, Del. The handsome residence which he erected in 1859 is one of the most beautiful homes in the state. When Mr. Ross took charge of the property it con- sisted of 1,400 acres of worn out land. Intel- ligent care and liberal management improved and enriched the soil, increasing the yield of wheat from five to thirty bushels, and of corn from ten to fifty bushels per acre. Mr. Ross was also very successful in raising fruit. Hle had 1,200 peach trees in bearing, besides an orchard of thrifty young trees; 1,500 apple trees, 3,000 grape vines, and 150 aeres in ber- ries of different kinds. In 1846 Mr. Ross was elected captain of a company of cavalry which was raised in Seaford, Laurel, and the vicinity, the men furnishing their own horses and equipments. At the close of the Mexican war, in 1849, this troop disbanded. Like his father, Mr. Ross was always a Democrat, and in 1850, when only thirty-six years of age, was nominated and elected governor of his native state. Governor Ross discharged the duties of his high office faithfully and honor- ably. After his term as governor had expired, he was frequently urged to accept office, but invariably declined, alleging that impaired hearing unfitted him for public service. Gov- ernor Ross represented his state in the Demo- cratie National conventions of 1844, 1848, 1856, and 1860. During the war of the Re- bellion he was in Europe, where he visited the principal cities of France, Germany, Prussia, Belgimn, Holland, Switzerland, Spain and Italy. Hle intended also to visit the Holy Land and to see Damasens and Constantinople, and had reached Cairo, Egypt, when he was obliged to return to England. He was the senior partner of the firm of W. M. Ross & Co., importers and manufacturers of fertilizers and agricultural supplies. The enterprise was started in 1873, by Mr. Ross and Mr. Ball. In 1875, Mr. Ball having retired, the present company was organized. The plant has been greatly improved and enlarged; besides the large main building the company has three storage rooms covering 10,800 square feet, and two sets of acid chambers with a capacity of 150 feet. The business is large and re-

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1,46, on the Ross estate, near Seaford, Del. James J. Ross attended the public schools of Seaford, Del., and in 1863 was placed un- der the instruction of Dr. Clemson, at Clay- mont, Del. He completed his scholastic stud- ies at Edinburg, Scotland, and after a two- years' course there returned to his home to de- vote himself to agriculture. He is an enthu- siastic husbandman and pomologist. Mr Ross is now in charge of the Ross estate, on which he has carried forward the many im- provements begun by his father. Ile has planted several new orchards, paying partieu- lar attention to the varieties. Small fruits also have well repaid his investments. Ilis blackberries are chiefly of the Wilson variety; and his large beds of raspberries and strawber- ries yield abundant crops. In order to utilize his surplus fruit, Mr. Ross has large evaporat- ors in which he can prepare 18,000 pounds. Fruit culture is, however, but one of the in- terests which claim his attention. His farm produces annually from 500 to 1,000 bushels of wheat and 2,000 to 4,000 bushels of corn; his cattle and sheep are of the best breeds, his herd of short horns and his Cotswold sheep having taken the premium at the State Fair, held at Dover. Mr. Ross is a member of the board of directors of the Delaware Railroad.

HON. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON ROSS, ex-Governor of the state of Delaware, son of Caleb and Letitia (Loffand) Ross, was born at Laurel, Del., June 2, 1814.

Caleb Ross, an influential citizen of Sussex county, Del., was born March 1, 1784; he died November 1, 1841. He married Letitia Lotand, of Milford, Del., who was born March 5, 1787, and died in 1832.

William II. HI. Ross attended the public schools of Laurel, Del., until 1832, and after studying for two years in a Friends' school at Claremont, Pa., became a clerk in his father's mercantile and commission house. In 1836 Mr. Ross accompanied his father to Europe, traveling through England, Scotland and Ire- land. After having been engaged in business

for one year in Adams county, III., Mr. Ross returned to Delaware, and opened a store at Laurel, where he was also interested in a mill and a tannery. In 1845 he removed to his estate near Seaford, Del. The handsome residence which he erected in 1859 is one of the most beautiful homes in the state. When Mr. Ross took charge of the property it con- sisted of 1,400 acres of worn out land. Intel- ligent care and liberal management improved and enriched the soil, increasing the yield of wheat from five to thirty bushels, and of corn from ten to fifty bushels per acre. Mr. Ross was also very successful in raising fruit. He had 1,200 peach trees in bearing, besides an orchard of thrifty young trees; 1,500 apple trees, 3,000 grape vines, and 150 aeres in ber- ries of different kinds. In 1846 Mr. Ross was elected captain of a company of cavalry which was raised in Seaford, Laurel, and the vicinity, the men furnishing their own horses and equipments. At the close of the Mexican war, in 1849, this troop disbanded. Like his father, Mr. Ross was always a Democrat, and in 1850, when only thirty-six years of age, was nominated and elected governor of his native state. Governor Ross discharged the duties of his high office faithfully and honor- ably. After his term as governor had expired, he was frequently urged to accept office, but invariably declined, alleging that impaired hearing unfitted him for public service. Gov- ernor Ross represented his state in the Demo- cratic National conventions of 1844, 1848, 1856, and 1860. During the war of the Re- bellion he was in Europe, where he visited the principal cities of France, Germany, Prussia, Belgimn, Holland, Switzerland, Spain and Italy. He intended also to visit the Holy Land and to see Damaseus and Constantinople, and had reached Cairo, Egypt, when he was obliged to return to England. He was the senior partner of the firm of W. M. Ross & Co., importers and manufacturers of fertilizers and agricultural supplies. The enterprise was started in 1873, by Mr. Ross and Mr. Ball. In 1875, Mr. Ball having retired, the present company was organized. The plant has been greatly improved and enlarged; besides the large main building the company has three storage rooms covering 10,800 square feet, and two sets of acid chambers with a capacity of 150 feet. The business is large and re-

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munerative; all the goods manufactured and imported are of the finest quality. The man- ufactory is situated on the Nanticoke river, where the company owns large wharves. A railroad connecting the buildings with the Delaware and Dorchester, and the Delaware R. R. affords abundant facilities for loading and shipping.

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Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 57

Author: Runk, J.M. & Co Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Chambersburg, Pa. Number of Pages: 1500

Author: Runk, J.M. & Co
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chambersburg, Pa.
Number of Pages: 1500