Biographical Sketch of Daniel Bonacker, Jefferson County, Missouri >From "History of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Crawford and Gasconade Counties", Biographical Appendix, Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1888. ********************************************************************** Daniel Bonacker, farmer by occupation, a native of Germany, born in Hessen, March 8, 1827, is the son of Conrad and Elizabeth Bonacker. At the age of four years the father died and at the age of thirteen the mother also died, leaving two sons of whom he was the youngest. He was thus thrown upon his own resources at a very early age. He received a good education in the common schools; in the year 1848, February 13th, immigrated to America via Bremen and New Orleans, securing passage on one of the old-time sailing vessels which took eight weeks to make the trip. Not being satisfied with the Southern climate, he concluded to go North, stopping at St. Louis. He immed- iately came to Jefferson County, where he entered land or a homestead in Rock Township, and, after working three years as a farm hand for $4 per month, he began on his own responsibility. In 1851 he married Miss Catherine Miller, also a native of Germany, born also in Hessen. She died in 1859. Three children were the result of this marriage: August, Catherine and Dora. In 1860, he married Miss Caroline Riech- man, also a native of Germany, born in Hanover. She died in 1876, leaving seven children, viz.: Daniel, Ernest, Louise, Caroline, Ed- ward, Lydia and Benjamin; the first and last of these have died since their mother died. Mr. Bonacker has spared no pains in the education of his children. He lived on the homestead up to 1868, then moved to St. Louis, where he remained two years. In 1870 he returned to Jeff- erson County, settling on Big River, two miles from House's Springs, where he has a farm of 200 acres of land. He was in Company B, Eight- ieth Missouri Militia, under Gen. A. J. Smith, during Price's raid through Southeast Missouri. Politically, he is a Republican, and he cast his first vote for Lincoln, in 1860. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joe Miller Penny Harrell ====================================================================