BIO: William F. BONNER, Latimore Township, Adams County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/adams/ _______________________________________________ History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1886 _______________________________________________ Part III, History of Adams County, Pages 467-468 WILLIAM F. BONNER, farmer, P. O. York Sulphur Springs. The Bonner family in Adams County are descendants from Scotch ancestry. They first came to America in the early part of the eighteenth century. Robert Bonner, a son of the original settler, was the grandfather of our subject. He had six sons, four or five of whom were in service during the Revolution. Francis was a lieutenant; John was a sergeant-major; Andrew Thompson a colonel. Francis and John left Fort Washington on the east side of the Hudson River on the evening before it was taken by the British, and the lieutenant, stripping the flag from the flag- staff, wrapped it around his shoulders and brought it over to Fort Lee on the west side of the river. The brothers were in the battles of Brandywine Creek, White Horse Tavern, Monmouth and others. John Bonner was afterward major of militia, county commissioner and held township offices. He was an elder in the Dillsburg Presbyterian Church. John Bonner married Jane, a daughter of John Thompson, a school-teacher and surveyor, who came here from County Tyrone, Ireland, before the Revolution. To their marriage six sons were born, of whom James, John and Thompson T. served in the war of 1812. William F. Bonner, our subject, is a son of John and Jane (Thompson) Bonner, and was born in York, now Adams, County, Penn., April 10, 1797. The deceased members of the Bonner family are all now buried in Sunnyside Cemetery. This burial place was founded in the following way: Some twenty years ago, Mr. Bonner, our subject, donated twenty- six acres of land to the general public as a place of burial. An order of the court was made and a number of men appointed as trustees. The lots are thirty- two feet square, and are open to any people or denomination. They are nominally sold at $25 per lot, but the purchaser may be allowed to pay for it in work on the grounds. One acre is set apart as a potters’ field for the burial of strangers and poor people. It is located on the sunny side of a hill, and can be seen by the onlooker for miles away. The grounds and their improvements, will be a monument to the enterprise and generosity of the donor long after he has ceased to be an actor in the surrounding scenes. At present (1886), he is eighty-nine years of age, and were it not for a fall some ten years ago, he would be, probably, comparatively active now, as his general health is good. He was born in the old house within thirty yards of his present residence, and has lived here always. Mr. Bonner has never married. He now owns some 210 acres of the old Bonner homestead where he lives, also two other farms of 120 and 145 acres, respectively. He is a Presbyterian in religion, a Republican in politics, and was a firm friend to the administration during the Rebellion.