Willis H. Bonham Biography


	This biography appears on pages 22-25 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				WILLIS H. BONHAM. 

	Willis H. Bonham has for a number of years been the publisher of 
the Pioneer Times, an excellent morning daily of Deadwood, and has made 
his paper one of the leading journals of western South Dakota. He was 
born in Jasper county, Illinois, near the town of Newton, on the 13th 
of January, 1847, a son of Levi Al. and Mary (Hunt) Bonham, both born 
near Richmond, Virginia, the father in 1813 and the mother in 1820. The 
father was a farmer and civil engineer and in 1840 went west, settling 
in Jasper county, Illinois. He was married in that state and continued 
to reside there until a few years before his death, when he removed to 
Iowa and located at Villisca, where both he and his wife passed away. 
His death occurred in 1890 and his widow survived him for five years. 
While in Jasper county, Illinois, the father served for some time as 
county surveyor. 

	Willis H. Bonham is the fourth in a family of eleven children 
born to his parents. He attended school in a log schoolhouse in 
Illinois, but his educational opportunities were quite limited, much of 
his knowledge being self acquired. At the age of eighteen he began 
working on neighboring farms in the Prairie state and so continued for 
two years, after which he removed to Denver, Colorado, where he learned 
the house decorating trade, which he followed for four years. He then 
came to Deadwood in 1877 and for one year did sign painting and then 
drifted into the newspaper business, being first employed in running a 
hand press on the Pioneer, the first paper in Deadwood, the date of its 
establishment being June 8, 1876. Its owners were Merrick & Laughlan 
and he continued with them for a number of years and was also connected 
with the Times, which was started in April, 1877, by Porter Warner. In 
1885 Mr. Bonham became the owner of the Pioneer and twelve years later 
purchased the Times and consolidated the two papers, forming the 
Pioneer Times. He has installed modern equipment and put in the first 
linotype machines used in Western Dakota. The Pioneer Times is issued 
as a morning daily and as a weekly paper. The old Pioneer was made a 
daily in 1877 and its successor, the Pioneer Times, has grown steadily 
in circulation and influence, being now one of the best dailies in 
western South Dakota. Its news columns give complete and reliable 
accounts of all happenings of local interest and also of events in the 
world at large. Its editorials are trenchant and its large circulation 
makes it an excellent advertising medium. The office is also prepared 
to do all kinds of job work and that department is proving a very 
lucrative one. Mr. Bonham is interested in a number of local business 
enterprises, being a director and stockholder in the Franklin Hotel 
Company, a stockholder in the Black Hills Trust & Savings Bank and in 
the First National Bank. He also is part owner of a number of gold 
mines and holds title to considerable real estate in Deadwood and in 
Denver, Colorado. 

	Mr. Bonham belongs to the Christian Science church and 
fraternally is a member of the Elks and the Knights of Pythias. His 
political allegiance is given to the republican party and he has served 
as city clerk of Deadwood for four terms and as postmaster for one 
term, being capable and conscientious in the performance of his duties. 
He is widely known not only in Deadwood but throughout the Black Hills, 
and his ability and integrity have won for him many friends.