G. H. Bonney Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 642-643

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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G. H. BONNEY has since the fall of 1882 been prominently identified 
with the agricultural interests of Floyd township, Sanborn county, 
South Dakota, and on section 8 has built up one of the most desirable 
homesteads in that locality. While struggling with the primitive soil 
and bringing about the improvements which he has reason to view with 
satisfaction, he has also watched with the deepest interest the growth 
and development of the state, and in the establishment of a good farm 
has contributed his quota to its progress and prosperity. 

In a log cabin in Branch county, Michigan, Mr. Bonney first opened his 
eyes to the light of day in 1858. His parents were M. D. and Arvilla 
Bonney, both natives of Ohio, the former born in Portage county, the 
latter in Birmingham. His maternal grandfather was a soldier in the war 
of 1812. The Bonney family is of Scotch descent and was founded in 
Massachusetts at an early day. 

Our subject is the third in order of birth in a family of five 
children, of whom two sons and two daughters are now living. The first 
thirteen years of his life were spent upon a farm in Michigan, and in 
1870 removed with the family to Iowa, where the father purchased a farm 
of one hundred and sixty acres in Tama county. There our subject made 
his home for fourteen years, and his early education, acquired in the 
district schools, was supplemented by a course in Tilford Academy at 
Vinton, Iowa, where he made a special study of physiology and was later 
offered a class in that institution. He next attended Hiatt Academy in 
Iowa City, and when his school days were over returned home and 
assisted in the farm work for two years. Prior to entering Tilford 
Academy he had studied dentistry to some extent. 

In the fall of 1882, Mr. Bonney came to Sanborn county, South Dakota, 
and filed a homestead on the southeast quarter of section 8, Floyd 
township. He constructed a frame house, 12 x 18 feet, in one end of 
which he sheltered his horses, while he occupied the other, living 
alone for one summer. This was the second building erected in that 
locality. He hauled the first load ever brought from the north to this 
community, and the first year broke forty acres of land. 
Forestburg at that time contained only a few buildings, and Floyd 
township, which was just beginning to be opened up, was named for the 
first male child born there, a nephew of Mr. Bonney. When Mr. Bonney 
arrived here he had a team, a wagon and a plow but was sixty dollars in 
debt. His little frame house continued to be his home for five years, 
and is now used as a granary. For six years after coming to Dakota, the 
family did not use one pound of coal or wood as fuel, using exclusively 
the native hay, so abundant in that locality, in a twisted form. The 
tract of land which he took up as a tree claim in 1886 he has since 
sold, but is still the owner of three hundred and twenty acres, about 
half of which is fenced while eighty acres are under cultivation and 
the rest is pasture and meadow land. He has a grove of forest trees 
upon his place, plenty of currants and plums, and has a well one 
hundred and thirty-five feet deep with a windmill attached. In 1895 his 
corn crib was destroyed by a cyclone. In the spring of 1887, Mr. Bonney 
planted three acres in watermelons and a similar amount in potatoes, 
and from these crops he made five hundred dollars, which he invested in 
his present residence. Until 1896 he gave his attention principally to 
the raising of grain and other farm produce, but since then has 
branched out in the cattle business. As an agriculturist he has met 
with marked success and now has money out at interest, and is part 
owner of the " Woonsocket Times. " 
In February, 1884, Mr. Bonney was united in marriage with Miss Lizzie 
M. Beal, a native of Medina county, Ohio, who in 1869 was taken by her 
parents to Iowa, where she was reared upon her father's {arm. While a 
student in Tilford Academy she became acquainted with her future 
husband, and prior to her marriage she successfully engaged in teaching 
school. Our subject and his wife now have a family of six children, two 
sons and four daughters. 

Mr. Bonney uses his right of franchise in support of the men and 
measures of the Republican party; has attended all of its county 
conventions during his residence here and was a delegate to several; 
and four times has been a delegate to the state conventions. He takes 
quite an active part in political affairs, and frequently writes 
articles and -communications for the leading farm journals, and does 
quite a business in real estate and sells windmills. His estimable wife 
is a member of the Episcopal church, and both are held in high regard 
by all who know them.