More About Door of Hope

The editor of this blog was fascinated by the story of Cornelia Leavenworth Bonnell and the Door of Hope she founded. That interest led to further research in an effort to locate a picture of her, which has so far failed. If anyone has one, please share it with us.

Much has been written about the good work done by Door of Hope missionaries, volunteers and the women and children they saved. Here are some of the most interesting.

DIVERGENT AMBITIONS: THE DOOR OF HOPE MISSION IN EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY SHANGHAI (This article has pictures of Door of Hope dolls.)

A New Family: Domesticity and Sentiment among Chinese and Western Women at Shanghai’s Door of Hope Sue Gronewold Kean University

This poem, first printed in the Door of Hope Annual Report, 1925, pp. 14–15, was written by one of its missionaries, Winifred Burlinson, and is widely quoted in writings about Door of Hope, the mission founded in Shanghai, China, by Cornelia Leavenworth Bonnell.

Precious Secrets

A little girl before me, 

                                                                With eyes aglowing stands; 

                                                                “O see what I am holding 

                                                                Dear Auntie, in my hands.

                                                                This is my share of peanuts, 

                                                                Today is “peanut day,”
                                                                Will you not have some, Auntie? 

                                                                You may have some, you may.”

                                                                “I thank you little Love-Heart, 

                                                                But then you have so few,
                                                                Just give me one to taste by 

                                                                For they were meant for you.”

                                                                Thus waiting in the garden 

                                                                Or ‘neath the window pane, 

                                                                Are little hearts and voices, 

                                                                The touch of love to gain.

                                                                “O Auntie, I must tell you 

                                                                What Precious said today:
                                                                I heard her tell the children 

                                                                While at their merry play

                                                                She would not mind if Jesus 

                                                                Would send her Christmas night. 

                                                                A little baby dolly
                                                                With hair all fair and bright.

                                                                She said it would not matter
                                                                If nothing else were given, 

                                                                Could only one real dolly
                                                                Come down to her from heaven!”

                                                                And thus we see the longings 

                                                                Of little Chinese hearts,
                                                                For joys we once have tasted 

                                                                In large or smaller parts.

                                                                “I like to sing dear Auntie, 

                                                                That song you taught today; 

                                                                It makes me feel so happy 

                                                                At home, at school, at play.

                                                                How strange that God should love me, 

                                                                Sometimes I am not good,
                                                                And often I must grieve Him
                                                                Not smiling when I should.

                                                                I heard you say this morning, 

                                                                That Jesus died for me;
                                                                He must have loved me truly 

                                                                To bear that awful tree.”

                                                                And thus the lambs are carried 

                                                                To Christ’s own loving breast 

                                                                And thus we are rewarded, 

                                                                Entrusted, crowned, and blessed.

                                                                

                                                                A hundred precious secrets,
                                                                Our Love School daily tells,
                                                                Of little loves and longings
                                                                Of “if’s” and “how’s” and “well’s;”

                                                                And feet that pitter-patter
                                                                So often past our door,
                                                                Have only come to tell us 

                                                                That love that’s needed more.

                                                                A hundred tiny faces
                                                                Each day uplifted so,
                                                                We cannot help but love them, 

                                                                We cannot say them no.

                                                                God’s little Chinese children,

                                                                Sweet flowerets of his care,
                                                                Some day you’ll find them blooming

                                                                In Heaven’s Garden fair.

Cornelia Leavenworth Bonnell (Footnotes)

 This post contains the references named in the footnotes the story of Cornelia Leavenworth Bonnell, from former editor Charles E. Bunnell (Charlie to his friends) recently compiled Bonnells & Bunnells of Note (And a few Burnells & Burrells for Good Measure). The complete work is available on Internet Archive at this link: Charlie Bunnell's Bonnells & Bunnells of Note  

Footnote 4:

The New York Times; March 8, 1893

Honor Girls at Vassar.

   Poughkeepsie, N. Y., March 7. – The list of honors in the class of ’93 at Vassar has been published. The proportion is about the same as last year.  The present senior class from fifty-three members secures nine honors.

   They are awarded merely on the basis of scholarship throughout the four years course as follows: Henrietta Pratt, Saxton’s River. Vt.; Elizabeth Bradley, New-Haven, Conn.; Frances T. Belcher, Farmington, Me.; Elizabeth K. Adams, Nashotah, Wis.; Mary V. Clark, Springfield, Mass.; Lillie Clark, Hightstown, N. J.; Cornelia Bonnell, Waverly, N. Y.; Helena Van Vliet, Pouchkeepsie; Ethel Wilkinson, Chicago.

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Footnote 5:  “Cornelia Leavenworth Bonnell,”  an article from an unknown source, page 215, provided courtesy of the Alumnae and Alumni of Vassar College.  It is a short bio stressing the religious nature of Cornelia and is possibly from a Baptist Missionary book or magazine.  It was evidently written after her death in 1916.

Cornelia Leavenworth Bonnell

–––––––––––––

E. G. R.

On the walls of the bedroom of our beloved Miss Bonnell hung the picture a copy of which is given here, and during her last illness she pointed to this and said “Yes, that is I, that is I, a lost one sought and saved.”

     This was the characteristic attitude of the wonderfully humble spirit of her who has so recently been taken from our midst.

     Cornelia Bonnell was born in Waverly, N.Y., and graduated from Vassar College with highest honors though the youngest student ever admitted to that Institution.  After her graduation she became interested in mission work and was for a time assistant secretary of the Baptist Women’s Missionary Board in Boston.  During that time she rendered invaluable service to the missionary cause among the churches of that vicinity, and ably assisted in editing the publications of this society.

     Having offered herself to the Baptist Mission for service in China, she spent the winter of 1896 and 1897 living in the Missionary Home in Newton Centre and taking lectures in the Theological Seminary.  A serious physical breakdown and her naturally delicate constitution caused the Mission to refuse to send her out. 

     She was so convinced, however, that God had called her to work in China, she at once set about seeking for some other means of attaining this end, trusting God with her physical condition.  This trust was justified by fifteen years of continuous service in a most difficult work.

Pg. 216   In 1899 she obtained a position as teacher in Miss Jewell’s Private School in Shanghai and was with her two years, doing most efficient and valuable work and proving herself a teacher of unusual ability.  It was while there that her call came to the special Rescue Work in which she so untiringly labored and to which she so consecrated her every effort. Her Chinese sisters said with truth, “Yes, she laid down her life for us.” 

     It has been said of her by one of China’s senior missionaries, “You will find few lives in which there is such an abandonment to the desire to reach out and save others.” Always before her seemed to be the words, “Until He find it.”  No depths were to deep, no road too rough and no task too menial for her to follow His steps in this seeking.

     What Dr. James Stalker once said of another seems peculiarly fitted to her life, “In her work there was that quality, something rare, precious, fragrant recalling that flask of fragrant ointment poured on His head which the Savior defined as she hath wrought a good (literally illegible) work on me. In that work there was not only earnestness and laboriousness, but graciousness, winsomeness and originality. It was easy to see that all her activity was inspired by the love of the redeemer and that all the fruits and honors of it were laid at the Master’s feet.

Difficulties never seemed to daunt her spirit.  At a time when she was left alone in one of the Homes while her fellow worker was away on vacation, a time of financial testing, she wrote, “These have been days I would of have missed as He has given such signs of His care for us by daily sending in what we need so that we have not been an hour in dept.  I think it is lovely sometimes to walk with God like that.  One gets a particular kind of intimacy with Him that is different and very assuring to me of His Personal Presence.”  She seemed to turn every trying thing to special blessing.  She wrote, “Strange, that meeting which at first I felt such a burden, I now enjoy.  In such dependence on God as I am for it, I always get a real blessing through His undertaking it for me.”

Pg. 217    Prayer held a very large place in her life; - every act or plan for the work first to have been laid before God thus, for His thought and guidance in it, ere she would venture to bring it before her Committee and fellow workers.  She was broad in her sympathies and her prayers were often remarkable for the far reaching thought expressed.

     On one of her last days with us, she suddenly broke into prayer asking that God would  safely lead those that are with young – for blessing on the mothers in every part of the world, for her own mother that she should not have more sorrow than she could bear, that we in the D??? of Hope should be kept in the spirit of the mother-love, since we had the young committed to our care; for blessings on every girl and child given to us that they should never feel the lack of a mother and that our dealings with them should never hard nor our love to them be cold.  This spirit of the mother ____ was markedly with her as she went from the Receiving Home to the First Year Home, the Industrial House, the Children’s Home and the Home for Waifs and Strays, always _____ warm welcome, loving respect and obedience from every woman and girl.

     In the midst of the hard and exacting work at the Mixed Court seeking to rescue victims from the cruel thraldom [sic] of their owners, it was for her the greatest relief and relaxation to hasten of an afternoon to Chiangwan and have little talks with the little children at the Home.  One of these children said to her recently, “Mother (So they loved to call her), I had a vision of you last night and you had on a crown.” Miss Bonnell in a surprised tone replied, “Then I am to be given a crown when I go to Heaven,” as if it were a new throught to her – Ah! yes.

               “Thou shalt be crowned, O mother blest!

               Our hearts behold thee crowned e’en now.

               The crown of motherhood, earth’s best, 

               O’ershadowing thy maiden brown.

               Thou shalt be crowned! All earth and heaven

               Thy coronation pomp shall see;

               The Hand by which thy crown is given

               Shall be no stranger’s hand to thee.

Pg. 218   Thou shalt be crowned ! but not a queen;

               A better triumph ends thy strife;

               Heaven's bridal raiment, white and clean,

               The victor's crown of fadeless life.

           

               Thou shalt be crowned! but not alone-

               No lonely pomp shall weigh thee down;

               Crowned with the myriads round His throne,

               And casting at His feet they crown.”

[Retyped from copies provided by Jacquelyn Hoffman, Information Services Office Specialist, Alumnae and Alumni of Vassar College, 161 College Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603-2804. Phone: 845.437.5436; Fax: 845.437.7425; Email: jahoffman@vassar.edu; On the web: http://www.aavc.vassar.edu.  Original source unknown but it appears to be from a publication associated with the Baptist Church Missionary services.]

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Footnote 6: Women Workers of the Orient; Margaret E. Burton; The Central Committee of the United Study of Foreign Missions, West Medford, Mass. 1918; pages 615-616:

   “… Suppose that you had applied to your mission board to be sent to China. And suppose that no doctor would give you a medical certificate; and that after you had met your Board and tried to persuade them that you were able to go no matter what he doctors said, you  had a serious illness which made everybody say, “There-you see!” Suppose! What would you have done? This is the story of what Cornelia Bonnell, Vassar, ’97 [sic], did. She secured a position in a private school for the children of foreign residents in Shanghai. And while she was teaching little Americans and Britishers, she learned the ways of the city she lived in, and learned the lives of some of its girls. Into Shanghai’s “City of Dreadful Night” she went, where little girls are bought and sold, where heavy coats of gaudy paint cannot hide the horror and anguish of young girl faces, , where hundreds of girls and children are lost every year in the horrible whirlpool of vice. For two years Cornelia Bonnell taught, then, at twenty-five years of age, she resigned her position and with dauntless disregard of the fact that she had no Board behind her to support her in her purpose to do what no one else had ever thought it possible to attempt, she went into the very heart of the “City of Dreadful Night.” In November, 1901, the “Door of Hope” opened, and for sixteen years Cornelia Bonnell rescued and cared for hundreds of girls and children who had been unwillingly sold or rented into a life of shame.

   This is the work of the Door of Hope, as Mrs. Henry W. Peabody saw it three years ago. “Out in the sunny suburb we were taken to the Industrial Home, established by Miss Bonnell, Angel-of-Lost-Girls. She was not there, but Miss Morris and other workers greeted us, and took us through the rooms where hundreds of girls were at work. Some were doing dainty embroidery, exquisite baby dresses, trousseaux for brides, lingerie. Some were dressing fascinating Chinese dolls, carved skillfully from wood, representing various classes.

   “’I wish you could be here for the Bible lesson,’ Miss Morris said. ‘It is wonderful to see how quick they are.’

   “’But are they happy?’ I asked.

   “’yes, even happy. We do not speak to them of the past of allow them to refer to the old life. It is literally blotted out as they enter here, and in a short time the worst of it seems to be forgotten.’

   “One girl in the Bible class was studying John 14. I asked her what she thought heaven was like. Her face beamed as she said, ‘It seems to me it must be like a great big Door of Hope.’ 

   “There were little children in another home farther out in the country, a real home under the trees where rescued children under ten years of age are taken and are helped in play and work to forget. ‘Who supports it all?’ I asked. ‘ Miss Bonnell, who started the work. She has done it all. She began with a little group of five praying women in Shanghai in 1900. She worked out the plan, organized a committee, has literally prayed these buildings into being, for there is no Board back of us. God has sent help as it was needed, as God sent the woman who was needed for this terrible task.'"

   In 1916, Cornelia Bonnell’s frail body was no longer able to endure the strain she had put upon it; but her work goes on. Other missionaries are keeping the Door of Hope flung wide to every suffering Chinese girl who needs the shelter and the care that lie beyond it; and strong-faced, sympathetic Chinese workers are leading hundreds of tired-eyed girls back to life and joy and usefulness. Suppose Cornelia Bonnell had been content to be an invalid. Suppose!

Cornelia Leavenworth Bonnell & Shanghai, China

It's Woman's History Month so let's celebrate a woman who saw other women desperately needed help, and made a way for them to get it. Cornelia Leavenworth Bonnell's Door of Hope in China was clearly an amazing place.

This comes from former editor Charles E. Bunnell (Charlie to his friends) recently compiled Bonnells & Bunnells of Note (And a few Burnells & Burrells for Good Measure). The complete work is available on Internet Archive at this link: Charlie Bunnell's Bonnells & Bunnells of Note  

 Cornelia Leavenworth Bonnell was born 24 June 1874 in Waverly, Tioga County, New York, the daughter of Benjamin and Frances (Leavenworth) Bonnell. She had a brother Guy, born about 1872, and a sister Nancy, born 1882. Cornelia is a descendant of the immigrant Thomas Bonnell as follows: Thomas¹, James², Isaac³, Jonathan⁴, Benjamin⁵, Cornelia⁶. Cornelia is 004933 in Claude Bunnell’s database. ^{1, 2}

She was evidently a bright young woman as she was admitted to Vassar College in 1889 at about the age of 15³ and she was one of nine honor graduates out of 53 class members.⁴ One article states that she was the youngest student ever admitted to that college.⁵ Several articles attest to her poor health and indicated that she was seriously ill. After graduation she wanted to pursue missionary work, but no doctor would certify her healthy enough to satisfy the Missionary Board.^{5, 6}  She worked for a short time as the assistant secretary of the Baptist Women’s Missionary Board, in Boston, MA.  She spent the winter of 1896-97 in the Missionary Home in Newton Centre, MA.⁵ At some point she had become convinced that God wanted her to work in China.

Because of the Board’s refusal to certify her, she took a private position as a teacher in “Miss Jewell’s Private School in Shanghai.” in 1899, teaching the children of American and British residents.^{5, 6}  However, the 1900 U.S. Census shows her residing with her parents and sister in Waverly, New York and her occupation is “missionary, China.” 

While teaching, she spent time learning the ways of the city of Shanghai and learned of the buying and selling of young girls. Many of the referenced articles provide different descriptions of the practice, but essentially very young girls were paraded through the streets of one section of Shanghai and sold as concubines or prostitutes.  In November 1901, without the support of any missionary board, she opened the “Door of Hope” to rescue and care for these young girls and other children.^{6, 7, 8}  The articles imply that she opened a separate “Receiving Home” in the heart of the prostitution district on Foochow Road, ⁹ though from the way the articles are written I can’t be sure if there was one facility or two. At least part of the means of supporting the mission was through the sale of goods made by the young girls. This also taught the girls a trade by teaching them sewing skills and dressmaking.  Stuffed dolls, which are very collectible today, were made by the girls and dressed to “represent various types of Chinese characters, ages and stations.”⁷ 

Evidently Cornelia traveled and returned to the United States periodically, possibly for fund raising purposes or to visit family and friends. As stated earlier she was with her family in 1900 for that federal census; however the basis of the trip may have been fund raising.  The Baptist Missionary community appears to have provided some degree of support to her Door of Hope as she and her endeavors are written about in several Baptist Missionary publications.  At least one of her leaflets, “The Spirit of the Poppy,” is mentioned as being on sale by The Baptist Missionary Magazine.¹⁰  In 1911, a Baptist Church in Waverly (assumedly New York) held an exposition where representatives from various Far East missions set up booths, “illustrating life in many lands.” In one booth “… are seen rare curios, including the collection of Miss Cornelia Bonnell, one of our members engaged in rescue work in Shanghai.”¹¹  “For the first four decades of the Door of Hope in Shanghai, the largest donations came from abroad, from Bible schools, women’s groups, church congregations, and individuals.”¹²

On the 20^th of June 1912, while living in Shanghai, she applied through the Consulate for a passport. Her stated purpose was to “travel via Russian Dominions.”¹³ On the 19^th of December that year, she departed Liverpool, England aboard the SS Celtic and arrived in New York City on the 28^th of December. Her address in the U.S. was to be: 1024 Hudson St, Hoboken, New Jersey.¹⁴ It appears to be an apartment building; looking at the 1910 census for Hoboken Ward 2, District 50, that address has 7 families living there. Other buildings in that same area are also multi-family buildings. 

Cornelia died 12 October 1916.³  Her passing was noted in the 1917 Woman’s Federation Bulletin, published as part of The Missionary Review of the World. The article stated, “Those who read in The Review recently the most interesting account of the “Door of Hope” in Shanghai will grieve to hear of the death of the founder of this work, Miss Cornelia Bonnell. …” ¹⁵ She apparently died in Shanghai and most likely was buried there. The Door of Hope operated in Shanghai until 1951, at which time it relocated to Taipei.  Her work resulted “at least” 5000 women being cared for at the Shanghai Door of Hope by the time it closed.¹⁵ 

There were also a number of similar missions using the name “Door of Hope” started in New York City in 1875 by Emma Mott Whittemore and her husband Sydney. By 1931 there ninety-seven homes in that system called, collectively, the Door of Hope Union.¹⁶ I could find no apparent relationship between Cornelia’s home and those started by Mrs. Whittemore. 

____________________

1 Claude Bunnell’s database (www.WilliamBunnellfamily.org). Specifically his references are Cornelia’s father’s pension record and the 1900 U.S. Census.

2 William Louis Cuddeback, Caudebec in America, a Record of the Descendants of Jacques Caudebec 1700 to 1920, (Tobias A. Wright, 1919), cited in

www.cuddebackfamily.org/genealogy/descendants/cfig107.htm#5353.

3  E-mail, 3 Jan 2008 from Jackie Hoffman, Information Services Specialist, Alumnae and Alumni of Vassar College, stated that, according to college records, Cornelia was a member of the class of 1893.  This was a 4 year institution indicating that Cornelia entered college in 1889. An entry in her personal records provides her death date.

4  “Honor Girls at Vassar,” The New York Times, 8 March 1893.

5  “Cornelia Leavenworth Bonnell,” an article from an unknown source, page 215, provided courtesy of the Alumnae and Alumni of Vassar College.  It is a short bio stressing the religious nature of Cornelia and is possibly from a Baptist Missionary book or magazine.  It was evidently written after her death in 1916.

6  Margaret E. Burton, Women Workers of The Orient, (The Central Committee on the United Study of Foreign Missions, 1918), 165.

7   www.noramcneil.com/gpage.html4.html; Nora’s Antique Dolls and Collectibles. (Blog editor's note: This web page is no longer available. Charlie's transcription will be in the next post.)

8 “Woman’s Federation Bulletin,” in The Missionary Review of the World, ed. Delavan L. Pierson (Missionary Review Publishing Company, Inc, 1917), 141.

9  Helen Barrett Montgomery, The King’s Highway; A Study of Present Conditions on the Foreign Field, (West Medford, Mass, The Central Committee on the United Study of Foreign Missions, 1915), 160-161. 

10   “Personal and Other Notes,”  The Baptist Missionary Magazine, Volume LXXXVII, (Boston Missionary Rooms, 1907), 426. 

11  Mrs. James E. Angell, “The Orient in Waverly,” Missions: American Baptist International Magazine, (American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, 1911), 683-684.

12  Women in the New Taiwan, ed Catherine Farris, Anru Lee, and Murray Rubinstein (J.E. Sharpe, 2004), 66.

13  Passport Application, 20 June 1912 signed by Cornelia Bonnell; Her description is: age 38 years; stature: 5 feet 7inches; blue Eyes, Straight nose, brown hair and fair complexion; Obtained from www.ancestry.com.

14   Passenger List for the S.S. Celtic, sailing from Liverpool 19^th of Dec, 1912. Arriving at Port of New York 29 Dec 1912. Cornelia is listed, citing her birthplace as Waverly, NY and birth date as 23 June 1874; Obtained from www.ancestry.com, Immigration Records, New York Passenger Lists 1820 to 1957.

15  Women in the New Taiwan, 68.

16 Randall Herbert Balmer, The Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism, (Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 620.

Bonnells & Bunnells of Note (And a few Burnells & Burrells for Good Measure), by Charles E. Bonnell

As readers of this blog know, it is the descendant of the Bonnell-Bunnell Family Newsletter. 

We are delighted to write that former editor Charles E. Bunnell (Charlie to his friends) recently compiled Bonnells & Bunnells of Note (And a few Burnells & Burrells for Good Measure). He kindly gave permission for us to share it with the world. He has spent decades researching the many branches of Bonnells and Bunnells, corresponding and exchanging information with innumerable people.

His book is a “collection of stories about and biographies of Bonnells, Bunnells and a few Burnells whose lives were at least slightly, and sometimes greatly, different from those of their contemporaries. Most, if not all, of these stories have appeared in the Bunnell/Bonnell Newsletter over the course of its 28 years of publication. Over those 28 years material was provided by many people: subscribers of the newsletter, those who edited and published the newsletter and others who simply provided information to me and prior newsletter editors. 

“Most of the people described in here are not famous heroes, aren’t discussed in history classes and in fact most have only been heard of by a few persons living today. Some had their “15 minutes of fame” in a commercial, some worked to help others in foreign lands. But they were all people who made a difference in the lives of those around them, their descendants or in history itself. And they deserve to be remembered.”

This blog will share each story individually, in a series of posts.

The complete work is available on Internet Archive at this link: Charlie Bunnell's Bonnells & Bunnells of Note  

Please join us in thanking Charlie, not only for the incredible work he did over the years, but for taking the time to write it up and share it with us all. He is incredible.

If you know of a Bonnell, Bunnell or Burnell who should have been included, feel free to write up the story and send it for posting on this blog. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we honored Charlie’s great work by create a virtual Volume 2?

Family Search Catalog is Out of Date

Not many good things happened during the lockdown, but one was genealogy conferences going virtual.  The New York Family History Conference has been a godsend to me. I would never have been able to go in person, but thanks to the magic of Zoom and GoToWebinar, I've learned a great deal. 

I also spent a considerable amount of time over the last three years looking at records online at FamilySearch. Probably all of you did too.

One of my volunteer activities is editing the webinars offered by the Southern California Genealogical Society (about 200 of them are available  for a mere $40/month membership). Over the last 3 years I've probably watched and edited a couple dozen programs that demonstrated using the FamilySearch catalog.

So imagine my reaction to Robert Raymond's excellent program at the 2022 NYSFHC Exploring New York the New Way on Family Search. 

FamilySearch stopped updating the catalog in 2019! Digital images added since 2019 ARE NOT IN THE CATALOG!!! Why didn't someone tell me!!

I just did a cursory look, and there are indeed records that I missed because I relied on the catalog.

To get started looking at records the new way, go to the Search Tab and click on IMAGES, not Catalog.

Good luck and happy hunting the new way.

Benjamin Franklin Bonnell Family Bible

Recorded in this bible are births, deaths and marriages in the families of Benjamin Franklin Bonnel and wife Parthenia Petray., their ancestors as well as her descendants. The entries are obviously written by several different people.

Denise Nelson, a descendant, kindly shared it with the blog.

Since any transcription is prone to errors from misreading the original text as well as typing mistakes, pleas notify us if a mistake is found.

Page One

George Wilson Petray was born July 9th day in the year 1811 in North Carolina Cabarrus County on Kocky River–

Elizabeth Petray wife of George Wilson Petray was born March 2nd day in the year AD 1807 North Carolina Cabarrus County Kocky River

Was married same plce January 7th 1830

Willis Gay Bonnell was married to Edith Haskell in Petaluma

Dora Cornelia Bonnel was married to George Harrison in Gilroy Dec 1890

Mary Elizibeth Bonnel was married to Robert Einfast in Gilroy June 1891

Martha Ann Bonnel was married to Frank Shore in Tres Pinos.

Franklin Calvin Bonnel was married to Edna Bule Green in Hollister Nov. 23 1898.

Parthenia Einfort maried to Duncan Onsal 19-- Two children Lewis & Dan San Jose Calif.

Page Two

Ransom Alexander Petray was born July 9th 1831 in Illinois Washington County on Crooked Creek.

Mary Ann Petray was born April 1st day A.D. 1839 in Arkansas Pope County on Illinois Bio

Parthenia Petray was born October 10th in Arkansas Pope County Illinoia Bio

Anita Belle Bonnel married Joseph Bell Hammon  Nov 11, 1922

Gail Gladys Bonnel married Herbert Williamson 1932 Separated 1937

Dorothy Claire Bonnel married Joseph Erla Doan Aug 12 1925

Edna Belle Hammon Dec 31, 1925 Born in Oakland, Calif

Dorothy Marie Doan Aug 23, 1927 Hollister, California

Jerry Erle Doan July 2, 1926 born in the same room his mother was born in 343 7th St. Hollister, Calif.

Benjamin Hammon married Mary Lou Wyman Aug 1957 Sueto, Calif.

Patricia Jane Morgan born Jan 10 1954 Sacramento California

Michael Gary Morgan born June 16-1952 Sacramento, California

Page Three

Nathaniel Bonnel settled on Long Island.

original Bonnel came from Brussels Belgium France

B.F. Bonnel was born April 25th 1835 in Howard County Md

An arrow from his name points to Fsther Joseph Bonnel married Martha McGrath

B.F. Bonnel was married to Clara Kirkpatrick Jany 1st 1863 in Healdsburg Sonoma County Cal.

Willie Gray Bonnel was born Oct 1 1863 in Healsburg.

Clara Kirkpatrick wife of B.F. Bonnel died Decemer 11th 1863

B.F. Bonnel was married to Parthenia Petray April 26th 1865 In Windsor Sonoma County Calif

Mary Elizabeth Bonnel was born Aug 21 1866 in Windsor Sonoma County CalDied Nov '38

Dora Cornelia Bonnel was born March 20th 1868 in Windsor Sonoma County Cal

Martha Ann Bonnel was born Jany 9th 1871 in Santa Clara Valey San Br. County Died Feb 4 1926

Franklin Calvin Bonnel was born May 17th 1873 in San Buena Ventura County California Died Santa Cruz May 12 1944

Charlotte Harrison was born in Feb San Francisco Calif

Martha Ann Shore was born Nov 13 1899 in Hollister, Calif.

Anita Bule Bonnel was born Jan 31 1900 in Hollister, Calif.

Dorothy Elaine Bonnel was born Feb 22 1902 in Hollister, Calif

Pauline Bonnel was born Feb 29, 1902 in Petaluma, Calif. Died 1984

Parthenia Einfast was born July 24 1904 in Gilroy Calif Died San Jose Ca 1986

Evelyn Shore was born 1907 Hollister, Calif. Jan 16

Gail Gladys Bonnel was born Jan 28 1911 in Hollister Calif

George Bonnel Shore was born Hollister, Calif Aug 2nd 19 (rest is torn off)

Edna Belle Bonnel wife of Franklin Bonnel died Santa Cruz 1948 May 14th

Page 4

G.W. Petray Died Oct 26th 1867 In Windsor, Sonoma County, Calif.

Elizabeth Petray Died March 18th 1881 in her 75 year in Hollister San Benito Co, Cal.

Newspaper Clipping:

DIED

Petray–In Hollister, March 18, 1881, Mrs. Elizabeth Petray, mother of Mrs. B.F. Bonnel, aged 74 years.

Willie Gray Bonnel died 1905 Hollister, San Benito Co., Calif.

B.F. Bonnel Died Jan 31, 1910 In Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Co., Calif.

Parthenia Petray Bonnel Died Oct 1925 in Oakland Alameda Co, Calif age 90 yrs.

Martha Ann Bonnel Shore Died Feb 5 1926 in Hollister, San Benito Co, Calif. Age 55 yrs.

Frank Shore Died 1938 died Accidental death.

Franklin Calvin Bonnel died May 14 1944

Edna Bule Bonnel died May 12 1948

Dorothy Bonnel Fauburge died July 1st 1958 California

Joseph Bell Hammon Died Mar. 27, 1976 Sacramento, Calif.

Martha Shore Hill Died June 1980 Hollister Calif

Aileen Gail Frere Born Mar 4 1946 S.F. Co Mother Gail Gladys Frese Father Lloyd B. Frese

Gai Brese Feb 28 1989 Died–

Page 5 Newspaper Clipping from The Gilroy Telegram Nov. 25, 1898

Bonnel Wedding Recounted Upon 35th Anniversary

Brilliant Affair Was Highlight of Social Life.

Thirty-five years ago today F. C. Bonnel, popular young Hollister dentist, and Miss Edna Nelle Briggs were united in marriage at one of the prettiest weddings ever to take place here.

Tonight Dr and Mrs. F.C. Bonnel, will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary with a dinner for members of their family and relations at their home on Seventh street.

An interesting account of the Bonnel-Briggs wedding is given in the November 25, 1893 edition of the Evening-Press Lance.

It follows in part.

"The wedding march was played by Miss Nellie Wentworth. Miss Lillian Rea of Gilroy was bridesmaid and N.C. Briggs, Jr. was best man.

"The bride was charmingly clad in an exquisite gown of white silk orandie, lace and inseerting over white taffeta silk and carrying in her hand a bridal bouquet of white carnations and maiden-hair fern.

"Mr. and Mrs. Bonnel were the recipients of a larga number of handsome wedding presnts.

"Following is a list of invited guests: Mr. and Mrs. B.F. Bonnel, Mr. and Mrs. F.E. Shore, Mr. and Mrs. R.G. Einait, Mr. and Mrs. George Harrison, Mr. and Mrs. N. C. Briggs, Mr. and Mrs. J.R.N. Bell, Mrs. Ella Taylor, Mrs. S.F. Jackson, Mr. and Mrs. Will Henry Jackson; Mr. and Mrs. Quivolo, Jackson; Mrs. Bradley, A. Barton and mother, Mr. and Mrs. R.A. Petray and family, Healdsburg; Mr. and Mrs. Petray, Livermore; Mrs. Bert Partridge and J. S. Harley and family, San Buenaventura; Mr. and Mrs. Frank Schackelford.

"Misses Maude Swan, and Gertie McCloskey, Leah Cox, Amy Breen, Lottie Robers, Guadaloupe; Anna Thomas, Ada Hatch, Flossie Bassignano, Nonie and Myrtle Lathrop, Susie Moore, Miss Conover, Carrie and Addie Hamilton, Dille Clark, Minne Pearce, Rilla Sherman, Jeannette Boyns, Belle Owens, Oakland; Daisy Littlefield, Jackson; Hattie Mills, Lillie Henry, Nellie Wentworth, Nellie Swan, Bertha Shonson, Belle Mitchel, Ada Duncan and Lillian Res.

"Messers John Patterson, J.M. Button, Louis Phillips, Frank Powell, L. Green, R. Green, Los Gatos; N. C. Briggs, Jr., Armand Briggs, Dr. Pliss, San Francisco; Will Bonnel, Julie Schemmell, Gilroy; W.Townsend, W.P. Breen, E. Sherman, Frank Blessing, Claude Hendricks, Sidney Ware, Peter Breen and Richard Flint."

The Kentucky Farris-Bunnell Connection

George Farris, one of the blog's biggest supporters, sent some comments regarding his personal special interest in the Kentucky Joseph Bunnells. They are fascinating and worthy of sharing since many of us can relate to what he says about names repeating in families. In my family the name Marion has been used for generations for both men and women, including an uncle, my mother, daughter and a niece, with its origin traced back to the McClellands settling in Marion County, Illinois.

George writes: 

The name Joseph Bunnell/Bonnell has been a key to my own research regarding my Bunnell ancestry at two key points.  

First, my great-grandfather died before I was born but I knew that his name was Joseph Bunnell Farris. My grandfather was also named Joseph and I inherited Joseph as my middle name.  But no one in my family knew where the Bunnell middle name came from.  

When I became interested in genealogy I soon found that my Farris line was the hardest one to track and it took me many years to make much progress on it.  When I finally was able to zero in on the Farrises in Green County Kentucky in the early 1800s, I became aware of the Bunnells around them (Jeremiah and Peter in Barren/Hart County and William Jr. in Hardin County), but still had no indication of any connection with them.  

The second point occurred years later, when I found a document that sparked a new interest in the Bunnells.  

While I was researching Mercer County records at the Kentucky Archives, I uncovered a Circuit Court record from 1802. William Farris, my 3rd great-grandfather and John Farris, his brother, had filed assault charges against a man in Mercer County.  The interesting aspect to me was finding the witnesses listed included Joseph Bunnell, William Bunnell (Jr.), and Williams Bunnell's wife Mary.   

One of the few children of William Bunnell, Sr. for whom we have documented evidence of the relationship through the marriage bond is Anne Bunnell Farris who married John Farris in Albemarle County, VA in 1785. 

That circuit court document spiked my interest in pursuing the Kentucky Bunnells and led me to conclude that Mary Bunnell must have been my 3rd great grandmother, William Farris's wife, sister to John Farris's wife Anne.  Since then DNA matches have provided further confirmation of it. 

As we began to list the presumed children of William BunnellSr., interesting pattern emerged.  It became clear that almost all of the children of William and Mary/Polly Farris were named after her Bunnell siblings–including my great-great-grandfather Jeremiah Farris, his brother David, and a younger brother Joseph Bunnell Farris born at the time they lived in Green County, Kentucky.  

Those three, among others, later lived in Fulton County, Illinois, and were three of the Mounted Rangers from Fulton County who were involved in the Battle on Sycamore Creek in Ogle County, Illinois, on May 14, 1832, during the Black Hawk War. (Later it was branded as "Stillman's Run" or Stillman's Defeat.) Twelve of the men of that company were killed in the battle — including Joseph B. Farris.  

Ten of those killed were buried the next day in a mass grave at the battle site by a company from Sangamon County that included Abraham Lincoln. This was the first of several encounters between Jeremiah Farris and Abraham Lincoln (but that's another story). George writes more about this fight and his family's reported relationship with the future president in his columns found here.

A battle monument was erected in 1901 and there are individual monuments for the ten Rangers (photos from Wikipedia).

A few months later Jeremiah and Rosanna Farris had a son and named him Joseph Bunnell Farris after his recently deceased uncle.  He was my great grandfather–which brings us back to the beginning of this summary and my first point.

Margaret Watson Cooke's Photo Album Has Many Bonnells

Several years ago I took advantage of Ancestry's free scanning at the Southern California Genealogy Society's Jamboree and had my great-aunt Margaret's photo album scanned. I then posted it online at WeRelate.org, after identifying as many people in the photos as I could.

When Margaret Watson was almost 12 in 1911, one of her' Christmas presents was a Brownie camera, She took many photos of family and friends in her hometown of Barry, Pike County, Illinois. In the photo albums she created she usually identified people.

Thinking this might be a wonderful resource for folks researching family in Barry, I put it online at WeRelate.org.

I was looking at it today and realized there were many Bonnells in the pictures, and I'd never publicized it. Margaret's mother was a Bonnell and her many siblings and cousins had their photos taken when they visited Barry.

So here's a link to Margaret's albums. I hope some of you find photos of someone in your line.
Margaret Watson Cooke's Photo Album, Barry, Illinois 1911-1913

Bunnell House Wins 2019 Best of Winona Award!

Charlie Bunnell forwarded this for posting. Isn't it wonderful?

It is our pleasure to inform you that Bunnell House has been selected for the 2019 Best of Winona Awards in the category of Museum.

For details and more information please view our website:

2019 Best of Winona Awards - Museum

If you are unable to view the link above, please copy and paste the following into your web browser:

http://winona.2019AwardAdvisory.net/s6b5qdra_BUNNELL-HOUSE 

Best Regards,
Winona Business Recognition 

Bunnell/Bonnell Newsletters Are Now Free

Here's a great announcenent from Charlie Bunnell.

The Bunnell/Bonnell Newsletters are now available to the public at no charge. Go to www.bunnellfamily.com and select Newsletter. Then scroll down that page to the link to the index. Alternatively, go to www.bunnellfamily.com/newsletters.php. Enjoy.

How cool is this?

Thanks, Charlie, for all you did as editor of the newsletter as well as this news..