Tombstone Tuesday ~ Horace Bonney, died 1892 in Hooksett, New Hampshire

This family plot was photographed at the Riverside Cemetery, in Hooksett, New Hampshire.

HORACE BONNEY

FEB. 26, 1815

SEPT. 13, 1893

JULIA A.

his wife

Nov. 24, 1834.

Sept. 17, 1883

The twins, Horace and Hannibal Bonney, were born on 26 February 1815 in Winthrop, Maine.  They both joined the First United States Dragoons in Boston on 6 September 1833, when they turned 18 years old.  This regiment was sent west to fight in the Indian Wars, where they remained until they turned 21 and tried to return to New England.  While on the way home they enlisted in the Texas army under the Texas Republic.  Then they enlisted in New Orleans for six months in the fight against the Seminoles in Florida, under the command of General Persifer Smith.  They finally returned to Maine for another five years, and then reenlisted again in the First Dragoons for another five years under the service of Captain Nathan Boone, the youngest son of Daniel Boone.  

Horace Bonney came home to New Hampshire and was the proprietor of the Ayer House, a hotel in Hooksett.  His brother, Hannibal, served on the police force of New York City and then bought the Penacook House, a hotel in Penacook (it was known as Bonney’s Hotel).  Both brothers were members of the Amoskeag Veterans in Manchester.

Horace and Hannibal were the sons of James Bonney and Cynthia Cole, and grandsons of Isaac Bonney and Hannah Soule.  They were descendants of Mayflower passengers George Soule,  Captain Myles Standish,  James Chilton, John Alden and Priscilla Mullens.

Hannibal Bonney married Ellen Dill, and he died on 13 December 1902 in Boscawen, New Hampshire.  He is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Penacook. 

Horace Bonney married Julia Varney, the daughter of Richard Varney and Sofia Balkum.  He died on 13 September 1893 in Hooksett.  He is buried at the Riverside Cemetery on the banks of the Merrimack River, on Route 3A (River Road) in Hooksett.

Some BONNEY resources:

“A Veteran of Two Wars, and Some of his Comrades” by John C. Linehan, The Granite Monthly:  A new Hampshire Magazine Devoted to History, Volume 29, pages 96 – 102.

Calvin Fairbanks Bonney and Harriott Cheney Bonney:  A Tribute, by Sherman Grant Bonney, 1930.  Chapter 4 is all about the Bonney twins, Horace and Hannibal.   

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ Horace Bonney, died 1892 in Hooksett, New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted on September 15, 2015 ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/09/tombstone-tuesday-horace-bonney-died.html : accessed [access date]).