Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/366

 BONNER

BONTECOU.

later was adinittotl to tlie Columbia bar. He U'KJin practice in E<lj,'«.'fit'l»l county. He served as eoiniiiauiler of a South Carolina battalion (lur- ing the war with Mexico, and in 184« was niaile state solicitor for tiie stmthern circuit. lutKling the ottice two years. In IHoG he was elected a repre.sentative to the 3oth Congress, and re- elected in 15m!S. serving until the withdrawal of the Stnith Carolina deleg-ation in 1860. He served in the Confederate army as brigadier-general at Blackburn's Ford and Manassas, and was a rep- resent-iJtive in the Confederate congress. In 1S(5"2 he was elected governor of South Carolina, holding tlie office two years, when he returned to the army, serving until the surrender. He then resumed his practice at Edgefield C. H., and took no active jvirt in ixilitics. He died at White Sulphur Springs. Va.. Aug. 28, 1890.

BONNER, Robert, jnibli.sher, was born near I^^ndonderry. Irelan.l. April 28, 1824, of Protes- tant ancestry. He began his business career as a printer's apprentice in the oflSce of the Hartford C'ouront, and in 1844 became assistant foreman and proofreader on the New York Evening Mir- ror. With his earnings he purchased, in 1851, a small sheet called the Merchants' Ledger and, converting it into a family story paper, changed its name to the New York Ledger. His methods of advertising were both unique and ingenious, and these, togetlier with the good taste displayed in the selection of the literature with which he filled his colunms, soon won for the paper an un- precedented popularity. Edward Everett. Hor- ace Greeley, Henrj- Ward Beecher, Longfellow, Bryant, Charles Dickens, James Parton. Fanny Fern, Alice and Phcelje Cary, and Harriet Beecher Stowe were among his corps of contri- butors, and the simis paid for articles were lil»eral in the extreme. Dickens received §5000 for liis "Hunted Do\vn," a story which ran through but three numbers of the paper; Ed- ward Everett received §24,000 for a series of articles, and Henry Ward Beecher was paid $:J0.(XK) for his novel, "Norwood." Mr. Bonner gave large sums of money to the many charitable and educational institutions in which he was interested, Princeton college being among his l»eneficiaries. He gave to Rev. Dr. John Hall's church $100.0(X). anti\ in France alK>ut the close of the eigh- teenth century, immigrated to America, and was

graduated at the military academy in 1815. He served in garrison and frontier duty until 1831, wlien he set out on a five years' exploring tour beyond the Rocky Mountains. (See "The Ad- ventures of Cai)tain Bonneville, U. S. A., in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West. Digested from his journal and illustrated from various other sources," by AVashington Irving.) In the war with Mexico he distinguished himself at Contreras and Churubasco. and was brevetted lieutenant-colonel for gallantry. In 1855 he was promoted to colonel, and in 1801 was placed upon the retired list. He served in Missouri through- out the civil war, as superintendent of recruiting service, as chief mustering and disbursing officer, as commander of Benton and Jefferson bar- racks, and as commissary of musters. In 1865 he was made brevet brigadier-general. He died at Fort Smith, Ark., June 12, 1878.

BONNEY, Charles Carroll, lawyer, was born at Hamilton, N. Y., Sept. 4, 1831. He began the practice of la-w at Peoria, 111., in 1852. In 1860 he located in Chicago, where he became an eminent lawyer, and suggested and brought out many reforms in local, state and national affairs. In 1885 he was elected president of the national law and order league in New York, and held the same office in the Illinois state bar association. Among his published writings are: "Rules of Law for the Carriage and Delivery of Persons and Property by Railway" (1864) ; and "A Summary of the Law of Marine, Fire, and Life Insurance" (1865).

BONTECOU, Reed Brockway, surgeon, was born at Troy, N. Y,, April 22, 1824, son of Peter and Saniantha (Brockway) Bontecou. He was educated at the Poultney academy, Vt. , and at the Rensselaer polytechnic institute, Troy, N. Y. He then studied metMcine at the University of New York. He spent the year 1846 in a scientific exploration of the valley of the Amazon river in South America, and on his return resinned his medical studies at the Castleton medical college, Vt.. where he was graduated in May, 1847. He rendered valuable service in the epidemics of cholera at Troy in 1848 and 1858. In April, 1861, he was ap- pointed surgeon of the 2d N. Y. volunteers, and in September of the same year was placed in charge of the Hygeia general hospital at Fort Monroe, Va., which position he held till its destruction in 1862, He engaged in the battle of Big Bethel, June 10, 1861, and was a witness of the conflict between the Monitor and Merri- mac in Hampton Rc)ads. Soon afterwards he was placed in cliarge of the military hospitals at Beaufort, S. C, as chief medical officer. He was in charge of the hospital steamer Cosmo- politan, during the siege of Cliarleston, and