Person:Samuel Bonner (1)

... Judge Samuel A. Bonner, born in Alabama, was the classical scholar of the family. He received his education at the Miami University and at Center College, Kentucky. He read law with Judge Andrew Davidson, and in 1852 was graduated from the law department of the Indiana State University. He was later engaged in the law practice with Barton W. Wilson, also with Will Cumback, and in later years with M. D. Tackett and B. F. Bennett. He filled the bench of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, composed of Rush, Decatur and Fayette counties, from 1877 to 1889. Judge Bonner died a few years ago, full of honors won by a life of rectitude and usefulness. ...

Samuel A. Bonner died at his home on East Central, Friday.He was born on a plantation in Wilson Co. Alabama, Dec. 5, 1826. His family settled near Springhill in 1836. He graduated from Law School at Indiana University in 1852. He served as Judge for many years in Decatur County among the many positions he held over the years. He married Ella M. Carter of Salem on Sept. 1, 1852, she died in 1861, two daughters from this union survive, Mrs. Lizzie Wampler of Richmond and Mrs. Minnie Dechant of Middletown, Ohio. On Aug. 2, 1867 he married Abbie A. Snell who survives, more in long obit, he was buried in South Park Cemetery.

Samuel A. Bonner was born in Wilcox County, Ala., December 5, 1826. He is the son of James and Mary (Foster) Bonner, both of Irish parentage, who were married in Abbeville District, South Carolina, in 1820, and removed the year following to Wilcox County, Ala. There his father engaged in planting, and remained until 1836 when, becoming dissatisfied with the institution of slavery and wishing to remove his sons from its pernicious infiuences, he changed his residence to Decatur County, Ind. aamuel A., the subject of this sketch, attended the district school in that place until 1843, when he entered Richland Academy, in Rush County and prepared for college. He entered the Freshman Class at Oxford, Ohio, in 1845 remaining there for two years mid a half. He then went to Center College, at Danville, Ky., and graduated in 1849. In December of that year, he began the study of law with Hon. Andrew Davison, afterward Judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana. He then attended the Law School of the Indiana State University at Bloomington, and graduated in 1852, and began the practice of law at Greensburg. In 1854, he was elected to the Legislature from Decatur County, and in 1856 was elected Judge of the Common Pleas Court for the district composed of Bush and Decatur Counties, which office he held £or the full term of four years. Retiring from public life in 1860, he again engaged in the practice of law in Greensburg, and continued till 1876, when he was elected Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Indiana, com¬posed of the counties of Decatur, Rush and Fayette. He is still presiding over the courts of these counties, retaining the united confidence and good opinion of the bar and of the people generally. His home is still in Greensburg.

HON. SAMUEL A. BONNER.
Greensburg has no more prominent nor more highly esteemed citizen than Judge Bonner, who is now living retired from the busy scenes and activities which marked his former years. Nobly and conscientiously has he performed his part and filled his place in the wonderful century now drawing to a close, and in the evening-time of life the contentment and peace which come only to the victor in the battle rest upon him.

Judge Bonner comes of the hardy, Godfearing Scotch-Irish stock, his ancestors having been earnest Presbyterians. Toward the end of the eighteenth century his paternal grandfather came to America, from his former home in the northern part of Ireland, and, settling upon a South Carolina plantation, spent the remainder of his days there. He had four sons and three daughters, of whom, James, father of Samuel A., was born near Anderson, South Carolina, and not far from the home of John C. Calhoun. He was reared in the vicinity of Abbeville, where he married Mary P. Foster, whose father, James Foster, born in the northern part of Ireland, became a farmer of South Carolina, whence he removed to Spring Hill, Indiana, about 1837, and died in this locality. About two years subsequent to his marriage James Bonner removed to Wilcox county, Alabama, where he dwelt for some sixteen years, owning and managing a large plantation, which, of course, was cultivated by slaves. He was a kind master, and hated the slavery system,—indeed, he eventually came to the north to escape from it. Having due regard for their feelings, he sold his slaves in a body to his brother, refusing to separate them, and his brother, according to their agreement, kept them together. He was a successful business man, being considered quite rich in his day, and at one time owned several farms in this county. In the spring of 1836 he came to Decatur county and located in Fugit township, where he engaged in farming until his death, in 1844, when he was upward of fifty-five years of age. His beloved wife, Mary, died during the first year of the family's residence in this state, and he later wedded a Miss Weed. Like his father and relatives, he was a devout Presbyterian, and was an elder in the church. Politically he was a Whig, and in all public matters was actively interested, as becomes a patriot.

Of the seven children born to James and Mary P. (Foster) Bonner, all but the eldest, James F., were natives of Alabama. He was born in South Carolina, and for years was numbered among the prosperous farmers of this county. He now resides in Greensburg, being engaged in the insurance business. John I. Bonner, D. D., pursued a literary course at Miami University, and, after being graduated in the theological seminary at Due West, South Carolina, turned his attention to teaching, and was president of Due West Female College for many years, and until his death, some fifteen years ago. He also edited a religious paper, the organ of his denomination, and left the impress of his able mind upon his generation. William H., the next son, was a farmer in the neighborhood of Spring Hill, Indiana, until his death. Prominent in all public matters in that locality, he was chosen to represent the people in the legislature, serving with zeal and credit. In the United Presbyterian church he took a leading part, and all worthy causes received his earnest support. Two sisters of our subject died in early womanhood, and Robert died in childhood. Walter, son of William H. Bonner, is the cashier of the Third National Bank, of this place.

The birth of the Hon. Samuel A. Bonner occurred in Wilcox county, Alabama, December 5, 1826, and he was a lad of nine years when the family came to this county. He attended the Spring Hill school and a private academy, and for two years pursued his studies at Richland, Indiana. Later, he matriculated in Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, but left there in his junior year and went to Center College, Kentucky, where he was graduated in 1849. That winter he entered upon his legal career by entering the office of Judge Andrew Davison, afterward supreme judge of the state of Indiana, and, having gained an idea of the foundation principles of the law, spent the winters of 1850-51 and 1851-2 in the law department of the University of Indiana. Being granted a diploma in that institution, in 1852, and admitted to practice before all the courts of the state, Mr. Bonner opened an office in Greensburg, in partnership with the late Barton W. Wilson.

Rapidly coming to the front, known and admired by the people among whom he had dwelt from boyhood, Judge Bonner was elected by them to represent them in the legislature, in 1854, and two years afterward was further honored by being chosen to preside at the bench of the common- pleas courts of the eighth judicial district, comprising Decatur and Rush counties. He continued in that office for the full term of four years, at the end of which time he resumed his regular legal practice, this time alone, and it was not until the close of the civil war that his business connection with the Hon. William Cumback was entered upon. This prosperous partnership continued in force until the appointment of Mr. Cumback to the position of collector of the internal revenues of the United States, Judge Bonner continuing the practice until 1877, when he was elected to the judgeship of the eighth circuit, including Rush, Decatur and Fayette counties. As such he acted for two terms of six years each, and at his re-election had no opposition practically, all being agreed that he was undoubtedly the best man for the place. In 1889 he formed a partnership with Messrs. Tackett and Bennett, and it was not until November 1, 1895, that he finally retired from active practice.

For many years the Judge was city and county attorney, and also legal adviser of the Big Four Railroad and other important corporations. He has been well known for his spirit of progress and enterprise, his name, as associated with any new venture, proving to it a passport into the favor of the people. Since the organization of the Greensburg Gas & Electric Light Company he has been one of its directors, and is now its president; when the Third National Bank was founded he was a leader in the enterprise, and later was a director, and at present, and for the past three years, vice- president of the institution. In 1895 he was appointed a member of the board of trustees of the Deaf and Dumb Institute of the state, in 1897 was re-appointed by Governor Mount, and since 1896 has been the president of the board. About thirty years ago he was a member of the city council of Greensburg, and was influential in getting the first sidewalks laid here, as well as in securing other needed improvements. From his early manhood he has been a devoted adherent of the Republican party, and glories in the wonderful era of prosperity which has come to this country since the war, through its beneficent policy. For more than three decades he has been an elder in the Presbyterian church, and upon four occasions was the delegate of this presbytery to the general assembly. He was honored especially by being appointed to act on a committee having in charge the theological seminaries, and held that appointment from 1892 until 1896, dealing with all questions submitted to him with a tact and wisdom equaled by few men in the history of the church. Thus, along almost every avenue of modern human endeavor, the Judge has played an important part, and played it honestly, in the love of God and of mankind. Needless to say that he has friends unnumbered, and that his enemies, if perchance he has any, must concede that his life has been upright, just and beneficial,—a power for good in his community.

The first marriage of Judge Bonner was to Ella M. Carter, of Salem county, Indiana, and was solemnized September 1, 1852. She departed this life in 1861, leaving two daughters: Lizzie C. is the wife of Dr. J. M. Wampler, of Richmond, Indiana, and Minnie E. is the wife of William L. Dechant, a prominent citizen and able lawyer of Mid- dletown, Ohio. On the 2d of August, 1867, Mr. Bonner married Miss Abbie A. Snell, of Holbrook, Massachusetts. She is a graduate of Maplewood Institute, of Pitts- field,-that state, and for years was a successful teacher in local schools and in Mississippi and Greensburg. Of late years she has been a great and valued worker in the cause of home and foreign missions, and has been president of the Presbyterian organization of that name for a long period. Like her husband, she is a sincere, practical philanthropist, devoted to noble Christian work.