Person:Benjamin Bond (5)

From an interview given to Bellingham Herald, 6 Mar 1910:

"I was born on September 17, 1826,” the old gentleman said, “in the town of Kaskaskie, Illinois. My father, Shadrach Bond, was the first governor of that state after it was admitted to the Union. Kaskaskia is no longer on the maps, however as the river Missouri, some years ago, decided to make its course through the city and did so despite a heroic fight on the part of its inhabitants, most of whom, like my father, moved _____, a short distance away, and allowed the river to have its own way."

"When I was twenty years of age, at which time my parents were forced to make a business trip to England in connection with a legacy, I was married and shortly afterwards became a practicing physician in Chester." ...

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Bellingham Herald
   28 Feb 1911.
   DR. B. N. BOND DIED AT AGE OF 84 YEARS
         Dr. Benjamin N. Bond, aged 84 years, son of the first governor of the State of Illinois, and a resident of this city for more than fourteen years, passed away at 4:40 o'clock this morning death being due to the infirmities of old age. Dr. Bond had been confined to his bed for the last fourteen months. Death came quietly, ending the eventful life on earth of a man whose youth was spent in the midst of stirring events of the early days of the country.
         Dr. Bond is survived by his widow, Mary Esther Bond, three sons, Shadrach C. Bond, of Seattle; Thomas W. Bond of St. Louis, Mo.; and Charles F. Bond, a mail carrier of this city; also one daughter, Mrs. A. W. Watson, a resident of Seattle. There are twenty-one grandchildren and three great-grandchildren surviving Dr. Bond.
         The pioneer whose death occurred today was born at Kuskaskia, Randolph county, Illinois, on September 17, 1826, his father being Shadrach Bond, an official of the Territory of Illinois, afterward being elected first governor of the State of Illinois. Dr. Bond was probably the oldest member of the Masonic fraternity in the State of Washington, being a member of Bellingham Bay lodge No 44. A. F. & A. M. He was also a member of J. B. Steedman post No. 24. G. A. R., having served with distinction throughout the Civil war, being regimental surgeon of the of the Twenty-seventh regiment, Fifteenth army corps, Missouri volunteer infantry. Dr. Bond was also a member of Bellingham Bay lodge No. 31, I. O. O. F., and belonged to Bellingham Bay lodge No. 43, Daughters of Rebekah. He was a deacon of the Methodist Episcopal church, holding his membership with Trinity church of this city.
         Funeral services will be conducted at the Trinity tabernacle, corner of Garden and East Holly streets, Wednesday afternoon, March 1, at 2 o'clock, under the auspices of the various organizations to which the doctor belonged. The Rev. Earle Naftzger, pastor of Trinity Methodist Episcopal church, will be the officiating clergyman, and at Bay View cemetery, where interment is to be made. The burial service, according to the ritual of the Masonic order, will be conducted by Bellingham Bay lodge No. 44, A. F. & A. M. Mock & Hill, the Elk street funeral directors, have the arrangements in charge. All members of the above fraternal orders have been requested to attend the funeral services.
       Dr. Bond married at the age of 20 years and shortly afterward began the practice of medicine at Chester, Ill. He remained in this practice until the beginning of the Civil war, when he entered the military service as surgeon with the rank of major. In this service he took part in the siege of Vicksburg, the battle of Lookout Mountain and was in the fight on Missionary Ridge on the plains of Chattanooga. He was also a member of the force that took part in the march through Georgia under General Sherman, which finally ended, at the close of the war, in the grand review at Washington, D. C., which signaled the return of peace.
       The pioneer often boasted the reputation of never having taken a drink of intoxicating liquor. For twenty years prior to his final illness he refrained from smoking. Up to the illness which resulted in his death, Dr. Bond was in unusually good health for a man of his extreme age. Dr. Bond distinctly remembered, in his declining years, an acquaintance with Abraham Lincoln, whom he first met at his father's house. In the days when the emancipator was a circuit lawyer he made his headquarters at the Bond home.
   Extracted and submitted to Whatcom GenWeb by Susan Irish Nahas