Notes |
- The Samuel Bonum with the 1748 will in Northumberland County is definitely the son of Samuel Bonum and Elizabeth Johnson, her first husband. This couple had two sons: this Samuel and a son Thomas who died young. Samuel's birth on 22 JUL 1723 was recorded in the register of St. Stephen's Parish, Northumberland County. The existance of the son Thomas Bonum is, I believe, indicated in the gaurdianship account of Samuel Bonum as the funeral expense for his brother Thomas. (I need to verify this.)
The father, Samuel Bonum, died testate in 1726 in Westmoreland County. His names his son Samuel and the child his wife carryiing. He appointed George Eskridge as guardian to his children, which duty was later assumed by Lindsay Opie. Opie's account of his guardianship was settled in 1738 or 1739 (Westmoreland County Fiduciary Accounts 1742, p. 89 according to Elizabeth Combes Pierce, writing in April of 1935.) The account includes payments to Mrs. Bennett and a Mrs. Chatten for board, a wig for John Johnson (this cannot be his uncle John Johnson who died in 1721, and who had no children.). It also pays money to Mr. Thomas Bennett and then a payment to "Aunt and Uncle Thomas and Elizabeth Bennett."
In her 1935 article in the William & Mary Quarterly, Elizabeth Combes Pierce uses the above account as absolute proof that the maiden name of Mary Ball's mother was Bennett. Such a conclusion does not hold water.
Samuel Bonum, the orphan, on his mother's side, had but one uncle and one aunt. The uncle, John Johnson who was the brother of Elizabeth Johnson, died in 1721 with no children. Mary Ball, his mother's half sister was the only other sibling of Elizabeth Johnson.
This means that the "aunt and uncle" here is probably Elizabeth Bonum, wife of Thomas Bennett. Benjamin Hugh Bennett, in his 1960 book titled *A History of the Richard Bennett Family of Westmoreland County and Iredell County, N.C." comes to the same conclusion, and the Elizabeth Bonum was the sister of Samuel Bonum.
Thomas Bennett testate in Westmoreland County in 1763. His will named his wife Elizabeth and children Mary, Thomas Jr., William, Daniel, Charles, Joseph and Solomon Bennett.
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/VA-NORTHERN-NECK/2010-03/1267986234
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