BONARIUS / HARDY I am researching my husband's BONARIUS ancestors, Johann Daniel, a soldier in the Kings German Legion at the Battle of Waterloo, and his wife Charlotte Rebecca HARDING. It is thought that all people bearing the surname BONARIUS in the UK are descended from this couple. Between 1815 and 1833 Johann Daniel (known as Daniel) and Charlotte had nine children - Daniel, Mary Ann, Charles, Walter Devereux, James, William John, Philip, Rebecca Ellen and John Charles. Most of the family remained in and around the London area for an extended period of time but one son, John Charles, emigrated to Australia and started a line in New South Wales. My husband's descent is from William John. Another son, James, went to Co. Durham and founded a large family in that area. It is this family which intrigues us as, between 1871 and 1881, some members of the family started to use the surname HARDY whilst others kept their original surname. Census entries between as late as 1911 appear to show that descendents of James continue to swap between the two surnames. Some members of this extended family are shown in the GRO birth indexes as BONARIUS with marriages or deaths registered in either surname. Others may have been registered at birth as HARDY and reverted to BONARIUS. The surname BONARIUS is also frequently mistranscribed in Census entries and FreeBMD and I have corrected many as I come across them. Some entries are incorrectly spelt in the original GRO indexes! I would be very interested to hear from anyone from the County Durham area (or elsewhere) who carries the surname BONARIUS or who has knowledge of the duel use of BONARIUS and HARDY surnames. We have a great deal of information concerning the ancestry of Johann Daniel BONARIUS to share with proven descendents.