As an early Easter gift (we give presents for EVERYTHING around here!), my daughter gave me a plate she'd found, with the image of Lewis Bonnett. It says he was born near Wheeling, Ohio Co, VA in 1778 (also, death info), and on the back "Presented by Mr and Mrs George W. Bowers, Mannington WV, at the Bonnett Reunion, August, 1937." She got it for me because of my interest in Ohio Co Va/WV history .....my own maternal family got there by a fluke, and settled....my several times great grandparents were coming up the Ohio by steamboat, when it struck a tree and they had to 'put into' Wheeling, VA, for repairs. While there my greatgreat grandfather, Reuben Bullard, decided to accept a job offered him there, went on to establish a printing business, and the family stayed from1844 till 1959. (my husband refers to what struck the steamboat as 'my family tree'!!!). Anyway, I decided to do a bit of research on the fella on the plate, Lewis Bonnett, and to my GREAT surprise, here is yet another tie to Chester Co....according to a site I found, .the original emigrant, Jean Jacques Bonnet and his wife were originally from Friedrichstahl, in Baden, Germany, and emigrated here sometime before 1733, the date of their first PA born child. A site I found says that their child, LEWIS BONNET, was born in Feb of 1737 , married Elizabeth Waggoner in Paoli and died in 1808, Ohio Co, WV. (he. As the Lewis of the plate was said to have been born in1778, I imagine he was the son of grandfather Jean and father, Lewis? Does anything know anything about this family? Its strange, though, that so many of the things I've 'picked up', through the years, have unknowingly (by me, at least) had ties to Chester.....go figure! So, any Bonnet ancestors out there? Sandra -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.4.0/306 - Release Date: 4/9/2006

Quite a bit found in a simple Google search but I was glad I looked as it opened a door to a great WV History site for me. http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvmarsha/bonnetthouse.htm BONNETT HOME ON WHEELING CREEK MARSHALL COUNTY HISTORIC SITE "Lewis Bonnett was born in 1737 at Paoli, Pennsylvania, and came to Wheeling Creek in 1764 with his brother-in-law, John Wetzel and other pioneer settlers and started homesteading on Wheeling Creek near the site now occupied by Britt Run school. John Wetzel settled about 7 miles further up the creek on what is now known as the E. J. Wilson farm. Lewis sold out his land on Big Wheeling Creek in 1773 or 1775 and moved to the Monongahela country. Some years later he moved back to the old homestead on Big Wheeling Creek in 1781 or 1782 and resided at the old home-place until his death in 1808. His mortal remains are buried on the farm he tilled and ploughed. His son, Lewis Bonnett, jr., was born March 13, 1778 in the Monongahela country. The senior Lewis Bonnett had three sisters, the oldest being Catharine who married John C. Sickes, the second, Mary married Captain John Wetzel and the third sister, Susannah, never married, but remained an old maid and died in Shenandoah county, Virginia." More at the site, which is about his house, and also a copy of his will at <http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvmarsha/bonwill.htm> which has a curious reference in his bequest of a horse as "give and bequeath to my beloved wife Elizabeth one of my horse creatures which ever she shall choose, hir side saddle and bridle one milch cow of hir own chosing, such choice she my renew yearly out of the stock which I intend to give my son John". "one of my horse creatures" has such a quaint sound to it. It gets better, there's a book by his son listed in Amazon, but it seems horribly overpriced at $181 for a 1991 reprint: Recollections of Lewis Bonnett, Jr. (1778-1850) and the Bonnett and Wetzel families by Lewis Bonnett And here's the kind of detail I know you love, but about his cousin Lewis Wetzel: http://www.wvculture.org/History/journal_wvh/wvh50-5.html "Lewis Wetzel's appearance are similar to other accounts of contemporary white and Indian scouts. Christian Cackler recalled, "Lewis Wetzel was a man about six feet and well porportioned rather raw boned & active dark and swarthy. I have seen Indians since I thought was about as white as he was." Lewis Bonnett remembered him as possessing very muscular arms and shoulders with well-proportioned legs and smallish feet, braided hair carefully knotted around his shoulders which reached nearly to his calves when combed out, extremely piercing black eyes, swarthy complexion much pitted by smallpox, and pierced ears from which he wore silk tassels and other ornaments." That story is a fascinating one that places Wetzel as living in Wheeling with the Bonnetts, and is well worth reading. This appears to document the relationship between Wetzel and Bonnet: <http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2994682&id=I586 077018> There's some good info on the individual pages there such as the elder Bonnet with Braddock's army (possibly placing him with Washington, anotehr VA resident who was associated with Braddocks army) and another description of Lewis Weztel, son of the elder Lewis Bonnett's sister Mary: "5 ft 8 in, rather slender,high cheekbones, prominent forehead and eyebrows, and almost as swarthy as the Indians with his ears slit, rimmed, and decorated with feathers. His hair hung almost to his waist when let fall." Add the three descriptions of cousin Lewis together and you get an interesting portrait of a dark man with hair down to his calves, braided and decorated with ornaments including silk and feathers in his ears (pierced? Not sure what they mean by split). Sounds like there could have been a little indian blood there, or someone who had embraced the culture. And it sounds like he was quite a legend in his time. Another site and book cites Wetzel and another Bonnett sister: The following is condensed from a four page narrative by L. K. Evans in the publication "Pioneer History of Green County, Pennsylvania", published by the McClain Printing Company, Parsons, WV. "In the year 1760 Conrad SYCKS emigrated from Germany and located in Monongahela Township, on the waters of what is now known as "Rocky Run", not over two miles from the mouth of Dunkard. He built a house and married a Miss BONNETT, who was a sister to the mother of Lewis WETZEL, the most celebrated pioneer and Indian fighter of American history. Here they lived and raised a family of ten children - among whom were Henry and Christina." That was sourced from the "Early American Pioneers Held Captive or Killed by Indians" site: http://www.rootsweb.com/~indian/index.htm (most links there appear broken) The whole <http://www.wvculture.org/history/archivesindex.aspx> West VA site is a nice resource. The John Brown/Boyd B. Stutler Collection covering Abolitionist John Brown is quite interesting. I especially recommend: http://www.wvculture.org/history/settlement.html There's a treasure chest there of historical articles. The one on Anne Bailey was a good read: "1774 to 1785. Eleven years of widowhood. When she heard of the death of her husband a strange wild dream seemed to possess her, and she vowed revenge on the Indian race. Having matured her plans she submitted them to Mrs. Moses Mann, then residing in Augusta, but afterward in Bath county. She approved them and gave a home to Anne's orphan son. It was now that Anne Bailey abandoned that home life that had once been so dear to her, and entered upon that military career which has made her name famous for all time. Clad in the male costume of the border, with rifle in hand, she attended the militia musters and urged men to go to war against the Indians in defense of hopeless women and children; or to enlist in the Continental army and fight the British. Then she became messenger and scout, going from one frontier post to another, thus continuing that carrer of female heroism which made her name a familiar one to the pioneers." -----Original Message----- From: Sandra Ferguson [mailto:ferg@ntelos.net] Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 9:52 AM To: PA-OLD-CHESTER-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [PaOldC] Lewis Bonnett As an early Easter gift (we give presents for EVERYTHING around here!), my daughter gave me a plate she'd found, with the image of Lewis Bonnett. It says he was born near Wheeling, Ohio Co, VA in 1778 (also, death info), and on the back "Presented by Mr and Mrs George W. Bowers, Mannington WV, at the Bonnett Reunion, August, 1937." She got it for me because of my interest in Ohio Co Va/WV history .....my own maternal family got there by a fluke, and settled....my several times great grandparents were coming up the Ohio by steamboat, when it struck a tree and they had to 'put into' Wheeling, VA, for repairs. While there my greatgreat grandfather, Reuben Bullard, decided to accept a job offered him there, went on to establish a printing business, and the family stayed from1844 till 1959. (my husband refers to what struck the steamboat as 'my family tree'!!!). Anyway, I decided to do a bit of research on the fella on the plate, Lewis Bonnett, and to my GREAT surprise, here is yet another tie to Chester Co....according to a site I found, .the original emigrant, Jean Jacques Bonnet and his wife were originally from Friedrichstahl, in Baden, Germany, and emigrated here sometime before 1733, the date of their first PA born child. A site I found says that their child, LEWIS BONNET, was born in Feb of 1737 , married Elizabeth Waggoner in Paoli and died in 1808, Ohio Co, WV. (he. As the Lewis of the plate was said to have been born in1778, I imagine he was the son of grandfather Jean and father, Lewis? Does anything know anything about this family? Its strange, though, that so many of the things I've 'picked up', through the years, have unknowingly (by me, at least) had ties to Chester.....go figure! So, any Bonnet ancestors out there? Sandra -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. 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