Robert E. Bonner

Robert Edwin Bonner (April 28, 1824 – July 6, 1899)

Bonner was born in Ireland, in the town of Ramelton, Co Donegal; his ancestors were Scottish Presbyterians. He arrived in America in 1839, where his uncle owned land in Hartford, Connecticut. Bonner became an apprentice in the printing trade and worked at the Hartford Courant. There he was an extraordinarily fast compositor. He did not gamble or race for money, but there was a rivalry between Bonner and Commodore Vanderbilt over who had the best horses. At one time, he was president of the New York Driving Club. In 1893, he was presented with a silver sculpture of his trotting horse, Sunol being driven by Charles Marvin. A bronze copy of the Cyrus Dallin sculpture is in the collection of the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame in Goshen, New York.

Philanthropy Bonner was a philanthropist who preferred not to make his donations public, but he was a known supporter of Princeton University and contributed $131,000 towards the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. He was also president of the Scotch-Irish Society of America.

Family Bonner married Jane McConlis in 1850 and they had six children although one child, Martha Agnes, died in infancy.

Legacy In 1887, he passed the Ledger to his three sons.

Pastor John Hall died in September 1898 in Ireland and one son, Andrew Allen Bonner, died in December 1898. According to his obituary, Bonner never recovered from the shocks; his health and interest failed. He was confined to a bed at times during June and he died on July 6, 1899. He was survived by sons Robert Edwin and Frederick and daughter Mrs. Francis Forbes.

Upon his 1899 death, he was interred in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.