Samuel H. Bonns
Born: Milwaukee, 1849
Died:
Henriette Harris Bonns
Born:
Died:
Samuel Bonn was born at Milwaukee [1] to Jewish-Russian immigrant tailor Henry and his wife Frances Bonns. [2] Little is known of Samuel H. Bonns’ life. He married Henriette Harris at Milwaukee on December 21, 1870, [3] in a Jewish ceremony. [4]
Samuel and Henriette began venturing west sometime during the 1870s and were recorded in Dallas during 1878 while Samuel was working as a clerk for Benedict & Co. New York Clothing House. [5] The story of Samuel Bonns and his time in Leadville remains somewhat of a mystery. Arriving in Leadville in 1888, he worked as a clerk for Louis Shoenberg [6] at his Manhattan Clothing Company located at 321 Harrison Avenue and resided in the same building. [7] He served on the reception committee for a “full-dress concert” hosted by Temple Israel at City Hall on August 29, 1888. [8] He would move to Denver in 1889 to open Bonns & Thompson, a liquor and tobacco store at 1742 Larimer street. [9]
What became of Samuel and Henriette after 1889 is obscure, but the strongest evidence indicates that Samuel died before the year’s end. This scenario would place Henriette in the Milwaukee area by early 1890, where she is listed as a widow. [10]
1 Year: 1850; Census Place: Milwaukee Ward 3, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Roll: M432_1003; Page: 312B; Image: 293
2 Year: 1860; Census Place: Milwaukee Ward 7, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Roll: M653_1421; Page: 827; Family History Library Film: 805421
3 "Wisconsin, County Marriages, 1836-1911". [database]. Samuel H. Bonns and Henriette Harris, 21 Dec 1870. Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison; FHL microfilm 1,013,961.
4 Milwaukee Public Library; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Milwaukee Vital Records; Call Number: 929.3
5 C.D. Morrison & Co. C.D. Morrison’s & Co. General Directory of the City Of Dallas for 1878-79. Marshall, Tx: Jennings Bros., Printers, Bunders And Blank Book Makers. 1879. Pp. 48 & 51.
6 For further information on the Shoenberg family, please visit: http://jewishleadville.org/shoenberg.html
7 JH Ballenger and Richards. Ballenger & Richard’s Ninth Annual City Directory: Containing a Complete List of the Inhabitants, Institutions, Incorporated Companies, Manufacturing Establishments, Business, Business Firms etc. in The City of Leadville for 1888. (Leadville, CO: Ballenger and Richards Publishers.1888). Pp. 72 & 186.
8 Very Fashionable Event. (Leadville, CO: Leadville Daily Evening Chronicle). August 30, 1888. P6.
9 JH Ballenger and Richards. Ballenger & Richard’s Seventeenth Annual City Directory: Containing a Complete List of the Inhabitants, Institutions, Incorporated Companies, Manufacturing Establishments, Business, Business Firms etc. in The City of Denver for 1889. (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Internet Archive. 2011). P166. 10 Milwaukee Directory, 1890.Milwaukee, WI: Alfred G. Wright, 1890.
Bibliography
Ancestry.com. Milwaukee, Wisconsin Directory, 1889-1890 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.
1860 U.S. Census, Population Schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.
Ancestry.com. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., Marriages, 1838-1911 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018.
Ballenger, JH and Richards. Ballenger & Richard’s Ninth Annual City Directory: Containing a Complete List of the Inhabitants, Institutions, Incorporated Companies, Manufacturing Establishments, Business, Business Firms etc. in The City of Leadville for 1888. Leadville, CO: Ballenger and Richards Publishers.1888.
Ballenger, JH and Richards. Ballenger & Richard’s Seventeenth Annual City Directory: Containing a Complete List of the Inhabitants, Institutions, Incorporated Companies, Manufacturing Establishments, Business, Business Firms etc. in The City of Denver for 1889. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Internet Archive. 2011.
C.D. Morrison & Co. C.D. Morrison’s & Co. General Directory of the City Of Dallas for 1878-79. Marshall, Tx: Jennings Bros., Printers, Bunders And Blank Book Makers. 1879.
Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Very Fashionable Event. Leadville, CO: Leadville Daily Evening Chronicle. August 30, 1888.
"Wisconsin, County Marriages, 1836-1911," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZ31-BRY : 26 May 2020), Samuel H. Bonns and Henriette Harris, 21 Dec 1870; citing Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison; FHL microfilm 1,013,961.
To cite any of the information in this biography, please use the following reference.
AUTHOR: Jeffrey P. Grant
EDITOR: William Korn & Andrea Jacobs
SOURCE: Jewish Surnames/Bonns
PUBLISHED BY: Temple Israel Foundation. Leadville, CO; USA. 2022.
STABLE URL: http://www.jewishledville.org/bonns.html
