The trouble with writing about families is that the stories get more complicated as you move through the generations. Here is a brief summary of the children of Uriah Bonham and Anchor Fox.

1. Amos Bonham (1752-1817)
2. Dinah Bonham (1756-1810)
3. Mary Bonham (c.1758-c.1838)
4. Hannah Bonham (c.1760-aft 1790)
5. Zedekiah Bonham (1762-1835)

1. Amos Bonham, born May 11, 1752, died April 5, 1817, married about 1780 Rebecca Rittenhouse, daughter of William Rittenhouse and Rebecca Harnet, who was born Aug. 10, 1758 and died July 21, 1830. Both Amos and Rebecca are buried in the Rosemont Cemetery. Amos was a cordwainer, or shoemaker. (I learned recently that cordwain was the word for a fine Spanish leather.) After his father’s death, he must have sold the farm and the fishery, as instructed by his father’s will. But he might have bought them back. It appears that he sold a farm of 40 acres to George Fox, which might have belonged to Uriah Bonham. On April 1, 1817, Amos Bonham wrote his will, leaving a homestead farm of 130 acre to wife Rebecca that he had bought from Samuel Davis. He had other properties which were t0 be sold and the proceeds divided between children Amos, Uriah, John, Anchor, Anne, Rebecca, Mary and Catherine. Sons William and Ambrose had already been provided for and received $500 each. This will shows that Amos Bonham was far more prosperous than his father. His inventory, taken by Thomas Lequear and John Waterhouse, amounted to $2,188.17.

Amos’ wife, Rebecca Rittenhouse Bonham, was a good Baptist, and refused to support Baptist minister Nicholas Cox in his Universalist beliefs in 1790. She signed a letter to that effect, and was one of many who did so. This incident, and others relating to the religious life of 18th and early 19th century Hunterdon residents begs to be written about—at another time.

Amos and Rebecca’s daughter Anchor Bonham did not marry. She must have become ill at the age of 29 when she wrote her will on Sept. 7, 1819. She left her mother Rebecca a set of silver teaspoons. To her nephew Elias Bonham, son of her brother William, she left $50. Elias had been under her care since the death of William’s wife Dentilly in April 1816. She left sums of money to her sisters, and her share of her father’s estate to be divided between her brothers. Executors were her brothers Amos and Uriah Bonham.

Amos and Rebecca Bonham had 11 children in all:

1) Ambrose married Nancy Lair, had at least two children, and removed to Ohio.

2) Uriah married Elizabeth Everitt, and had six children. Uriah and Elizabeth were buried in Rosemont, so I assume they remained in Hunterdon County.

3) Anna married her first cousin, Uriah Sutton, had 8 children and died near Locktown in 1861. Husband Uriah Sutton, who died in 1849, was Justice of the Peace in 1822, 27, 32 and 37. From 1824 to 1828 he served as Kingwood Tax Collector.

4) After William’s first wife Dentilly Bailey died, he married 2nd Anna Warford, daughter of Moses Warford and Anna Jewell, and had one child J. Ellis Bonham. William was buried in Rosemont Cemetery, but wife Anna probably removed to Cumberland Co., Pennsylvania with her son.

5) Amos Bonham married Rebecca Lequear, daughter of Thomas Lequear and Mary Cronce, about 1815, and had a son William. Amos was buried in the Rosemont Cemetery. His son William, who married his first cousin Elizabeth Bonham, daughter of John Bonham (brother of Amos Bonham), was also buried at Rosemont Cemetery.

6) Anchor, died in January 1820, a single woman, after writing her will, discussed above.

7) Rebecca also did not marry. On Jan. 5, 1848, she wrote a will that was “replete with family names” as Olive Rowland wrote. From this will it is clear that she favored her sister Anna and brother-in-law Uriah Sutton. She left her wearing apparel to Anna and the residue of her estate to Uriah Sutton, who she named executor with her brother William, to whom she left $400. She left bequests to her niece Mary Ann, daughter of Uriah Bonham and to niece Elizabeth, daughter of John Bonham. She also mentioned brothers Ambrose and Uriah Bonham, and sister Mary Robertson and Catharine Rittenhouse. I do not have the full details of this will, having gotten an abstract of it from Olive Rowland’s book, An Ancestral Chart & Handbook: Genealogical Notes of the Sutton and Rittenhouse Families of Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Rebecca died on Dec. 20, 1847 and was buried in Rosemont Cemetery.

8) John married Mary Bye in the Kingwood Baptist Church and had 4 children. They died relatively young, in their 20s and 30s, and were buried in the Rosemont Cemetery.

9) Mary married Thomas Roberson, who probably predeceased her. Mary spent her later years, when she was known as Aunt Polly Roberson, living with her nieces Deutilly and Mary Ann Sutton, daughters of Uriah and Anna Bonham Sutton, in Locktown, across the road from the Old School Baptist church.

10) Catharine married Daniel Bray Rittenhouse. I do not know how many children they had or their names. Daniel and Catharine were both buried in the Rosemont Cemetery.

11) Zedekiah, died on Aug. 2, 1816, an infant, and was buried in the Rosemont Cemetery.

2. The second child of Anchor Fox and Uriah Bonham was Dinah Bonham, born Feb. 21, 1756. She married John Sutton on Dec. 8, 1773. He was born July 25, 1748 to Jonas Sutton. Dinah and Jonas had 7 children: Anchor, Mary, Uriah, Elizabeth Dinah, Prudence and Sarah. Shortly before the Revolution, Sutton bought a farm on the south side of the Kingwood-Locktown Road and built a stone house, where he and Dinah raised their family. John Sutton died relatively young at the age of 47 on Oct. 3, 1795, without writing a will. His widow Dinah survived him until Dec. 3, 1810 when she died at the age of 54.

3. Mary Bonham (c.1758-c.1838) married James Emmons about 1774 and had 10 children with him. She lived to an advanced age (about 80 years), and so did her husband, dying on Dec. 3, 1810 at the age of about 70. He was buried in the Baptist cemetery in Baptistown, but I do not know where Mary was buried. On April 17, 1830, Mary Bonham Emmons wrote a will, bequeathing to her daughters Hannah Rittenhouse, Dinah Foxe and Mary Bird, “all that was devised to me by my father Uriah Bonham.” She named as Executor her nephew Uriah Sutton, and died about 1836. James Emmons also left a will that shows he died a prosperous man.

4. Hannah Bonham (c.1760-aft. 1812) married about 1780 Job Emmons, probably brother of James Emmons, and had 9 children. Less is known of this family. However, Job Emmons was very active in the Kingwood Baptist Church, until 1792, when Daniel Bray was elected to replace Emmons, who had moved away. He wrote his will in 1812 at Freehold, Monmouth County, leaving wife Hannah $200 and use of the real estate for support of their minor children and daughter Esther who lived with them. The real estate, “being the plantation whereon I now live,” then went to his sons Amos and Job. They were to pay $457 to each of their brothers and $228 to their sisters, deducting sums apid to daughter Anchor. The other daughters were named Mary and Hannah.

5. Zedekiah Bonham (24 Feb 1762-22 Apr 1835) married Prudence Heath (c.1762-1838) in March 1783. She was the daughter of Magdalene and Andrew Heath, and therefore the step-daughter of Zedekiah’s father Uriah Bonham. Zedekiah enlisted in the Kingwood militia in 1778 and fought in several skirmishes and at the Battle of Monmouth. In 1807 he moved his family (wife Prudence and their 13 children) to Wayne County, Pennsylvania, where they settled. He applied for a pension in 1832, which is how we know of his many children. His widow reapplied for a pension in 1839.

The next post will discuss the second daughter of George and Mary Fox (another Mary Fox).