The first settler/frontiersman to live in the Second Falls area [of Saint George, Charlotte Co., NB] was 'Joel Bonney (about 1781). His cabin was on the small stream now called Bonney River; its exact location is unknown, but one version is that [it] was where the stream joins the Magaguadavic, and another is [that it was] two or three miles north of that point, where the New Road/Frost Road crosses over the stream. Joel's prime interests were at nearby Digdeguash and his stay at "Bonney River", which was named after him, (sic, Bonny River), was brief and periodic.There is evidence that he was lumbering in the area around 1779 or earlier. It is possible that he may have erected a small mill at Second Falls (the Survey of 1797 noted that there was the remnants of an old mill).
Joel was of Welsh descent, and around 1763 had come to Machias, ME, with the first settlers as a millwright. He had been an Ensign in the British Army, and fought in the French [&] Indian War during the taking of Detroit. As a result of the "revolutionary fervor" in and around Machias, BONNEY and several Loyalists left as early as 1779 and went to Grand Manan Island. Due to the problems at Machias, etc., Joel and the Sprague brothers gave up their earlier lumbering efforts on the Magaguadavic River. They settled briefly on Grand Manan, and the place where they built their huts still retains the name of their leader, and is known as "Bonney's Brook." Due to Indian complaints about their settlement, they removed to the mouth of the Digdeguash on the mainland in 1780. Joel later received land grants (1784 & 1815) along the Digdeguash River in the parish of Saint Patrick. After a number of years, he removed back to Grand Manan, NB, and Portland, ME.
His full name was Joel William Bonney, born 14 Aug 1740,
[3]
Pembroke, Massachusetts, the son of Perez Bonney and Ruth Snow,
[4][5][6][7]
died 9 April 1824 at Portland, Maine, and is buried there in the Eastern Cemetery;
[8]
married (1) Lydia Kenney[3]
at Scarborough, 10 Oct 1763; but more probably c1760 (see discussion under her profile); married (2) Elizabeth Sprague,
[3]
22 Oct 1766. The latter marriage date has also been shown as 1769. Elizabeth was a sister of Abiel Sprague and James Sprague.
Joel's occupations included: millwright, carpenter, and sometime trader in furs and fish.
↑
Calvin Lee Craig, UE, Early Families of "The Mackadavy" (Print Atlantic, Fredericton, New Brunswick, 2nd edition, 2004. ISBN 0-9734299-0-9), pp. 71, 72
↑
Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Joel Bonney
↑ 3.03.13.2
Charles L. Bonney, The Bonney Family (Chicago Legal News Co., Chicago, Illinois, Second Edition, 1898, 177 pages), p. 81. Cit. Date: 3 Apr 2021.
↑Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VQ6Z-FJN : 10 February 2018), Joel Bonney, 14 Aug 1740; citing PEMBROKE,PLYMOUTH,MASSACHUSETTS, ; FHL microfilm 0873752 IT 1
↑
New England Historic Genealogical Society, Vital Records of Pembroke, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Stanhope Press, Boston, Massachusetts, 1911, 465 pages), p. 42. Cit. Date: 3 Apr 2021.
↑
Warren Vincent Sprague, M.D, Sprague Families in America 1940-1941 Supplement: Pioneers of Eastern Maine (Chauncey, Ohio, July 15, 1941, photocopy in the genealogical collection of the Calais Free Library, Calais, Maine), p. 190, but which reports his birth place as Goshen, Connecticut. Cit. Date: 3 Apr 2021.
↑Mayflower Families Fifth Generation Descendants, 1700-1880. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2017). From Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass., December 1620. Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1975-<2015>. Vol. 7, p. 207,
↑
Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 03 April 2021), memorial page for Joel William Bonney (14 Aug 1740–9 Apr 1824), Find A Grave: Memorial #95549024, citing Eastern Cemetery, Portland, Cumberland County, Maine, USA ; Maintained by Gary Bonney (contributor 47070426).
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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Joel by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA.
However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line.
It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Joel: