Notes |
- Whitmal Bonner was born in 1775 to Thomas Bonner and Margaret (Jones) Bonner and died in 1821. Whitmals was 46 years old. Whitmal owned 65 acres at Shoulderbone Creek in Greene County, Georgia. He enrolled in Captain Kimbrough?s district, the Lower Battalion of Greene County. This was near his father?s place on Powell?s Creek. Whitmal did not leave a will when he died. He was married to Alice ?Allie? Selman at the time of his death. His estate was divided among his fifteen children, ten who were minors. They were: Jonathan; George W.; Whitmal Jones; Josiah M.; Bedford; William S.; Bethany; Caroline; Unknown Daughter; Mary J.; Matilda; Mattie Mae; Polly; Betsy; and Lorena.
- "Whitmal Bonner (1775-1820) appears first on the tax books of Greene County in 1796 at which time he owned 65 acres on Shoulderbone Creek, and one slave. He was enrolled in "Captain Kimbrough's District, Lower Battalion of Greene County" which was near father's place on Powell Creek. He remained in the community for three or four years after which time his taxable property had increased to approximately 300 acres and 4 slaves. He appeared on the Appalachee in 1803 where he returned land for taxes in Clarke County. In 1808 he appears in Morgan County where he began to purchase land in the adjacent county of Jasper. In 1817 he bought from Isaac Newton lot number 97 in the Sixteenth District. This lot of 200 acres lies on Shoal Creek within six miles of the court house in Monticello, on the road leading to Shady Dale. Since this apparently was a highly developed farm it is believed that it became his place of residence. A two-story house of hewn logs, probably dating to this period, was standing in 1965 on this lot. A less likely location of Whitmal's residence is on lot number 224 in the Thirteenth District, acquired from William Keener in 1815. This lot lies south of Monticello on Wolf Creek. (Earlier, he had bought a fractional part of this lot from Phoebe Gibbs.) Still a third location might be lot number 15 lying also on Wolf Creek, in the Fourteenth District which had been drawn by John Pearce in the land lottery of 1806. Apparently this purchase made of John Pearce in 1808 for $550 was the first land purchased by Whitmal in Jasper County.
Whitmal died intestate in 1821, by which time hi had acquired a relatively large estate. The records of the administration of his estate indicate the his wife at this time was Alice (Allie) Selman, daughter of Col John Stedman who lived on Freeman's Creek in Clarke County. Whitmal was the father of fifteen children, ten of whom were minors. In the division of his property, each legatee received from one to three Negro Slaves."
Minor sons of Whitmal in 1821:
Whitmal Jones Bonner
Bedford Bonner
William S. Bonner
Excerpted from James C Bonner Professor of History Georgia College Milledgeville, Georgia parenthesis original
|