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Below is a family biography included in the book, The History of Putnam County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1888.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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John Bonebright, farmer and stock raiser of Section 34, Jackson Township, P. O. West Liberty, was born in Westmoreland County, Penn., February 19, 1815. His parents were natives of Pennsylvania, the father, Jacob Bonebright, having been born in Somerset County, in 1787. His wife, Madeline (Smith) Bonebright, accompanied her husband to Ohio in 1824, locating in Stark County, where they lived about three years; they then lived three years each in Crawford County, and in St. Joseph County, Mich., where the father died in April, 1858. John Bonebright grew to manhood in Michigan, and when a young man came west, locating in Lee County, Iowa, in 1836, where he bought land, and improved a farm. While there he was united in marriage March 22, 1838, to Miss Sarah Roberts, daughter of Robert and Margaret Roberts, then residents of Lee County, Iowa, but formerly of Ohio. In 1856 Mr. Bonebright sold his farm in Lee County, and coming to Putnam County, Mo., proceeded to found a new home; he is a successful farmer, and is now the owner of 280 acres of land, having sold quite a number of acres some time ago. Two hundred and forty acres of this land are well fenced and under a good state of cultivation. He resides in a large farm-house surrounded by a nice orchard, and has reared a family of six children, and lost four: Joseph J. (married and living in Putnam County), Robert (deceased at the age of thirteen), Henry (who died in infancy), Andrew J. married and in Dakota), Joseph (married and in Nebraska), Estella (who died in Kansas, leaving a husband and three children), Isadora (wife of John Skipper, of Kansas), Marietta (deceased wife of J. J. Jones). She died while at her father’s in May, 1879, and her two children, John Leroy, aged eleven, and Sarah B., aged nine, are making their home with their grandparents. Mr. and Mrs. Bonebright are worthy and conscientious members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Previous to the war Mr. Bonebright was a Democrat, and cast his first presidential vote for James K. Polk, but is now identified with the Republican party. For the last forty years he has been an earnest advocate of the cause of temperance, and is in favor of absolute prohibition.

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This family biography is one of 139 biographies included in the Putnam County, Missouri portion of the book,  The History of Adair, Sullivan, Putnam, and Schuyler Counties, Missouri published in 1888 by Goodspeed Publishing Co.  For the complete description, click here: Putnam County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Putnam County, Missouri family biographies here: Putnam County, Missouri Biographies

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