Butte County
Biographies
ALLEN H. BONNIFIELD
ALLEN H. BONNIFIELD.--The genealogy of the Bonnifield family is traced back to a very early period in the settlement of Virginia. Its members were prominent even among the unusually brilliant coterie of statesmen whose names give luster to the annals of the Old Dominion in the colonial period. The family is of Scotch ancestry. One Luke Bonnifield came from Scotland to America and settled on the Potomac, where he owned a farm, now part of the site of Washington, D. C. He had a son named Gregory, who was the grandfather of Samuel Bonnifield. The latter was born in Fauquier County, Va.; served in the Revolutionary War; and was a pioneer of Randolph County, Va., where he improved a farm from the wilderness, and where he became prominent in public affairs, serving three terms as high sheriff of the county. He had a son, Arnold, who was born in that county, and who also became prominent as a farmer, as a physician and surgeon, and as county clerk and circuit clerk of Tucker County. Dr. Bonnifield married Elizabeth Minear, who was born in Randolph County, Va., on the spot where the courthouse at St. George now stands, and whose father, David Minear, owned the land that is now the site of St. George. The parents had nine children, of whom eight grew to maturity and two are now living. This worthy couple lived and died in Virginia.
The youngest of these nine children, Allen H. Bonnifield, of this review, was born in Randolph County,Va., now Tucker County, W. Va., on July 31, 1845. He was brought up on the farm and was educated in the subscription schools, there being no public schools until after the Civil War. During that war the family lost twenty-eight thousand dollars’ worth of stock. The struggle once ended, Allen H. bought out the heirs and became owner of his father’s farm of two hundred forty-eight acres, upon which he raised stock and did general farming. He, too, held public office, serving as road overseer, as president of the board of education of St. George district, and as sheriff of Tucker County for four years. In all the years of his residence in that county, none stood higher in the esteem of the citizens that did Mr. Bonnifield. In 1902 he sold out his holdings, settled in Morgantown, and engaged in teaming and draying for seven years, when he decided to retire to private life.
In Tucker County occurred the marriage of Allen H. Bonnifield and Jane Parsons. She was born in that county, and was a daughter of Andrew B. Parsons, a prominent pioneer and stock-raiser. She died on September 16, 1916, in Butte County, Cal. They had eleven children born to them, nine of whom are living, viz.: Berta, who lives with her father; Jennie S., Mrs. Jeffreys, of West Virginia; Annie D., who graduated from the Nevada University at Reno, and is now teaching in Selma, Cal.; Elizabeth, Mrs. Merle Anderson, of Butte County; Luke G., who lives in Chico; Catherine, of Modesto; Lydia and Laura, both graduates of the Chico Normal School and engaged in teaching; and Allen H., Jr. In 1909, Mr. Bonnifield and his wife came to California and located in Butte County, where one of their daughters had bought thirteen acres of land some time previously. Here Mr. Bonnifield has a small dairy, raises alfalfa and peaches, and also does teaming. Since becoming identified with Butte County, he has lent his support to all movements for public good.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1265-1266, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Joyce Rugeroni.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County
Biographies