Sacramento County
Biographies
BONUS LIGHTNER
BONUS LIGHTNER. The
treasurer of the Consumers Mutual Supply Company, of Sacramento,
Cal., Bonus Lightner,
is a native of Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred
in Maytown, Lancaster
county, May 20, 1847.
His parents, Abram and Elizabeth (Schroll) Lightner, in 1852 located in Nauvoo, Hancock county, Ill., where the father engaged in the lumber
business for ten years. Both parents
died in Nauvoo, the mother in 1881, and the father in 1862. Bonus Lightner
received the principal part of his education in the public schools of
Nauvoo. Although he was only a lad at
the time of the Civil war he enlisted in the service in 1864 as a member of the
Twelfth Regiment of Illinois Infantry, and served until May 2 of the following
year, the company then being in camp at Kingston,
N.C., under the command of General
Schofield. In the first engagement in
which Mr. Lightner participated he was taken prisoner
and sent to Libby prison, later to Richmond
and finally was paroled. After his discharge
he returned to Nauvoo, Ill.,
and remained at home for a time. Later
he became a fireman on the Princeton & Palmyra Railroad, his run being
between Quincy, Ill., and Palmyra,
Mo.
In 1867 he accepted a better position with the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy Railroad Company, with headquarters at Galesburg,
Ill.
In the fall of the following year he entered the employ of the Union Pacific
Railroad as fireman, with headquarters at Evanston,
Wyom., remaining in that capacity until 1869, when he
was promoted to engineer, filling this position until 1875. Leaving the employ of the
Union Pacific he became an engineer on the New
Orleans, St. Louis & Chicago
Railroad, his run afterward being from New
Orleans, La., to Canton, Miss. Three years later, in 1878, he entered the
employ of the Southern Pacific as a locomotive engineer, which is his present
position, having been in the railroad service for nearly forty years. During all these years he has been in but one
wreck, at that time begin injured quite severely, a broken ankle disabling him
for nine months.
In 1891 Mr.
Lightner married Mrs. Julia Hines, by whom he has one
child, Helen H. By her former marriage
Mrs. Lightner had two children, Mrs. W. E. Cogswell and Julia N. Hines. Mr. Lightner is one
of the stockholders and directors of the Consumers Mutual Supply Company and in
1904 was made its treasurer, which responsible position he still holds. He is a prominent Mason, being a member of
Union Lodge No. 58, F. & A. M.; Sacramento Chapter No. 3, R. A. M.; Sacramento
Commandery No. 2, K. T., and Isaac Davis Lodge of
Perfection No. 4, Scottish Rite. He also belongs to Sumner Post No. 3, G. A.
R., and is identified with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Division
No. 110.
Transcribed
by Kathy Porter.
Source: “History of
the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley,
California” by
J. M. Guinn. Pages 665-666.
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1906.
© 2007 Kathy Porter.