Nathaniel Bonnell

One of the founders of Elizabeth, NJ, and built the oldest house still standing there.

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The house that Nathaniel built at 1045 East Jersey Street was built before 1682 and may be the oldest house in Elizabeth NJ. It has been renovated and was headquarters for the New Jersey Society of the Sons of the American Revolution at one time

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A pilgrim

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Nathaniel spelled his surname "Bunnell," then "Bonnel", and then possibly "Bonnell." He is actually listed as Nathaniel Bonnel, with only one "L," as one of the first settlers of Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Nathaniel was the only Bonnell to leave the Colony of New Haven. He settled in Elizabethtown, New Yersey and built a house that is still standing today. The house is without pretensions of great style, it closely hugs the ground, has a high-ended chimney, stepped-down roof and small-paned windows. "The Bonnell House is the oldest house in Elizabeth, erected before 1682 by Bonnell, a French Huguenot."

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Notes for NATHANIEL BONNELL:

NATHANIEL BUNNELL was probably born in one of the towns of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. At the time of the move to New Haven, CT, in 1646, Ann (Wilmot) Bunnell had "divers small children." Benjamin and Lydia were apparently the two who were put out to other families. The births of Mary and Ebenezer were recorded in New Haven in 1650 and 1653 respectively. Nathaniel was therefore probably the youngest of three brought from Massachusetts Bay. He was probably born between 1640 and 1642. In 1652 and 1653 there was considerable agitation in New Haven for this boy to be put out as an apprentice. The town was paying for the family's upkeep and resented paying for a hungry child when alternatives were available. One of the neighbors had offered a cow for the boy, but the Bunnells had refused. It was asserted that the boy was becoming wild through lack of management and training. After his mother died and his father went back to England, Nathaniel may well have been apprenticed. If so, however, no evidence has been found of it. The events of his youth went unrecorded. We next see him on his wedding day, 3 January 1665/6, when he was married by Mr. William Jones at New Haven to SUSANNAH WHITEHEAD, daughter of Isaac and Mary Whitehead. She was born at New Haven 5 August 1650. Almost immediately after their wedding, Nathaniel and Susannah, with her father and his family, joined the party about to settle Elizabethtown, NJ. Both Nathaniel Bunnell and Isaac Whitehead are listed among the 65 persons who took the oath of allegiance at Elizabethtown 19 February 1665/6. In Elizabethtown, Nathaniel had a house lot of six acres, 15 chains by 4 chains, bounded east by Thomas Price, west and north by his father-in-law Isaac Whitehead Sr., and south by the highway. He also had an allotment of 120 acres, "Lying upon the south branch of Elizabethtown Creek and by ye plaine which said above creek passeth through," and 12 acres of meadow "lying in the Great meadows upon John Woodruff's Creek." On 11 March 1669 he was No. 90 in the list of one hundred and seventy freeholders at Elizabeth who drew a first lot right of one hundred acres. He had 180 acres surveyed to him on 10 April 1676, and his lands bounded on lands of Matthias Hatfield, Joseph Osborne and Isaac Whitehead. His house on East Jersey Street, mentioned in a 1682 deed, is now the oldest existing residence in Elizabeth, NJ. He sold some land in Elizabethtown to Benjamin Price on 15 June 1677. In addition to being a large landowner, Nathaniel became prominent in community affairs. He served on a jury, 6 May 1671, by order of Gov. Carteret, for the trial of William Hackett, captain of the sloop "Indeavor," of Massachusetts, for illegal trading in the Province. "Nathaniel Bunnel1' was one of the executors of his father-in-law's estate under the terms of Isaac Whiteheadts will, which was dated 31 January 1690/1 and proved 26 February 1690/1. In 1692 he was a member of the General Assembly from Elizabethtown. In 1694, "Nathaniel Bunnell was among the 124 members of the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethtown who subscribed to the support of Rev. John Harriman. His son "Nathaniel Bunnell, Jr.," was also one of the subscribers, and his son Isaac subscribed a few years later. He like many others, was opposed to "constituting courts," etc., whereby their land titles were liable to be dispossessed. He was one of the petitioners to the Crown for relief from this oppression by the Lords Proprietors. This seems to be the last public mention of his name. He probably died not long afterward, perhaps about 1696, without leaving a will. His widow outlived him for many years. She moved out to Connecticut Farms (now Union, NJ) where her son Joseph was living. Her gravestone in the Presbyterian churchyard at Connecticut Farms read: "Here lies the body of Susannah, wife of Nathaniel Bonnel, Dec'd February ye 12th 1733-4 in ye 84th year of her age."

SOURCES; New Haven Town Records, 1649-1662, edited by F. B. Dexter, Vol. I. Vital Records of New Haven, Conn., to 1850. Families of Ancient New Haven, compiled by D. L. Jacobus. New Jersey Colonial Documents, Vol. XXX, Calendar of Wills. p. 387 (D3-364). New Jersey Land Conveyances 1664-1794 (C127-79). Connecticut Farms Presbyterian Church Cemetery records (C215-690). History of Union and Middlesex Counties, N. J., edited by W. W. Clayton, 1882. The New Jersey Genesis, July 1961. (D8-208, 209). Genealogies of the First Settlers of Passaic Valley, by John Littell, 1852. American Families of Historic Lineage - Long Island, pp. 57, 58. (A26-3, 4). Genealogy of the Bonnell Family as it pertains to Edgar Marsh Gibby and His descendants, by E. M.Gibby. The Ancestry of David Oliver Bonnel, compiled by F. M. Conkling. Ancestry of William Bonnel of Connecticut Farms, N. J., 1765-1828, author unknown, handwritten copy made by Homer E. Baldwin and sent to me in 1959. Elizabeth, N. J., Daily Journal, November 1956. William Bunnell and His Descendants, by Ruth C. Duncan, p. 11.

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More About Nathaniel Bonnell, Sr.: Burial: 1696, Connecticut Farms Presbyterian Church Cemetery. Religion: Presbyterian. Trade: carpenter & builder.

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GEDCOM Source

@R1500437281@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Database online. http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=pubmembertrees&h=6848100769&i... Record for Nathaniel Bonnell http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=0&pid=1185

GEDCOM Source

@R1500437281@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Database online. http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=pubmembertrees&h=6848100769&i... Record for Nathaniel Bonnell
http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=0&pid=1185

GEDCOM Source

@R1500437281@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Database online. http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=pubmembertrees&h=6848100769&i... Record for Nathaniel Bonnell
http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=0&pid=1185