High School Class ~ Almost Wordless Wednesday

Mary Whitaker's high school class.
Whitaker is standing in the front row on the right.

Grandma Bonnel's photo album includes this picture of her daughter's high school graduating class. Mary Whitaker was born in 1901. The family story is that she graduated high school at 16 and moved to Wyoming to teach on the Wind River Indian Reservation. That would date this photograph at about 1917. The clothing seems winterish, so I doubt this was an actual May or June graduation photograph, but the caption on the back does indicate it is her graduating class. I have not confirmed her graduation date, nor the name of her high school near Effingham, KS, but by 1920 she was enumerated in Fremont County, WY as a 19 year old teacher in a rural school. 

Sources

Whitaker, Eva Bonnel. Bonnel Photo Album. c. 1885 - 1960. Privately held by granddaughter of E. B. Whitaker, McCook, NE. 1994. The album was examined and photographed May 24, 2013 and permission was given to publish photographs.  

1920 U.S. census, population schedule, Wyoming, Fremont, Election District 8, enumeration district (ED) 57, p. 5B, dwelling 103, family 114, Mary Whiteaker; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Jun 2013); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T625, roll 2026.

Bonnel Family ~ Tombstone Tuesday

Last summer I visited the rural Noffsinger Cemetery (as in cows across the dirt road) in Atchison County, KS where my husband's Bonnel great-great grandparents are buried. Their grave is marked with a modern stone that obviously replaced the early 20th c. stone or stones. Next to the modern stone are four old and mostly illegible stones that are likely marking the graves of the four children whose names are engraved on the side of the modern Bonnel grave marker.

Bonnel graves in Noffsinger Cemetery near Effingham, Atchison, KS.

BONNEL
Charles F. Bonnel
1833 - 1919
His Wife
Mary C. Shouse
1841 - 1903

William F.
1866 - 1866
Margaret C.
1863 - 1872
Thomas B.
1880 - 1880
Myrtle E.
1886 - 1893
Children of C.F. & M.C. Bonnel

Eva Bonnel Whitaker ~ Funeral Card Friday

Grandma Bonnel's funeral card was slipped into her album after her death. She had moved to Benkelman from Atchison County, KS to be cared for by her daughter.

Sources

Whitaker, Eva Bonnel. Bonnel Photo Album. c. 1885 - 1960. Privately held by granddaughter of E. B. Whitaker, McCook, NE. 1994.

The album was examined and photographed May 24, 2013 and permission was given to publish photographs.  

One More Bonnel Sibling - Wordless Wednesday

The last photograph of Grandma Bonnel's sisters and brothers is of her younger sister Katie and husband John W. Henry. 

Sources

Whitaker, Eva Bonnel. Bonnel Photo Album. c. 1885 - 1960. Privately held by granddaughter of E. B. Whitaker, McCook, NE. 1994.

The album was examined and photographed May 24, 2013 and permission was given to publish photographs.  

Big (brother) Ben Bonnel

My apologies. I couldn't resist a little alliteration. Grandma Bonnel's photo album included two superb photographs of her eldest brother Ben and his family. Benjamin Edward Bonnel (1862-1926) was the second of Charles and Mollie Bonnel's 16 children. He was born in Platte County, MO, but the family moved soon after his birth to Atchison County, KS. He married Mary Catherine Best in 1885 and had eight children.

This first photo appears to have been taken while Ben and his wife Kate were traveling. Ben is holding an umbrella, Kate is seated in a cart hitched to an elegant looking goat. Both are garbed in summer dress. I am guessing the photograph was taken in the early 20th c., before the first World War. I have no idea where they might be. Any suggestions?

Ben Bonnel, oldest son of Charles Bonnel, and wife, Kate.

The second photo is a four generation portrait of Kate Best Bonnel, her daughter, Grace, mother Malinda Bricker Best and an unidentified granddaughter. The photograph had to have been taken before Malinda Best's death in 1917. 

Ben Bonnel's family. (clockwise from top left) Daughter Grace, wife Kate, wife's mother, granddaughter

Sources

Whitaker, Eva Bonnel. Bonnel Photo Album. c. 1885 - 1960. Privately held by granddaughter of E. B. Whitaker, McCook, NE. 1994.

The album was examined and photographed May 24, 2013 and permission was given to publish photographs.  

Sheffield Ingalls, History of Atchison County, Kansas (Lawrence, KS: Standard Publishing Company, 1916), 380. Biographical sketch of Aaron S. Best.