The immigrant ancestor of many West Virginia Bonnet(t)s 
appears to be Jean Jacques Bonnet, who arrived in America
on the ship Elizabeth in Philadelphia on 27 Aug 1733 along 
with his wife Anna Marie and his children Margaret and 
Johan Simon.  Two of the children, Susanna, age 4 and 
Christine, age 2, are listed as dead and must have 
succumbed to the sometimes awful conditions the 
immigrants faced on their journeys to America.  

Following their arrival in America, Jean Jacques and Anna 
Marie located in Paoli in Chester County, Pennsylvania, 
where their children: Elizabeth, Mary, Samuel and Lewis 
were born.  Jean Jacques and Anna Marie lived just long 
enough to see their daughter Margarethe Catherine married
to John Conrad Sykes on October 10, 1749 in Berks County, 
Pennsylvania, and their daughter Elizabeth married to 
Nicholas Wetzel on April 3, 1749 in Frederick County, 
Maryland.  It is believed Jean Jacques and Anna Marie both 
died about 1752. 
 



THE CHILDREN OF JEAN JACQUES BONNET


The church records of Friedrichstahl in Baden, Germany 
show that Jean Jacques and Anna Marie became the
parents of five children before their immigration:

         Margarithe Catherine Bonnett who was born May 24,
         1725.  Margarithe survived the perilous journey to
         America and the early years in Paoli.  She married John
         Conrad Sykes on October 10, 1749 in Berks County
         Pennsylvania.  Margarithe died in 1790.

         Johan Adam Isaac Bonnett was born June 22, 1727.
         He died when he was about six years old.

         Magdalena Susannah Bonnett was born June 11, 1729.
         Magdalena died during the voyage to America.

         Christina Bonnett was born June 29, 1731.  Christina
         died during the voyage to America.

         Johan Martin Simon Bonnett was born April 1, 1733.
         He married Mary Margaret Dorthea Bixley on April
         22, 1755 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.

Following their arrival in America, Jean Jacques and Anna 
Marie added to their family the following children:

         Elizabeth Bonnett was born about 1733/34 in Paoli,
         Chester County, Pennsylvania.  She married young,
         probably at the age of 15 or 16, on April 3, 1749 to
         Nicholas Wetzel in Frederick County, Maryland.
  
         Mary Bonnett was born in 1735 in Paoli, Chester
         County, Pennsylvania.  She married John Wetzel in
         1756 in Hereford, Berks County, Pennsylvania.  Mary
         was living in Wheeling Creek, West Virginia she died
         in June of 1805.

         Samuel Bonnett was born about 1736 in Paoli, Chester
         County, Pennsylvania.  He married Mary Elizabeth
         about 1756 in Paoli, Chester County, Pennsylvania. 
         He was living in Harrison County, West Virginia when
         he died on December 17, 1789.

         Lewis Bonnett was born about February, 1737 in
         Paoli, Chester County, Pennsylvania.  About 1770, he
         married Elizabeth Waggoner in Paoli, Chester County,
         Pennsylvania.  Lewis died on March 9, 1808 in Ohio
         County, West Virginia.

Some researchers say that Samuel took charge of the 
family following his parents' deaths in 1752, and 
moved them to Monongahela County, West Virginia.  
This doesn't explain the marriages that took place in 
Pennsylvania after 1752, with one of them taking 
place in Westmoreland County, one in Berks County, 
and two in Paoli, Chester County.

Lewis Bonnet was an Indian Scout and soldier in 
the Revolutionary War.



Ref:  "History of Lewis County (WV)", by Edward Conrad Smith, 
p. 133.

Ref:  "Lewis Wetzel - Indian Fighter", by C.B. Allman, p. 10.

Ref:  "Records of Old Monocacy", by Dr. Grace L. Tracy. 
(Some researchers question her sources of information.).

Ref:  "The Horn Papers: Early Westward Movement on the 
Monongahela and Upper Ohio". (Some researchers question 
the correctness of this information and believe it was a hoax.)

Ref:  "Hacker's Creek Journal", Vol. 2, page 62.

Ref:  "The Bonnet-t-e's & Kin",  Vol. 11, p. 7, 1983.

Ref:  Evangelical Lutheran Church records, Frederick, MD for 
the marriage of Nicholaus Wetzel and Elizabeth Bonnett.

Note:  Some family records show that Elizabeth Bonnett 
married Martin Wetzel, Jr. and that Nicholas Wetzel 
married Elizabeth Cromerston.
















Author: Donna E. Kilroy, written especially for Tom and Joan Imes.

Copyright© by Tom and Joan Imes, February 23, 1999