One subsequent resident was Jonathan Belcher ( born January 8, 1682- Cambridge Mass.). Belcher graduated Harvard in 1728 and also received additional education in London. He was Governor of Mass. and New Hampshire (fired because he was very unpopular). He was appointed by King George II (whom he had met while in Europe) to be Governor of New Jersey from 1747 to his death in 1757. Belcher was very popular and respected in New Jersey. While Royal Governor he resided in the mansion and became a benefactor of the college which would become Princeton University. Belcher granted the school a charter in 1748 while it operated in Elizabeth and donated 474 books, the beginning of its library.

On January 3, 1665 Bonnell married Susanna Whitehead, the daughter of British-born Rev. Isaac Whitehead, who was a founder both of New Haven (where his daughter Susanna was born) and Elizabeth NJ. He too arrived about 1664 and served as an Elizabeth Associate.

Bonnell and his wife had seven children between 1670 and 1685, presumably some of them raised in the existing farmhouse. The house, built sometime before 1682 (some think as earlier as 1670 with the birth of his first child) sat on the owner’s six-acre plot and he farmed an additional 16 acres west of Elizabeth. Bonnell served as a member of the General Assembly on New Jersey in 1692 and the last official reference to him is as a signer of the 1696 petition for relief against the oppression of the Lords Proprietor. Not long after Susanna moved to Springfield, presumably after the death of her husband. She died in 1733 and was buried at Connecticut Farms (now Union, NJ), the site of a later Revolutionary skirmish between the British and American patriots. Bonnell left his western farmland to his son and namesake, Nathaniel (b. 1670)

“On September 12, 2003 the Historical Society; Elizabeth NJ Inc. took possession of the Bonnell House.”

One subsequent resident was Jonathan Belcher ( born January 8, 1682- Cambridge Mass.). Belcher graduated Harvard in 1728 and also received additional education in London. He was Governor of Mass. and New Hampshire (fired because he was very unpopular). He was appointed by King George II (whom he had met while in Europe) to be Governor of New Jersey from 1747 to his death in 1757. Belcher was very popular and respected in New Jersey. While Royal Governor he resided in the mansion and became a benefactor of the college which would become Princeton University. Belcher granted the school a charter in 1748 while it operated in Elizabeth and donated 474 books, the beginning of its library.

On January 3, 1665 Bonnell married Susanna Whitehead, the daughter of British-born Rev. Isaac Whitehead, who was a founder both of New Haven (where his daughter Susanna was born) and Elizabeth NJ. He too arrived about 1664 and served as an Elizabeth Associate.

Bonnell and his wife had seven children between 1670 and 1685, presumably some of them raised in the existing farmhouse. The house, built sometime before 1682 (some think as earlier as 1670 with the birth of his first child) sat on the owner’s six-acre plot and he farmed an additional 16 acres west of Elizabeth. Bonnell served as a member of the General Assembly on New Jersey in 1692 and the last official reference to him is as a signer of the 1696 petition for relief against the oppression of the Lords Proprietor. Not long after Susanna moved to Springfield, presumably after the death of her husband. She died in 1733 and was buried at Connecticut Farms (now Union, NJ), the site of a later Revolutionary skirmish between the British and American patriots. Bonnell left his western farmland to his son and namesake, Nathaniel (b. 1670)

“On September 12, 2003 the Historical Society; Elizabeth NJ Inc. took possession of the Bonnell House.”

One subsequent resident was Jonathan Belcher ( born January 8, 1682- Cambridge Mass.). Belcher graduated Harvard in 1728 and also received additional education in London. He was Governor of Mass. and New Hampshire (fired because he was very unpopular). He was appointed by King George II (whom he had met while in Europe) to be Governor of New Jersey from 1747 to his death in 1757. Belcher was very popular and respected in New Jersey. While Royal Governor he resided in the mansion and became a benefactor of the college which would become Princeton University. Belcher granted the school a charter in 1748 while it operated in Elizabeth and donated 474 books, the beginning of its library.