Robert Bonner (1824 - 1899) from Ramelton, Co. Donegal, Ireland

Courtesy of Monreagh Heritage Centre

Transcribed, Compiled and Submitted by
Len Swindley, Melbourne, Australia
len_swindley[at]hotmail.com

Robert Bonner (1824 - 1899) was a newspaper magnate and trotting horse breeder. He owned and published the New York Ledger and was founder and long-time President of the Scotch-Irish Society of America. His is the classic ‘rags to riches’ story of the Irish immigrant who arrived with nothing and became one of the richest and most influential men in America.
Born in Ramelton on April 28th 1824, Robert Bonner emigrated to America aged 15 at the suggestion of his mother’s brother who was a prosperous farmer living near Hartford, Connecticut. At that time, young Bonner was penniless and his uncle saw to it that none of his time was wasted. Within a few weeks of his arrival he was working as an apprentice in the office of The Hartford Courant newspaper where he took his first lessons in the art of setting type. He had the determination to learn it thoroughly, and when he had mastered his trade soon acquired the reputation of being the best workman at Hartford. As a compositor, he was not only neat and thorough, but was remarkably quick as well.
On one occasion, when the paper was endeavouring to publish the “President’s Message” in advance of all its competitors, Bonner is said to have worked at the rate of seventeen hundred ems an hour—a feat absolutely unparalleled. The Hartford Courant (started in 1764) is America’s oldest newspaper in continuous publication.