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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: ThomasBonnett on Saturday 27 July 13 21:14 BST (UK)
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Hi
I'm not sure if anyone can help me but I seem to be hitting brick walls in my search for my Bonnett ancestors. I'm tracing my mothers side (Bonnett) Due to the rumour which my grandfather had told me which was that us Bonnett's were originally French refugees/Huguenots. He was told this by his father who was originally told it by his Grandfather (My 3x Grt Grandfather) I know you don't jump to conclusions in the ancestry game but this is bugging me to find out if it is true. So far I have got back to 1832 with my 4x Grt Grandfather John Bonnett being baptised in Ely St Mary's Church in Cambridgeshire. It says his Father was also called John and his Mother called Catherine, But this is as far as i have got so far as I'm not sure where to look and any help/Assistance would be great. And I know I am jumping the gun here but if anyone has any Huguenot records or the such could check to see if any Bonnett's are there? Because I have a feeling maybe we were Normans who came over in the conquest and then centuries later married a Huguenot girl...Anyway sorry for the long post and replies and Help would be great :)
Thanks
Thomas Ranieul Bonnett
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Welcome to RootsChat! ;D
I have a similar "family story" - but have my tree (Garrad line) back to 1550, and no sign of any French!
Closest I have is a G-G-Grandfather born in Jersey! ;D
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If the Bonnett family were French Huguenots then you could contact the Huguenot Society
http://www.huguenotsociety.org.uk/family/
Stan
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Hiya Thomas - there is a tree stating
born in Cambridgeshire ,England 1694
Ann Bonnett 1694
Susan Bonnett 1696
Elizabeth Bonnett 1703
the ladies name is Karen and she lives in Australia - I won`t post her e-mail address - I will PM you her details ..
from memory ( though I could be wrong ) the Huguenots came about 1700 - so maybe these are very early settlers ?
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Out of curiosity I looked at www.familysearch.org
Bonnett -baptisms-Cambridgeshire 1690 -1710 and found
Ann Bonnett christened 19th september 1694 - Wimpole,Cambridge her parents are given as
William Bonnet and Ann - so - William and Ann don`t sound particularly French do they ??
maybe they aren`t Hugeunots??
so if you contact Karen in Australia - you might want to let her know that info - Karen doesn`t have the parents of Ann Bonnett b 1694 in her tree
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Interestingly my mother's maiden name was Cockett (sometimes only spelled with one t) and she was always told it was French,(a derivation of Cocquet) yet I've traced the family back to Worcester when my 6 x g.grandfather was born in 1679. I know his parents' names but can't find them earlier than the baptism of their son. So where they came from I have no idea.
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I have come across several people called Bonnet(t) in Huntingdonshire while doing transcription work.
There could be a connection there, it may be worth your looking 'over the border' :)
Bevj
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Huntingdonshire is a good bet...My 3rd Grt Grandfather lived in Earith his name was 'Phillip Bedford Bonnett' He was born in Earith, Huntingdonshire in 1869 and Baptsed there in 1874, and In 1871 was living in Bluntisham cum Earith with His parents John and Sarah Ann Bonnett and his 3 brothers (Sarah's maiden surname was Bedford and that is where he got his middle name from)
John Bonnett (Phillip's father) seems to have been living in Earith in 1863 as his 2 sons John and Robert were baptised there but there is no Bonnett's in Earith/Bluntisham cum Earith before 1863 as I have the parish registers going back to 1538. But where John Lived beforEarith I don't know...He was Baptised in Ely St mary's like I said and I have the Cambridgeshire census 1841 CD but Because it hasn't been wrote out it is just photos of the census records so there is Dirt/Smudges/Ink Spots so In some places hard to see but I know he will should be on there somewhere and maybe his father John as well
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Try the GOONS .... Guild of One Name Studies ... BONNETT is registered there;
http://www.one-name.org/cgi-bin/searchrequest.cgi
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The name does appear in the records of the French speaking protestant refugees settled in Cambridgeshire, albeit quite far removed from the dates you are currently looking at.
A Jan Bonet/Bonnet, the elder, widow, a refugee from Valenciennes, married Peronne Le Leu, also a widow, at the church in Canterbury 23rd June 1594. Jan had already had a daughter, Sarah, with his first wife baptised there in January 1592. Peronne was later buried there in 1646.
There was also a Jacques Bonnet, son of Nicholas, likewise a refugee, in his case from Tournai, married at the church in 1600 to a Susanne Thevelin, daughter of Louis Thevelin.
Both families fled from areas then in the control of the Spanish empire and were Walloons rather than Huguenots from France.
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Thanks for that info Richarde! It's good to know there was people here with the same surname albeit with 1 less T at the end. You said 'Settled in Cambridgeshire' out of curiosity do you know roughly where in Cambridgeshire or in this area?
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In case you have not followed up on GOONS here is a person who is studying BONNETT and variations;
No: 5916
Name: Ms Carolyn Dyess Bales
Email: dyess [-- at --] one-name.org
Studying: Bonnette
with variants Bonet, Bonett, Bonnet, Bonnett
Joe
Moderator Comment: e-mail edited, to avoid spamming and other abuses.
Please replace [-- at --] with @
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I wouldn't worry too much about the spelling, as it was fluid then, and liable to change over time. It would probably have been spelt however the clerk recording the marriage thought it should be on that particular day.
For example there are also Walloons in London's refugee community at this time with the same surname, recorded in the French churches as Bonet/Bonnet, but at least one of them is recorded as Bonnett when he marries in the local anglican church, St Dunstan's, Stepney (Elias Bonnett, a Spitalfields weaver, who married a Maudlin Sandam there 14th May 1627)
Actually I apologise it is my mistake, the earlier two family's were in Kent of course not Cambridgeshire, (the Walloons established their church in Canterbury in the crypt of the Cathedral there in 1547, and its congregation, of just under a thousand in the early decades of the 1600's, were generally settled in the weavers houses there.)
There was a Walloon community in Cambridgeshire though, they had a church established at Thorney in the early 17th century, where they helped drain the fens. Since the name is present in London and Canterbury, it is certainly possible it was present in Cambridgeshire too.
I think you're right to be cautious the surname does seem to have existed here before Walloons and Huguenots, but I hope this information at least shows your family tale could be true.
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I think this would be your family:
https://familysearch.org/search
John BONNET
Christening: 6 January 1833, St. Marys, Ely, Cambridge, England
William BONNET
Christening: 6 January 1833, St. Marys, Ely, Cambridge, England
Robert BONNET
Christening: 1 November 1835, St. Marys, Ely, Cambridge, England
Ann BONNET
Christening: 8 April 1838, St Marys, Ely, Cambridge, England
All the above with parents John and Catherine.
1841
Well Horn?
Emneth, Norfolk
Class: HO107; Piece: 770 Folio: 12; Page: 17
John BONNETT/BENNETT, 30, Ag. Lab., not born in County
Catherine, 30, born in County
John, 9, born in County
William, 7, born in County
Robert, 5, not born in County
Mary, 4, not born in County
Despite the names and ages, is this them in 1851?
1851
Newnham Street
Holy Trinity, Ely
Class: HO107; Piece: 1764; Folio: 313; Page: 29
Charlett BONNETT/BENNETT, Head, 55, M(arried)?, born Terington, Norfolk
Ann, dau., 8, born Ely, Cambridgeshire
John, 21, Ag. Lab, born Ely, Cambridgeshire
Robert, 10, Ag. Lab, born Ely, Cambridgeshire
William, 4, born Ely, Cambridgeshire
Allice HOWELL or HEWELL, Lodger, W(idowed), 65, born Ely, Cambridgeshire
All children unmarried
1861 Census for Holy Trinity, Ely is missing :'(
1871
Newnham Street
Holy Trinity, Ely
Catherine BONNETT, Head, Mar, 62, born Terrington, Lincolnshire
Robert, Son, Unm., 27, Labourer, born Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ann CROSS(?), Dau, W, 25, born Ely, Cambridgeshire
James BONNETT, Grandson, 7, born Ely, Cambridgeshire
Walter CROSS, Grandson, 3, born Ely, Cambridgeshire
Elizabeth CROSS, Grandau, 10 months, born Ely, Cambridgeshire
Catherine says she is 'married' but John has been missing since 1841-1851. Hmm, I think he may have gone on an all expenses paid cruise ;D
John BONNETT
Age: 39
Tried: 6 Jan 1847
Isle of Ely Sessions, Cambridgeshire, England
Sheep Stealing
Sentence: 10 years Transportation
Debra :)
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Hi Debra
Yes the First Lot with John Bonnet and whose parents are John and Catherine are my family...John christened 1833 is my 4th Grt Grandfather and his father John is my 5th, I have that lot written down from a 'Parish of St Marys Ely' CD. The one when they are in Emneth looks to be them and Emneth is right on the border of North Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.
When it says 'Born in County' 'Not born in County' Would that mean Norfolk? Because then it is showing John as born in Norfolk even though christened in Ely, Cambridgeshire?
As for 1851 The names of Siblings are correct but I haven't really looked at the 1851 census yet.
As for 1871 I haven't done the whole family, I've just gone father-Son-Father-Son. In 1871 John Bonnett (Born 1833) was living in Earith, Cambridgeshire with His Wife Sarah Ann and 4 Children (One of them Being my 3rd Grt Grandfather 'Phillip Bonnett' Born about 1869 in Earith)
As for John's Father being Transported that is True! My Grandfather was told by his father that somewhere down the line one of his past Grandfathers had been imprisoned/Caught for Stealing animals to feed the family! So I'm very grateful that you have found the record of this...So I know that tale is now True!
Im now just trying to Find Where John's father was Born, Where he married Catherine and Where He came from! Alot of work ahead of me aha...Thank you so much for all the help so far!
Thomas Ranieul Bonnett
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A Lewis/Louis Bonnet was living in London where he married "Mariana Bureau" in 1698 and had issue John Lewis Bonnett among others. I'm trying to trace him as he was the cousin of my 8G grandmother Anne who m James Margetson, Archbishop of Armagh.