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Acquisition No.: 2999-01a
Title: Various early Spellings of the Town named Bonneauville.
Item History:

A 230 Year Record of the Many Spellings of Town of Bonneauville.

Throughout the history of small town Bonneauville, the name of the village has been spelled in a myriad of ways.

Excluding Native American ownership, until the year 1800 the Low Dutch owned most of the plantations for miles in and around Bonneauville. Most of the Hollanders left the area in the year 1800 (the year that Adams County was formed.) The Pennsylvania Germans then settled most of the land here. They primarily spoke the German language for most of the 19th Century (until state and church pressed for a language change to English.) An evolution of Catholic farmers and small town property owners spanned well over the first six decades of the 20th Century. Bonneauville then became a small isolated community tightly controlled by Catholicism. Beginning around 1970, the town had transitioned into a melting pot of cultures typifying the current American scene.

For about the first half of the 230 years this study represents, much of the early citizenry described above spoke other than English as a first language. It was a time when some still signed with an “X”. It had been a long, long time since Squire Brinkerhoff’s Log Schoolhouse was in session on the Square in Bonagton. Little wonder that so many spelling variations of the town exist.

The order of the following list is alphabetical, not chronological:

Bonaghtown; BHL, page 16. “History of Cumberland and Adams Counties”, 1886. D. Small and W. Wagner map of York and Adams Counties, 1821. I. W. Field Map of Adams County, 1872. Cat. No. 2007-21.

Bonaghs Town; BHL, page 14. Hanover store owner Richard McAllister, May 27, 1789 store record book – PA State Archives. (This is the earliest spelling of the town that I have discovered to date).

Bonagton; BHL, page 14. “The Gazetteer of the State of Pennsylvania”, 1832. “The History and Topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams and Perry Counties”, 1846. “Pennsylvania Line, A Guide to Pennsylvania Genealogy and Local History”.

Bonaughton; BHL, page 14. “History of Cumberland and Adams Counties”, 1886. “Chronicles of Pennsylvania” Vol. 1, 1944. Cat. No’s. 2015-09, 2020-09, 2020-10, and 2020-24.

Bonaughtown; BHL, pages 13 & 18, “The Compiler” Gettysburg Newspaper, Aug. 16, 1820. G. M. Hopkins 1858 Map of Adams County. E. H. Sneeringer, Esq., 1868 map of Bonaughtown. Cat. No‘s. 1976-02, and 2018-32.

Bonnaughtown; BHL, page 15. www.acedc.org/comm_bonne.html. Book; “Gettysburg, The Second Day” 1997. Cat. No. 2008-09 and 2008-10.

Bonington; BHL, page xxii.

Bonnauville; Ref Cat. No. 2020-30 and 2020-31. “Railroad Map of Pennsylvania” 1898 and 1904.

Bonneaus Town; BHL, page 12.

Bonneautown; BHL, page 12.

Bonneville; BHL, page 13. Cat. No. 2021-12; Hanover Transfer Co. ledgers

Bonnichtown; BHL, page 12.

Bonnigstown; BHL, page 14. “The History and Topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams and Perry Counties” 1846.

Bonoughton; BHL, page 12.

Booneville; BHL, page 13.

Bonneauville; Correct spelling of the incorporated town. (Incorporated 1961.) BHL, page 13 & 18. J. W. Field & Co. “Atlas of Adams County”. 1872.

Bunnichtown; BHL, page 13, “The Adams Sentinel” Gettysburg Newspaper, Aug. 16, 1820. “A bit About Early Settlers”, Gettysburg Newspaper.

Bonaghs Town; BHL.

Bunnyville; The most common pronunciation of the town’s name.

Newville; BHL, page 13. BHL, page xlvi. Map I. W. Field & Co.,1872.

BHL – Orndorff, Karl B. 2003 “Bonneauville History and Lore”. 2nd Edition. ISBN No. 978-1480272965. Amazon Books.

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