San Joaquin County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


JOSEPH WILLIAM BONNET.
 
        The owner of a forty-acre ranch in the third voting precinct of Ripon, 
where he conducts a dairy and farm under the South San Joaquin Irrigation 
District, and where he has resided since 1902, Joseph William Bonnet was born at 
Boerne, Kendall County, Texas, March 7, 1884. He is the son of the late John 
Charles Bonnet, who was born on the Alsace-Lorraine border, in Germany, and died 
in Texas in 1892, being then sixty-five years old. He was the second husband of 
Joseph Bonnet's mother, and served in the Civil War as first lieutenant. There 
were five children born to Mr. Bonnet's parents: Lillian Ann, wife of E. A. 
Schrader, a rancher near Ripon; Joseph William, of this review; Louise, wife of 
J. L. Kiernan, in the fuel and ice business in Turlock; Kate, wife of E. D. 
Hughes, a rancher six miles east of Turlock; and Alice, wife of Ray Watson, 
newspaper man at Fresno, Kate and Alice are twins. The mother's maiden name was 
Catherine Chambers. She was born in County Mayo, Ireland, and came to America 
and married Sebastian Farschon, her first husband, in Chicago, where he was a 
brick mason. Later they went to Texas, where Mr. Farschon died, leaving four 
children, namely: John W., formerly the blacksmith at Ripon (see his sketch in 
this work); George P. (deceased in Texas), who was married and left a widow and 
four children; William Austin, a rancher, and ditch-tender near Ripon, where he 
owns forty acres; and Mary, who became the wife of Charles Moser, of Monterey, 
Old Mexico, where she died, leaving no children.
        Joseph William Bonnet lived in Texas until sixteen years old. He came to 
California in 1900 and became a helper of his half-brother, John W. Farschon, in 
his blacksmith shop at Ripon. Two years later the mother and the rest of the 
family came out to California and they settled on the farm now owned and 
operated by Mr. Bonnet, which has been the Bonnet home-place ever since 1902.
        Mr. Bonnet was married at Stockton. in 1909, to Miss Ethel W. 
Whitesides, a daughter of John L. and Mollie E. Whitesides, who came from Texas, 
where Mrs. Bonnet was also born. Her father was born in Kentucky, as was also 
her mother. Mr. and Mrs. Bonnet have six children: LeRoy S., Thelma M., Mildred 
A., John Joseph, Vera Amy, and James Alton. Mr. Bonnet has loyally lent his help 
and influence in furtherance of the general welfare, particularly so in the 
development of the South San Joaquin Irrigation District. He and his interesting 
family are highly regarded and mingle with the best families in the Ripon 
district.
 
History of San Joaquin County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 
1923
p      1331    
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.