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From website: http://www.pa-roots.org/cgi-bin/data/jeffersonbiographies.cgi
Taken from 'Jefferson County, Pennsylvania - Her Pioneers and People', by Dr. William James McKnight,
Volume II, published in Chicago by J.H. Beers & Company in 1917, page 16.
Jefferson County Genealogy Project Biography
Posted By: Amy <Send E-Mail>
Date: March 16 2001
WILLIAM BOND.
No history of Jefferson County and its people could be consistent with its purpose if it failed to pay definite and significant tribute to the able, influential and honored pioneer citizen whose life and achievements lent dignity and distinction to the county in which he maintained his home for fully three fourths of a century and in which his name and memory will long be revered.
Mr. Bond was born in Adams county, Pa., on the 14th of January, 1823. The family is of high lineage and of the English-Irish branch of the family of Bonds. The Bond crest is an ostrich's head between two branches of palm in orle. The inscription in Latin signifies, "We give up all the things of this world for those of eternity," showing that the family, who were members of the Church of England were from time
immemorable devout Christians. This branch of the family, who came from England to Ireland in the later part of the seventeenth century, was one of a very few sent by the English government to Londonderry. These colonists occupied a position not only as citizens, but also
as soldiers or guardsmen to see that no uprising or rebellion should take place. The Bond linen mills were located there, hence the name Bond linen, which has ever since been used to designate a high quality of linen paper.
James Bond, father of William Bond, came to America with his grandfather, William Bond, Sr., in the year 1811, and was then nineteen years of age. William Bond, Sr., had been a soldier in the English army. He married Nancy Logan, daughter of General Logan. James Bond was a soldier in the war of 1812, and later moved to Adams county, where on Nov. 4, 1819, he married Mary Osborn, who died in 1870 at the age of eighty-two. He was the owner of a fine home at Gettysburg and twelve head of horses, which he used on the stagecoach on the pike between Gettysburg and Baltimore.
William Bond was nine years old when he accompanied his parents and his venerable grandfather to Jefferson County, in 1832, where his father took up a homestead in the Beechwoods. The family afterwards moved to Pittsburgh, where they remained until he was nineteen years of age, when they again returned to Beechwoods, where they had built a substantial home on the old homestead. There his father was justice of the peace and legal authority of the community for many years. William Bond's sisters were: Elizabeth Jane, wife of William Smith, and Nancy R., wife of Hugh McCullough, both marrying pioneer residents of the Beechwoods.
On the 1st of January 1851, William Bond was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Cooper, who was born in Beechwoods, Washington township, March 15, 1829, and was the daughter of William and Martha Cooper, belonging to another of the sterling Scotch-Irish
pioneer families of Jefferson county. She died Oct. 16, 1902, when she was seventy-three years of age. She was a woman of high and noble qualities and strong Christian character, her memory being revered by all who came within the compass of her kind and gracious
influence. She was one of God's greatest gifts to the world - a pure and noble woman. Mrs. Bond was a high type of the mother and friend of the early pioneer days, self-sacrificing, chivalric and noble, and her memory stands as a living monument to a well spent life. From the days of her childhood to the end of the last chapter of her earthly career hers was the model of an exemplary life. As a maternal head of a
well known family she gained a prominence among the women in her section such as is only attainable by those possessing the rare attributes of a most ennobling character, and her children can look upon her memory as their richest heritage. Mrs. Bond was a member of the Presbyterian Church. Her funeral was one of the largest ever seen in the district, the numerous assemblages of Beechwoods residents
being augmented by various friends and relatives who attended from far and near to pay the last tribute of affection and respect to one whom they honored and loved, to what extent might best be judged by the many expressions of sincere sorrow and sympathy
manifested.
During the last seventeen years of his life William Bond maintained his residence in Brockway. Prior to this he lived at his beautiful Sugar Hill home for thirty-nine years, one of the finest and most valuable country homes in Jefferson county, and where a goodly portion of his life was passed in agricultural pursuits, lumbering and real estate business. There he and his noble wife educated and reared their children to lives of usefulness and honor. A man of unusual intellect, keen foresight and good judgment, Mr. Bond was never so
absorbed in his private affairs as to neglect the duties of citizenship. His career from early boyhood was one of thrift and stability, and his energy and indefatigable industry were examples to be followed by the rising generations. Not many names in Jefferson county in
his day and generation were so well and favorably known as that of William Bond. His influence extended far beyond the immediate locality where he passed the greater portion of his life, and possibly no man there was more prominent in the making of local history
than he. From early youth he had been a staunch churchman and devout Christian. A natural leader among men, he was one to whom all turned for help and sympathy. No one approached him for assistance and; left empty-handed, and his genial disposition and sympathy
endeared him to the wide circle of his acquaintances. He was a man among men, one who understood from experience the lessons of life from the ground floor. He commenced his own career at the bottom of the ladder, and fought his own battles with life's adversities, and the successes he won were the fruits of his own energy and persistence. A typical son of his native State, he was one of the best types of the
world's workers, the genuine salt of the earth, and left the scenes of earth to the full enjoyment of the promises of the future. His later years, after his removal to Brockwayville, were spent in the enjoyment of well earned leisure, comfort and luxury, and his life at home
was one of contentment and peace. He attained the patriarchal age of eighty-seven, dying March 6, 1910, at that time the oldest resident of
Brockwayville. Interment was made in the beautiful Beechwoods cemetery, where his venerable grandfather was buried in the year 1836 and his father with military honors on July 4, 1861, and their descendants on down to the sixth generation, and where previously had been laid to rest the mortal remains of the gracious woman who had been the devoted wife and helpmate for more than half a century.
The living children of William and Elizabeth (Cooper) Bond are:
William Cooper Bond now of Thomas, W.Va., married Rachel Martin, of Pittsburgh; he was honored by the Republican party in Jefferson county with the nomination for the State Senate, and later received the indorsement for Congress; he has been an extensive lumberman in West Virginia for many years.
James Logan Bond, of Brockwayville, Pa., married Carra E. Lane, who died in 1904, and he later married Margaret Martin, of Pittsburgh;
he is president of the First National Bank of Brockwayville, and is also owner of stock farms and other business enterprises.
John Wray Bond, of DuBois, Pa., married Rose Wilson, of Mountain Lake, Md.; he has large interests in lumbering, farming and real
estate.
Martha Bond Chapin, of Brockwayville, Pa., married Alton R. Chapin, who is cashier in the First National Bank.
Samuel C. Bond, of DuBois, Pa., married Christine Brown of Reynoldsville, Pa.; he was president of the First National Bank of Brockwayville for many years, and organized and is vice president of the DuBois National Bank.
Ninian Ulysses Bond, of Bond, Ky., has been one of the big lumbermen of the South for many years, and is now manager and largest
individual owner in one of the best equipped lumber plants in the South.
Nancy Elizabeth Bond Gray, of DuBois, married George R. Gray, who owns the Gray Glass Plant at Falls Creek,
Pennsylvania.
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