19 Facts About Edward Bonney

Edward William Bonney was a 19th-century adventurer, miller, hotel keeper, city planner, counterfeiter, livery stable keeper, bounty hunter, private detective, postmaster, merchant, soldier, and author.

Edward Bonney is best known for his undercover work in exposing the "Banditti of the Prairie", resulting from his investigation of the torture-murder of noted Illinois pioneer and frontiersman Colonel George Davenport.

Edward William Bonney was born in Essex County, New York.

Edward Bonney got married and moved to the frontier, in Elkhart County, Indiana, in 1835, with the intent of creating the city of Bonneyville, named after himself.

Edward Bonney later bought the Goshen Hotel in Bonneyville and not long after sold the hotel and both his mills.

Edward Bonney was arrested on suspicion of counterfeiting on July 9,1842, along with Henry Kellogg and Obadiah Cooley, in Gustavus Township, Trumbull County, Ohio.

When Bonney fled Indiana for the Mormon city of Nauvoo, Illinois, in February of 1844 he may have been just ahead of Joshua S Smith, who bore the extradition warrant.

Edward Bonney eventually "fiddle-footed his way" to Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1844, a Latter Day Saint community on the Mississippi River, where he and his wife decided to settle.

Edward Bonney was one of three non-members on the Mormon Council that made important government and community decisions for the Nauvoo Saints.

Edward Bonney was released from his Council duties on February 4,1845, and he left for Iowa.

Edward Bonney continued to be involved in fighting against criminal elements both outside and within the Nauvoo Mormon community.

In 1845, Edward Bonney moved across the Mississippi River from Nauvoo to Montrose, Lee County, Iowa Territory, now Montrose, Lee County, Iowa, where he operated a livery stable.

Edward Bonney gradually attained a reputation as a skilled detective, adept at "piecing together odd bits of information and rumor", although he was often subject to suspicion and persecution for his Mormonism.

In 1850, Edward Bonney wrote and published a sensational account of the Banditti of the Prairie, titled The Banditti of the Prairies: or, The murderer's doom, a tale of Mississippi Valley and the Far West, which was an immediate success and went through eight editions until 1858.

The Edward Bonney book was not specifically anti-Mormon, but reflected his criticism of organized religion.

Edward Bonney lived in Rock Island, Illinois for a time and before moving to Chicago in Prospect Park in DuPage County where he was appointed as the second postmaster of the town.

In 1862, Edward Bonney was living in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois and continued working, as a bounty hunter and detective.

Edward Bonney was sent to the US Marine Hospital, in St Louis, Missouri, to recover from his severe wound.

Private Edward Bonney was medically discharged, from the Union Army, on December 23,1863 and went back to Chicago, dying on February 4,1864, as the result of his crippling leg wound.