Bonem History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The Bonem surname is derived from the Old French words "bon" and "homme," in turn from the Latin "bonus homo" both of which literally meant "good man," but also came to mean a "peasant farmer."

Early Origins of the Bonem family

The surname Bonem was first found in Wiltshire at Bonham, a hamlet now in the parish of Stourton with Gasper. "Bonham, though placed in the Ordo, and even in some ancient documents, as in Somersetshire, is really in Wilts. The small manor and tything of Bonham had formerly belonged to a family of that name (Editha Bonham, elected abbess of Shaftesbury 15th November, 1441, obiit 20th April, 1460), and afterwards came into the possession of the Stourtons." 1

Early History of the Bonem family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bonem research. Another 211 words (15 lines of text) covering the years 1247, 1273, 1327, 1500, 1545, 1549, 1550, 1597, 1611 and 1629 are included under the topic Early Bonem History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bonem Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Bonem family name include Bonham, Bonhume, Bonhomme, Bonhom, Bonhome, Bonum, Bonem and many more.

Early Notables of the Bonem family

Notables of this surname at this time include: Sir John Bonham, English politician, Member of the Parliament of England for Chippenham in 1545, High Sheriff of Wiltshire from 1549 to...
Another 30 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Bonem Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bonem migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Bonem surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Bonem Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Johann Peter Bonem, who arrived in America in 1853 2
Philippine Bonem, who landed in Brazil in 1857 2

Citations +

Oliver, George, Collections Illustrating the History of the Catholic Religion in the Counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wilts, and Gloucester London: Charles Dolman, 61, New Bond Street, 1857. Print
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)