Mary Bonney was born on 8. Jun. 1816 at Hamilton, Madison County, New York. She married
Rev. Thomas Rambaut on 27. Jun. 1888 at Regents Park Church, London, Middlesex, England; by the Rev. George Dana BOARDMAN, D.D. of Philadelphia, Pa. Mary Bonney died on 24. Jul. 1900 at Hamilton, Madison County, New York, at age 84. THE LEADING CITIZENS OF MADISON COUNTY
MRS. MARY L. BONNEY-RAMBAUT, after having for more than half a century honorably filled the position of a teacher, most of her work having been in the line of the higher education of women, is now living in retirement, with its accompanying cheer of friendship and books, in her native town of Hamilton, Madison County, N.Y., where she was born June 8, 1816. She maybe said to have inherited a talent for teaching, as her mother was thus engaged for years. Mary L. Bonney received at home a true Christian training, and with increase of years came moral and spiritual development. After four years as a pupil in the Hamilton schools she entered the Troy Seminary, and graduated in 1834. This seminary at that time was the highest institution for young ladies in this country. After her graduation Miss Bonney was successfully engaged as a teacher in various places until the year 1850, when, in company with Miss Harriett A. Dillaye, she founded the Chestnut Street Seminary, of Philadelphia, Pa., and was actively and earnestly engaged in the work of this school for thirty-three years.
In 1883 the school was removed to the elegant and spacious country seat of Jay Cooke, near Philadelphia, under the name of "Ogontz School for Young Ladies." Miss Bonney remained in the school in active service for five years after its removal.
In 1879 from transactions in Congress Miss Bonney's sympathies and conscience were aroused in behalf of the Indians of the United States. She accumulated facts in regard to their treatment, which, together with her convictions of personal responsibility, she communicated to her friend, Mrs. Amelia S. Quinton. Thus was begun the work which is recorded in the history of the Woman's National Indian Association. (See "Woman's Work in America," edited by Annie Nathan Meyer.)
The Association has been assured of its influence in securing the passage of the Dawes Severalty Bill, in advanced educational and mission work, in securing to Indians equality before the law. Today it. has various departments of work- missionary, home-building, educational, libraries, hospitals, and so forth --each department having at its head an able chairman, pressing its work with vigor. A report published in 1893, entitled "Our Work: What? How? Why?" shows the scope and methods of the Association at the present time. Its President is Mrs. A. S. Quinton; Honorary President, Mrs. Mary L. Bonney-Rambaut.
In 1888 Miss Bonney retired from Ogontz School, and was married in London, England, where she had gone as a delegate to the World's Missionary Conference, to Rev. Thomas Rambaut, D.D., LL.D., a devoted friend for many years, who was himself a prominent educator, and was also a delegate to the conference. Dr. Rambaut died in Hamilton, N.Y., in 1890. Mrs. Mary L. Bonney-Rambaut now resides with her brother, Benjamin F. Bonney (of whom see sketch and portrait on preceding pages) in Hamilton, quite at home in the congenial atmosphere of the refined and cultured circles of this educational centre. She is deeply interested in the religious, moral, and social movements of this progressive age, and, as her strength and means permit, is ever ready to contribute to their advance.
The presentation, with this sketch, of the portrait of Mrs. Rambaut, will meet with the hearty appreciation of all who know her, and will add to the value of this work in the eyes of its readers. Women in American History Early America Early America The Nineteenth Century At the Crossroads Modern America
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Bonney, Mary Lucinda
Born in Hamilton, New York, on June 8, 1816, Mary Bonney was educated in a local academy and for two years at Emma Willard's Troy Female Seminary, from which she graduated in 1835. Thereafter she taught in schools in Jersey City, New Jersey ; New York City ; South Carolina ; Providence, Rhode Island ; Philadelphia ; and elsewhere. She also taught for a time at the Troy Female Seminary. In Philadelphia in 1850 she and a friend cofounded the Chestnut Street Female Seminary, of which Mary Bonney remained senior principal for 38 years. In 1883 it was moved to Ogontz, Pennsylvania, as the Ogontz School for Young Ladies. She also was active in the home and foreign mission activities of her Baptist church and of the interdenominational Woman's Union Missionary Society of America for Heathen Lands.
Congressional proposals in 1879 to abrogate treaties reserving lands in Indian Territory to certain tribes aroused her to action. With help from her missionary circles she mounted a petition campaign that by early 1880 had gathered 13, 000 signatures ; they presented the petition, calling for the honoring of treaties, to President Rutherford B. Hayes and then to Congress. A second petition with 50, 000 signatures was presented to the Senate through Senator Henry L. Dawes in 1881, by which time Bonney and her colleagues had become known as the Central Indian Committee. Later that year the group organized formally as the Indian Treaty-Keeping and Protective Association, of which Bonney was chosen president. A third petition (1882), bearing 100, 000 signatures, outlined a detailed proposal (drafted by Bonney's closest associate, Amelia S. Quinton) for the allotment of tribal lands to individual Native Americans. In 1882 the group changed its name to the National Indian Association and in 1883, after the formation of the men's Indian Rights Association, to the Women's National Indian Association. After Bonney's resignation (1884) from presidency of the organization and her retirement (1888) from administration of the Ogontz school, she remained active in the Indian reform movement. In 1888 Bonney attended a London conference of Protestant mission societies. There she met and married the Reverend Thomas Rambaut, who died in 1890. She died in Hamilton, New York, on July 24, 1900.
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