The Oliver-Bonnell collection is made up of 20 letters, documents, printed items, one notebook, and miscellany. They pertain to the family of Paul Ambrose Oliver (1796-1849), his son Paul Ambrose Oliver, Jr. (1830-1912), and Adelaide Bonnell, niece of Paul A. Oliver, Jr. Of particular note are six letters by Paul A. Oliver, Jr., Pennsylvania gunpowder manufacturer, during his education in Germany in 1846, while conducting business in New Orleans in 1852, and from Oliver's Mills in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, between 1883 and 1891.
Please see the box and folder listing below for details about each item in the collection.
Paul Ambrose Oliver was born on April 18, 1796, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Oliver became a ship captain and married Mary Van Dusen (1802-1878) on July 28, 1819. The couple had at least four children, George Washington Oliver (b. 1820), Mary Seymour Oliver (1823-1912), Paulina Ambrosina Oliver (b. 1828), and Paul Ambrose Oliver, Jr. (1830-1912). Paul Ambrose Oliver died on May 31, 1849, at Fort Hamilton in New York, and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. Mary Seymour Oliver married Samuel Bonnell, Jr. (1824-1885), in 1855 and had at least two children, Adelaide Bonnell (1861-1949) and Russell Bonnell (b. 1863).
Paul Ambrose Oliver, Jr., was born on July 18, 1830, aboard a ship in the English Channel, and he received his early education in Germany. He worked in shipping, became involved in the New Orleans cotton trade, and moved back to New York in the 1850s. Oliver was an organizer and president of the Fort Hamilton relief society during a yellow fever epidemic in New York in 1856. During the Civil War he served in the 12th New York Infantry Regiment and as aide to Generals Daniel Butterfield, George G. Meade, and Joseph Hooker. He became chief of staff for Butterfield, acting provost marshal under General Gouverneur Warren, and assistant provost marshal under General George H. Sharpe. He rose to the rank of Brigadier General before being mustered out of service in May 1865. He went back into business with an interest in coal before establishing a gunpowder mill at Wilkes-Barre in 1867. After the mill burned, he established a new powder mill, the Luzerne Powder Company, which also burned and was rebuilt. After that mill burned, his final venture in powder manufacture was "Oliver's Mills" at Laurel Run in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. He died at Laurel Run on May 18, 1912.