The Political Graveyard: Bonham family of South Carolina

Bonham family of South Carolina

Note: This is just one of 643 family groupings listed on The Political Graveyard web site. These families each have three or more politician members, all linked together by blood, marriage or adoption.

Some families traditionally (and perhaps properly) considered separately are joined together here if linked by marriage or otherwise. These groupings — even the names of the groupings, and the state or lists of states of main activity — are the result of a computer algorithm, not the choices of any historian or genealogist.

Milledge Luke Bonham (1813-1890) — of South Carolina. Born in Saluda, Edgefield District (now Saluda County), S.C., December 25, 1813. Son of James Bonham and Sophie (Smith) Bonham; married, November 13, 1845, to Ann Griffin; cousin of Preston Smith Brooks; father of Milledge Lipscomb Bonham. Member of South Carolina state legislature, 1840-44, 1865-67; colonel in the U.S. Army during the Mexican War; U.S. Representative from South Carolina 4th District, 1857-60; general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War; Representative from South Carolina in the Confederate Congress, 1862; Governor of South Carolina, 1862-64. Died in White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier County, W.Va., August 27, 1890. Interment at Elmwood Cemetery, Columbia, S.C.
- See also: congressional biography; National Governors Association biography.
Preston Smith Brooks (1819-1857) — also known as Preston S. Brooks — of South Carolina. Born in Edgefield, Edgefield District (now Edgefield County), S.C., August 5, 1819. Son of Whitefield Brooks and Mary P. (Carroll) Brooks; cousin of Milledge Luke Bonham; married 1841 to Caroline Means; married 1843 to Martha Means. Lawyer; member of South Carolina state house of representatives, 1844; U.S. Representative from South Carolina 4th District, 1853-56, 1856-57; died in office 1857. Wounded in a duel with Louis T. Wigfall in the 1840s. In May, 1856, furious over an anti-slavery speech, he went to the Senate and beat Senator Charles Sumner with a cane, causing severe injuries; an attempt to expel him from Congress failed for lack of the necessary two-thirds vote, but he resigned; re-elected to his own vacancy. Died in Washington, D.C., January 27, 1857. Interment at Willow Brook Cemetery, Edgefield, S.C.; cenotaph at Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C. Brooks County, Ga. is named for him.
- Cross-reference: Laurence Massillon Keitt
- See also: congressional biography; NNDB dossier.
Milledge Lipscomb Bonham (b. 1854) — also known as M. L. Bonham — of Anderson, Anderson County, S.C. Born in Edgefield, Edgefield District (now Edgefield County), S.C., October 16, 1854. Son of Milledge Luke Bonham and Ann Patience (Griffin) Bonham; married, October 24, 1878, to Daisy Aldrich; married, March 2, 1925, to Lillian L. Carter. Democrat. Lawyer; Adjutant General of South Carolina, 1885-90; circuit judge in South Carolina, 1924-30; justice of South Carolina state supreme court, 1931-40; appointed 1931; chief justice of South Carolina state supreme court, 1940. Episcopalian. Member, Society of the Cincinnati; Sons of the American Revolution; Sons of Confederate Veterans; Knights of Pythias; Lions. Burial location unknown.

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