William is the son of Sherwood Samuel & Lydia Ann (Wright) Bonney. Husband of Eveline (Bigelow) Bonney.
---Curator of the Washington State Historical Society Museum in Tacoma, was secretary to the society for 20 years and wrote the 3-volume book, History of Pierce County.

William Pierce Bonney, widely known as one of the pioneers of Washington, is the. secretary of the State Historical Society and has a very wide acquaintance among the early settlers as well as later arrivals in Washington. His present business connection is that of manager of the Hesperian Chemical Association, a manufacturing concern making and selling family remedies. This was preceded by several years experience in the drug business.

Mr. Bonney was born at Steilacoom, Pierce county, Washington, April 24, 1856. He traces his ancestry back to Thomas Bonney, who was born in Dover, England, in 1604, and in 1634 or 1635 wedded Miss Mary Hunt. They crossed the Atlantic on the Hercules, becoming the founders of the family in the new world. Their son, Thomas Bonney, married Dorcas Sampson, and the line of descent is traced down through John Bonney, who married Elizabeth Bishop; Perez, who married Ruth Snow; Titus Bonney, who married Anna Pierce; John Bonney, who married Orilla Sherwood; and Sherwood Bonney, who married Lydia Ann Wright. The last couple became the parents of William Pierce Bonney of his review. The father was born in Cornwall. Connecticut, February 28, 1812, and in 1852 he crossed the plains with his family making the journey with ox-teams. Sherwood Bonney was the first man elected to the office of justice of the peace in Pierce county, Washington, and as such performed many marriage ceremonies for the pioneers. Mrs. Bonney was the first school teacher of Pierce county, teaching in Steilacoom in July, August and September of 1854.

William Pierce Bonney acquired a common school education and in 1868 secured a position in the drug store of Gardner Kellogg of Seattle. He was afterward employed by various other drug houses until 1881 when he entered into partnership with L. E. Sampson, under the firm name of Sampson & Bonney and purchased a drug store in Tacoma, where he continued active in the retail drug business for eleven years, or until 1892. He then became a member of the Hesperian Chemical Association, engaging in the manufacture and sale of family remedies, and has continued active in the business for a quarter of a century.
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