American Folk Figure. A native of France, he lived there until coming to the United States in 1851, though little is known about his life there. From that time until his death, he purposely lived in squalor and poor conditions in a tiny, decrepit apartment, seeing very few people, and gaining a reputation for being reclusively eccentric. Just before his death he contacted Henry Bergh (who he never met) and his American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and bequeathed to them a large fortune in both land holdings and wealth stored away in trunks in his apartment. This gesture both ensured the survival of the ASPCA as an organization, and revealed that Louis Bonard had been a greatly miserly man, unwilling to part with any of his wealth to even ensure adequate housing for himself. In return for his great gift, Henry Bergh and his society paid for his burial in Green-Wood Cemetery, and had an appropriate marker erected as his grave.
American Folk Figure. A native of France, he lived there until coming to the United States in 1851, though little is known about his life there. From that time until his death, he purposely lived in squalor and poor conditions in a tiny, decrepit apartment, seeing very few people, and gaining a reputation for being reclusively eccentric. Just before his death he contacted Henry Bergh (who he never met) and his American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and bequeathed to them a large fortune in both land holdings and wealth stored away in trunks in his apartment. This gesture both ensured the survival of the ASPCA as an organization, and revealed that Louis Bonard had been a greatly miserly man, unwilling to part with any of his wealth to even ensure adequate housing for himself. In return for his great gift, Henry Bergh and his society paid for his burial in Green-Wood Cemetery, and had an appropriate marker erected as his grave.
Bio by: RPD2
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