Bonsall Family History

This page was created on 2025-12-03.

This page was last updated on 2025-12-03.

BACKGROUND:

Two years ago I had some time to research my family roots some, being able to go back farther than I was able to in previous attempts.  Even then some information I came across was later proven to be incorrect, but finding out that I am a descendant of Obadiah Bonsall, born 1677 in Derbyshire, England and settling in Philadelphia was proven to be correct. 

There was at that time some confusion as to who his father was.  Some said it as Joseph Bonsall, Jr, and others said it was Richard Bonsall.  I was able to establish that he had an uncle Richard Bonsall, who was a close associate of William Penn, and that Obadiah sailed over either with his uncle and William Penn, or shortly thereafter.  

Obadiah Bonsall did have a great grandfather named Richard Bonsall Jr, whose father was Richard Bonsall Sr, born in 1536.  This is the earliest I have been able to get back on the Bonsall line.  

The Bonsall family was one of the pioneering families of the Pennsylvania colony.  They were Quakers and are mentioned in their documentation.  Some of the Bonsalls remained in the Philadelphia area while one branch went to Louisiana.  Some went westward to California.  There are many thousand Bonsall descendants, which would include the late Oak Ridge Boys singer Joe Bonsall and Star Trek actor and later musician Brian Bonsall. Some descendants dropped a letter and used the spelling "Bonsal".  

Obadiah Bonsall, my 7th great grandfather, is said to have about 5000 living descendants.  It would be interesting to know who they all are and where they are, but a Hurculean task like that might take lots of lifetimes.  What I am going to do here, as time permits, is include links that would shed more information on the Bonsall family, and some cut and paste information.

As to how I am descended?  Obadiah's daughter, Rose, married Thomas Pilkington.  Their son, Levi Pilkington Sr, is said to have been a Revolutionary War veteran but that needs verification in my opinion.  Thomas Pilkington's son Levi Pilkington married Margaret Toms.  

Their daughter, Letitia Pilkington, married John Elias Penny, and their daughter, Olive Frances Penny, married my great grandfather John Hinson Pierson, the father of my paternal grandmother Eulah Odessa Pierson.