Edward William Bonney (August 26, 1807 – February 4, 1864) was a 19th-century adventurer, miller
Edward William Bonney (August 26, 1807 – February 4, 1864) was a 19th-century adventurer, miller, hotel keeper, city planner, counterfeiter, livery stable keeper, bounty hunter, private detective, postmaster, merchant, soldier, and author. He is best known for his undercover work in exposing the "Banditti of the Prairie", resulting from his investigation of the torture-murder of noted Illinois pioneer and frontiersman Colonel George Davenport. 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 Edward William Bonney was born in Essex County, New York. His father, Jethro May Bonney, a soldier, was stationed near the border of Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) at the time of his birth. "Capt. Jethro May Bonney." His mother was Lucinda Laurana Webster, a relative of Daniel Webster. In 1816 the family moved to Cortland, New York. 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐲𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞, 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐚 Edward Bonney got married and moved to the frontier, in Elkhart County, Indiana, in 1835, with the intent of crea...