Established in 1867 as the final resting place for William Bonner, Dr. John Bonner, and their descendants, Bonner Cemetery is tied to a family that came from South Carolina to Texas in the early 1850s and settled in Freestone County, where the two brothers amassed thousands of acres that they developed into large cotton plantations. William Bonner (1783-1877), the patriarch of the Texas Bonners, began his career as a waggoner and, with modest education and no financial help, built a fortune through his Texas land investments; a veteran of the War of 1812, he married Ann Lee Joel in 1816, and seven of their eleven children chose to live in this area. Known as a staunch Presbyterian with shrewd judgment, unusual energy, humor, and common sense, he helped establish the family's place in the county. John Bonner (1794-1879), one of three physicians among the five Bonner brothers, was regarded as a man of great intelligence who scorned sham and ignorance; he and his wife Eliza (Williams) had nine children, seven of whom moved with them to Freestone County. Among five generations of Bonners buried here are teachers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, and farmers, and for more than a century the family figured prominently in the development of Freestone County.