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- THE GENEALOGY, BIOGRAPHY, HISTORY OF THE "BELLVILLE (Fordville, N. D.) BONDS
(Elkmont Twp., Grand Forks County, N. D., 1884-1978)
Researched and written by Arthur W. Seebart (Mabel's husband)
(NOTATION: For the purpose of this mss., the "Bellville Bonds" is a reference to the family of Samuel Henry (S. H. and Harry) and Jane (Jennie)(McConnachie) Bond, and their children: William, Mabel and Hazel. This family constitutes the matrix of the genealogical structure developed in this documentation. From this point in history (1978), the forebears are traced as far as available information will permit, and providing, therefore, the present status of descendants and relatives.)
ON THE PATERNAL SIDE:
Almost nothing is known of the father and the mother of Samuel Henry Bond. His father's first name was Henry. He was born in England in 1818. He migrated to Canada as a young man. He married a Maria (possibly spelled Moriah or Marie) Cline. Children born to this couple were George, John, Samuel Henry and William. The family was in residence at Puslinch, Guelph Twp., Ontario Province, Canada, when Samuel Henry was born on February 22, 1857. Grandfather Henry Bond was thirty-nine years of age when Samuel Henry was born. The birth of Samuel Henry took place in a large two-story stone house at Puslinch. This house is still standing. Albert and Hazel (Bond) Ferguson visited there while Hazel's Uncle Will still occupied the house; being overnight guests at that time. The Bonds of Puslinch, Canada, were all farmers. When Samuel Henry grew into manhood, he journeyed into the United States, where he worked at logging and lumbering in the forested areas of Michigan and Minnesota. He became what was known as a "river man;" whose job it was to help head the logs down the river when the "ice broke up" in the spring. As a "river man" he had to jump from log to log, pushing, shoving and breaking up the log jams. He often told the story of how he would sometimes lose his footing or a log would unexpectedly roll, and he would be "doused" in the icy water. Nevertheless, he came up smiling and inferred that he "always stayed on top of the job,"
As the summer seasons "rolled around." Samuel Henry would migrate to Dakota Territory (Red River Valley area), where he would work as a "farm hand" in the grain fields of North Dakota. In the autumn he worked with grain threshing outfits as-a "sixth band cutter" on the feeder trough of the threshing machine. Bundles of grain were bound by hand in those early days and the first threshing machines did not have automatic band cutters. Each band had to be slashed before it entered the thresher, so that it did not plug up the machine and the sheaves would be properly threshed out. Later, Samuel Henry qualified himself as a steam engine engineer. He pursued this avocation for many years in addition to operating his own large farm.
ON THE MATERNAL SIDE OF THE FAMILY:
Samuel Henry (Harry) married Jane (Jennie) McConnachie in 1888. Little is known of the father and mother of Jennie Bond (of the "Bellville Bonds"). Her father's first name was John. He was born May 3, 1817, and died April 26, 1884, at the age of 66 years. Apparently he was buried at Harriston, Canada. Jennie's mother's first name was Elsabet (which name appears to be a contraction of Elizabeth), Her maiden name was Sellars. She was born in 1825 and died July 23, 1875. Both of Jennie's parents were born in the northern part of Scotland, and the home of Jennie's parents was in a house at the foot of a hill on which stood a real castle, at a place called Auchindoun.
It is not known when John and Elsabet (Sellars) McConnachie migrated to the Province of Ontario, Canada. Of the six children who were born to this couple, only Will, the eldest, who was born in 1856, appears to have been a native of Scotland. The family arrived in Canada sometime before 1858, for that was the year that John, the second child was born. The birth years of the other four children are as follows: James, 1860; Jane (Jennie) 1862, George, 1865; and Alex, 1868. Jane was born at Harriston, Canada. We can only assume that this, also, was the birthplace of the other four children. Elisabet (Sellars) McConnachie died when her daughter Jennie was but thirteen years of age. Jennie's father seems to have expected his only daughter to take her mother's place as housekeeper. Included in her many responsibilities was to take a turn at milking the cows. Jennie often told her children about the burden of these responsibilities. She said that as a young teenager, she was "worried about becoming stoop-shouldered" from the heavy work, especially the carrying of the heavy milk buckets; and that she practiced carrying her shoulders straight and her head high, in order to avoid this. Her mother, Elisabet, must have given her a fine religious motivation, for Jennie walked one and one-half miles every Sunday in order to attend church services.
(COMMENT: There is some confusion about the use of the names "Jane" and "Jennie." Apparently mother Bond was christened as "Jane," because that is the way she always signed her name on her checks and on legal papers. However, her daughter, Mabel, says: "she never liked the name Jane, and preferred to call herself and have others call her Jennie.) Her religious training and background were at the center of her life as long as she lived; and she passed this heritage along to her children. She was a sincere and devout Christian; and she served the Lord gladly and faithfully in every way that her Christian conscience dictated. She lived to the age of 90 years, passing away March 4. 1952. Apparently, Jennie migrated from Canada to the Bellville (Fordville, N. D.) area about the year 1884. She followed brothers who had migrated to this same spot some two or more years before her arrival. She lived with and kept house for her brother Will before she was married. She became the wife of Samuel Henry Bond on March 14, 1888. After their marriage, this couple went back to "Harry's" boyhood home at Puslinch, Canada, with the apparent purpose of helping out in a situation which had developed since the death of Harry's father in the year 1884. They remained there for several months and then they returned to the Bellville community, This was either the year 1888 or 1889. Here they bought the "Jim Coulter Tree-Claim Quarter;" which had some buildings on it, including a small (2-room) house (called "shanty" in those days). It was in this purchase that they acquired the "Seth Thomas" striking mantle clock which Mabel (Bond) Seebart now has on a mantle in her home at 2625 Borregas Dr., Aptos, Calif. This clock is now well over 100 years old and still in "running order" when wound.
THUMBNAIL SKETCHES OF WHAT THE PASSING YEARS BROUGHT TO THE BELLVILLE BONDS
The Three Children:
1. William Elliott, born May 26, 1889 (probably at his Uncle Will's home in Bellville)
2, Mabel Luella born September 19, 1891 (in the "shanty" referred to above)
3. Hazel M., born October 26, 1893 (in the "shanty" referred to above)
CONCERNING WILLIAM ELLIOTT BOND
"Bill" was raised as a farm boy, starting to do farm work at an early age; getting his grade school and H. S. education mostly in the winter months when there was not so much farm work to be done. At an early age, he took the place of a "hired man." He had a couple of academic quarters at Jamestown College (Presbyterian, Jamestown, N. D.). He married Mildred Carpenter, a Park River, N. D., school teacher, January 1. 1919, at her home in Minneapolis, Minn. They "took over" the operation of the S. H. Bond farm following their marriage; and Will's parents retired to 523 Walnut St., Grand Forks, N. D. (Notation: This is the address of the house in which Mabel Bond Seebart's first child, Eldon Arthur, was born: June 3. 1923; and Mabel's second child, Carol Jane, October 8, 1926. It was at this address that Harry Bond passed away in June, 1921.)
Will and Mildred continued to farm the "Bond Place" until 1943, when they rented out the farm and moved to Grand Forks. Will became a resident agent for State Farm Insurance: first, in partnership with J. Albert Ferguson and, individually, following the early and tragic death of J. Albert Ferguson, the husband of his sister Hazel. Will retired in 1960 and moved to Carmichael, Calif., near the residence of his daughter, Phyllis (Bond) Wright. After living for several years at Carmichael, Will and Mildred bought a condominium at the Rossmoor Retirement Center, Walnut Creek, Calif. After several years there, they rented the former home of their son Elliott, at 20610 Rodriguez, Cupertino, Calif., where they now (1978) reside.
CONCERNING MABEL LUELLA (BOND) SEEBART
Mabel grew up on "the old home place" at Bellville, a community south of Fordville where there once was a postal distribution point by that name. It was named for the Bell family in whose home the mail was distributed. She attended school, Sunday School, Christian Endeavor, Singing School, and community gatherings at the one-room schoolhouse. She, along with her sister, Hazel, and brother, Will, attended H. S. in Inkster, N. D., a town on the Great Northern Railway some 8 miles east of the Bond farm. (COMMENT: They generally made the drive* in to Inkster early Monday mornings and returned after school closed on Friday afternoon. The children boarded and roomed at some private residence in town. At one time, it was at the residence of their minister, the Rev. Mr., Onion. However, there were some winter months when their parents rented accommodations and stayed in Inkster, so that the family could be together.)
All three of the "Harry Bond children" graduated from the Inkster H. S.. Mabel went on to Jamestown College for one year, and then transferred to the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks for the second year of work required for qualification as a grade school teacher. Having achieved her teaching certificate, she found employment teaching third and fourth grades at Pembina, ND, boarding and rooming with her maternal Uncle John and Aunt Jennie. (Uncle John was a Customs Officer at Pembina.) She taught school here for three years, starting out at a salary of $60.00 per month and working up to $85,00 per month in the third year,
While she was in attendance at the University of North Dakota, Mabel met Arthur Seebart of Emerado, ND. Their introduction was at a meeting of the A.D.T. (Addison, Defoe. Tennyson) Literary Society, of which Arthur was a member and Mabel was a candidate for initiation, Arthur was deeply impressed by her beauty and her charming smile; and from then on., "there was nobody else but Mabel." He asked her to teach a class at the University Settlement House, where he was Resident master, and romance grew and blossomed. They were married at 523 Walnut St., Grand Forks, ND, on October 27, 1920; and they made their first home at Forman, ND, where Arthur was the interim Minister, serving three Congregational churches; namely, Forman, Havanna, and Gwinner. A little more than a year after his marriage, November 10 1921, he was ordained as, a Congregational Minister, permanently severing his former connections with the Methodist Episcopal Church in which he was reared.
(NOTATION: Further details on the biography of Mabel Bond Seebart appear in Arthur's "book." THE GENEALOGY, BIOGRAPHY, AND HISTORY OF THE ZIEBARTH FAMILY." See, especially, the chapter on the "Aptos Seebarts" of 2625 Borregas Dr, Aptos, Calif.)
CONCERNING HAZEL M. (BOND) FERGUSON
Hazel's childhood and young womanhood was very similar to that of her sister, Mabel. There was lots of hard work "on the farm." especially at harvest and threshing time; but there was also a lot of wonderful times and fun times. The three Bond children often recount with deep appreciation and hilarious laughter those childhood days. After completing H.S., Hazel entered the State Normal College at Valley City, ND where she earned a teaching certificate in what was then called Home Economics. Her first employment was at Lankin, ND, A few miles NW of the Bellville community. Having taught two or three years at Lankin, Hazel moved with her parents to Grand Forks when they retired from the farm. Here she entered the State University of North Dakota, where she pursued her BS degree in Home Economics, While in attendance at the University, she was an Assistant Teacher in the Home Economics Dept. of the Model H. S. which was a part of the Education Department of the University at that time. (Incidentally, it was this same Model H. S, in which Arthur Seebart finished his H, S, requirements and graduated in June, 1916.) On June 6, 1922, Hazel became the bride of J. Albert Ferguson, at her home--523 Walnut St., Grand Forks. The newlyweds took up farming on a place near Park River, ND which Albert had purchased a year or two before his marriage. They lived on this farm through the worst depression years which our country has ever experienced. In addition to the curse of the depression, there were also years of grasshopper plagues, droughts, wheat rust, hail and other natural calamities which continuously plagued them. However, they "stuck it out." They managed, somehow, to scrape through, to keep the interest payments and hang onto their two quarters of land. Had it not been for the sidelines which Albert developed, they might not have "Made it." He became a self-taught, first-class auctioneer. He was a salesman for many products, such as Archer Oils and Greases, power windmills, acetylene gas lighting systems and finally, insurance. Insurance soon became his "long-suit." In 1938 they rented out the farm and moved to Grand Forks, where they took up residence with Hazel's mother, Jennie Bond, who was in failing health and finding it increasingly difficult to live alone. Albert started out as a District Agent for State Farm, had good success, and soon became a District Supervisor. He was "on his way up" when he died of a heart attack August 15, 1949, Surviving him were his wife, Hazel, and an only child, Rhoda Elaine, who was born on the Park River farm February 14, 1926.
Elaine graduated from the University of North Dakota with a BS in Home Economics. She found employment as Dietitian at the General Hospital in Portland, Ore., where she met and married (at 523 Walnut) Robert Thompson of Portland.
During the intervening years between the death of her husband and the death of her mother (March 4. 1952). Hazel continued to live with and care for her mother at the Grand Forks residence on Walnut St. She continued her residence there for about seven more years, but spent an increasing number of winters at Santa Barbara, where her daughter, Mrs. Robert Thompson, was now a resident. Finally, she decided that she liked southern California well enough to make it her permanent residence and moved there in November 1959, She still lives (1978) in the same apartment into which she moved shortly after taking up residence in Santa Barbara: 1321 Garden, zone 93103.
(NOTATION, The reader of my mss. may be struck by the frequent recurrence of the name "Elliott;" i.e. William Elliott, Elliott Harry, George Elliott, Scott Elliott, and David Elliott. Upon inquiry into the reason for the choice of this name,, I have been informed by Mildred (Carpenter) Bond that "Grandma Jennie Bond" told me that they had a preacher at Bellville, whom everyone liked very much. His name was Elliott, and it was in honor and remembrance of him that she named her only son William Elliott. So, the name got started. Others wanted their sons to be a man like William Elliott so they used the name, in the hope that this would be the result. So, it has been handed down from generation to generation. It is an honor and a responsibility to bear the name "Elliott.") Arthur W, Seebart, December 1978
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1857 - 1921 (64 years)
