author

J. B. (James Blair) Bonar

1826–1905

A 19th-century Congregational pastor and local historian, he is remembered for a single surviving work that blends faith, memory, and the story of New Milford, Connecticut.

1 Audiobook

New Milford. A memorial discourse, delivered in the Congregational church, New Milford, Conn., Sunday, July 9, 1876

by J. B. (James Blair) Bonar

About the author

James Blair Bonar was born in 1826 and died in 1905. The clearest records available here identify him as the author of New Milford. A memorial discourse, delivered in the Congregational church, New Milford, Conn., Sunday, July 9, 1876, published in New Milford, Connecticut, in 1876.

That book presents him as pastor of the Congregational church in New Milford and shows the kind of writer he was: thoughtful, civic-minded, and deeply interested in the history of his community. His surviving work brings together local history, church life, and remembrance, especially in the years after the Civil War.

Little else about his personal life was confirmed in the sources reviewed for this entry, so this portrait stays close to what can be documented. Even so, Bonar comes across as a minister who cared about preserving the story of a town and its people in a warm, reflective voice.