J. B. (James Blair) Bonar

James Blair Bonar (1826–1905), usually listed as J. B. Bonar, was a Presbyterian minister and author. Library and book records connect him with works including The Early New England Colonists, an address delivered before the New England Society of Montreal in 1859, and Farewell Words to Montreal, preached at the close of his pastorate over the American Presbyterian Church in Montreal in 1869.

Those titles suggest the shape of his public life: he was a preacher, a lecturer, and a writer interested in both Christian teaching and the historical identity of Protestant communities in North America. Another later work, New Milford. A Memorial Discourse, places him in New Milford, Connecticut, where he served as pastor and spoke to a community shaped by the memory of the Civil War.

The surviving record available online is fairly sparse, so some details of his life remain hard to confirm with confidence. What does come through clearly is a steady, thoughtful ministry carried out across different congregations, and a body of writing that blends religious conviction with a strong sense of local and historical memory.