Biography

03/31/1816 - 03/17/1855

BONHAM, James Ellis, a Representative from Cumberland County; born, March 31, 1816 in Kingwood, Hunterdon County, NJ; attended, Lafayette College, 1833-1836; graduated, law, Princeton College (now Princeton University), 1838; attorney; elected as a Democrat to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in a Special Election, January 24, 1851; Sworn-In, January 28, 1851 to serve the remaining 1851 term; reelected to the House to serve the 1852 term; unsuccessful campaign, United States Congress (1854); chair, Democratic State Central Committee (1855); died, March 17, 1855 in Carlisle, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania; interred, Falling Spring Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Chambersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania.