CONTRIBUTED PHOTO - The descendants of William Henry Bonawitz, a farmer in Marshall County, are hoping to connect with their relatives in a reunion next summer.

The pandemic has caused many gatherings to be canceled over the last few months. While restrictions are being lifted, many are still taking precautions to limit the spread of the virus.

A family reunion for descendants of William Henry Bonawitz has been rescheduled. While it was planned for July 18 at the Mowry Irvine Mansion in Marshalltown, it will now be moved to June 26, 2021. It will still be hosted at the mansion.

The two organizers, Jan Childress and Erica Elliot, have been working hard to get in contact with Bonawitz descendants and are disappointed to have to continue to wait.

“We were looking forward to meeting so many relatives we don’t know and sharing our family history.  We have worked for over a year preparing for the reunion, looking for relatives, and contacting them about our plans, and now we’ll need to wait another year,” Childress said.

Childress and Elliot have never met in person, the former living in Oklahoma and the latter in Ohio. Despite this, they have communicated during the past year to locate descendants of William Henry Bonawitz who died in Iowa in 1911.  

Bonawitz is Childress’s great great grandfather and Elliot’s second cousin five times removed.

With the gathering, they hope to learn more about their shared ancestor and connect with their unknown relatives.

Elliot organized a reunion in Pine Grove, Pa. two years ago for her fifth grandfather Johannes Bonawitz who was a master gunsmith.

Elliot and Childress decided they should pick somewhere centrally located for the next reunion so more descendants could attend.

William Henry Bonawitz was born in 1820 in Pennsylvania. As a young man, he moved to Illinois and married Phoebe Lower in 1928. They then moved to Washington Township in Marshall County in 1864, where he farmed. Phoebe died in 1898, 13 years before his death in 1911.

He is buried in Maple Grove Cemetery with his wife.

Despite the difficulties, Childress is thankful for the help she has received and looks forward to the reunion next year.

“We are so thankful to Michelle Roseburrough, from the Marshall County Historical Society, for working with us and rescheduling for June 26, 2021.  It is most important to us that everyone who wants to come will not miss the reunion as a result of concerns with COVID-19!” she said.

While many are beginning to see friends again, it is particularly important for older adults to continue to practice precautions.

“Some of us are in the 65+ age bracket, and many are coming from all over the country and might have concerns about traveling, so it only seemed like a conscientious and safe decision to make,” Childress said.

For further information or questions, please contact Childress at jan.childress@me.com or Elliot at ericaelliott5@gmail.com.

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Contact Anna Shearer at ashearer@timesrepublican.com.