George Saunders Bonfield

Born at 11 PM. His birth was registered on the 8th of March 1842. His middle name is found in a number of places, including the Vital Records Index, British Isles, FHL Number 1239249. This is the family name of his paternal grandmother, Jane Saunders (Bonfield). 1861 census extract, Swanage, Dorset, England Joseph BONFIELD Head Married 48 Stone Quarryman Dorset Swanage 6-5 Eliza BONFIELD Wife Married 47 Dorset Swanage 6-5 George BONFIELD Son Single 19 Stone Quarryman Dorset Swanage 6-5 Joseph BONFIELD Son 14 Stone Quarryman Dorset Swanage 6-5 Charles BONFIELD Son 10 Stone Quarryman Dorset Swanage 6-5 Jane BONFIELD Daughter 7 Scholar Dorset Swanage 6-5 Jane BONFIELD Mother Widow 72 Stone Mason's Widow Dorset Swanage 6-5 Their marriage, which was performed at the Register Office of Wareham, was witnessed by Thomas Best, and Martha Harris. Martha was Sarah's sister. In 1871, George is listed as George B. Saunders, with his middle and last names reversed. I found the listing purely by luck. Birth records for the daughters show him as Iron Miner in 1873/1875, but stone mason again by 1877. It appears that in March of 1876, George was tried and convicted of a "murderous assualt" on a man named Richard Goldsworthy. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but was pardoned in October, following another man's confession to the crime. It is not certainly the same George, but there was no other George Bonfield in the area at that time (except his son, who was only 12). His age in the newspaper was listed as 30, though he would have been 34. In 1881 census, both father and son (George Jr.) are listed as Ironstone miners George came to the US 22 Jun 1888, with Georgina, on board the White Star Steamship Adriatic, to be with his oldest daughter Elizabeth and her husband, James W. Mitchell, who had come a year earlier. He appears in the 1890 directory of Scranton as a stone mason, boarding at 310 Meridian St. with his son-in-law, James W. Mitchell. The rest of his family may have been living with Sarah's parents, who lived in Surrey in 1881. However, he (and Georgina) are back in England (London) and he is employed as a stone mason, with his family in the 1891 census. Georgina and the remainder of George's family came, to stay this time, on 20 Sep 1893, on board the steamship Teutonic. It is still not clear when George himself returned, but it was some time between 1891 and 1900. The 1891 census says born in Herston, Dorset. Herston appears to be a district of Swanage. The address in the 1910 census is 1116, some Court. The street name is unreadable, but does not appear to be Dewey Court. The current map of Scranton does not show either Dewey Court, or any other Court parallel to Rock Street. Rock Street is the next street on the census with very similar numbers, so possibly the name of this street changed to Rock Street. The burial permit for George lists their address as 1116 Rock Street. Burial lot 1, Third Ave. Section O, permit no.7723, depth 7ft. In 1687 there was a George Bondfield from Swanage who signed a declaration of certain Marblers and Stone Merchants... is this an ancestor?