Father: Hezekiah Bonham, Sr.
Mother: Mary Bishop

Spouse: Zebulon Ayers b: 4/Aug/1708 - Woodbridge Township, Middlesex Co., NJ
  m: 14/Aug/1728 - Woodbridge Township, Middlesex Co., NJ

Child: Ezekial - b: ~1730
                        m: Charlotte Freeman

Biographical Details:

Temperance Bonham was the only daughter among the ten (or more) children attributed to Hezekiah Bonham, Sr., and his second wife (who was believed to have been Ann Hunt by Monnette and others, but more recently believed by Mr. Howard E. Bonham to have been Mary Bishop).¹  She is thought to have been born in 1710 in Maidenhead Township, Burlington County, New Jersey, and is further thought to have married Zebulon Ayers in August of 1728, in Woodbridge Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey.  They evidently remained in this locality for the rest of their lives since variations of the name of Zebulon Ayers appeared on tax records for Woodbridge for the years 1778, 1779, 1786, 1787, 1788, and 1793; however, no further details are known. (Of course, it is possible that later occurances of the name correspond to a younger namesake, perhaps, a son or nephew of Zebulon and Temperance Ayers.)  Within this context, Zebulon Ayers can be identified as a member of the extended Ayers or Ayres family which, like the Bonham family, originally settled in New England because they were dissenters from the Church of England and subsequently migrated southward to New Jersey, probably on account of disapproval of their Baptist religious beliefs by Puritan church authorities in New England.  Furthermore, again, like the Bonham family, some branches of the Ayers family seem to have been sabbatarians while others were not.  Accordingly, other intermarriages between the two families are known.

1. Howard Eugene Bonham and Jean Allin, Bonham and Related Family Lines, Bonham Book(s), 5104 Bridlington Ln., Raleigh, NC, 27612, printed by Genie Plus, Bradenton, FL, 1996: pgs. 168-71.
     "Temperance Bonham, only known daughter of Hezekiah, Sr., and (2) wife, Mary (Bishop) Bonham, was born 1710; married Zebulon Ayars/Ayers in 1728, who was born 4 Aug 1708, Woodbridge, NJ, the son of Joseph & Phebe/Phoebe (Camp) Ayars/Ayers.  [Vital Records of Woodbridge, NJ, pp. 5-8.]"
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Additional Citations:

2. Elmer Burt Hazie, Bonham, 1631-1973: letters, quotations, genealogical charts, military records, directory index, privately published, Los Angeles, CA, 1973: pg. 31.  (rev. of Emmet Lincoln Smith, Smith-Bonham, 1631-1908, privately published, Chicago, IL, 1911; also Emmet Lincoln Smith, rev. by Elmer Burt Hazie, Bonham, 1631-1959: letters, quotations, genealogical charts, illustrations, military record, directory, privately published, Los Angeles, CA, 1959 & Elmer Burt Hazie, Bonham, 1631-1975: letters, quotations, genealogical charts, military records, directory index, privately published, Los Angeles, CA, 1975.)

3. Olive Barrick Rowland, Genealogical Notes of the Sutton and Rittenhouse Families of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, Garrett & Massie, Pub., Richmond, VA, 1935: pg. 115.

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