Marker Details

Marker Text: Paul Norval Bonin was born on September 2, 1814 in Fausse Pointe, Iberia Parish, Louisiana to Joseph Baron Bonin and Euphrosine Louise (Borel) Bonin. Norval married Marie Coralie Hayes in Louisiana in 1835, and in 1852, the Bonins moved with several of their children and approximately fifty other French families to north Harris County, Texas. Bonin purchased 1253 acres, including this site, for $1250 in 1857. The Bonin family’s property was located at the heart of the area’s French settlement, and families such as Leleux, Melancon, and Pevateaux were neighbors. A 500-acre parcel was sold to Norval’s son-in-law Leon Leleux in 1859.



Those buried here are descendants of Norval and Coralie Bonin and their spouses and in-laws. The earliest known grave marker in the cemetery states that Ofelait Bonin, three-year-old daughter of Joseph Telesphore Bonin and Marie Gertrude Arceneaux, died on September 9, 1865. Norval Bonin died in November 1868 and his wife, Coralie, died in February 1871; both were buried here. After the deaths of Norval and Coralie, the remaining family property passed to the five Bonin sons who survived their parents - Telesphore, Oneziphore, Zepherin, Ernst Adness and Alcide - and each received approximately 150 acres to farm.



In 1987, Vernon Roland and Freddie Brill, together with other Bonin descendants, formed the Bonin Cemetery Association to oversee care and preservation of the site. The Bonin Family Cemetery remains active, and descendants meet each April to remember and honor their ancestors.



Historic Texas Cemetery - 2010

Marker is property of the State of Texas