Richard Bond, MD
1800–1853
✦ direct ancestor — Owen's 3×-great-grandfather · Bond line
Life
- Born
- 18 Oct 1800 · Baltimore County, Maryland, USA
- Died
- 7 Mar 1853 · Callaway County, Missouri, United States of America
- Buried
- 9 Mar 1853 · Danville, Montgomery County, Missouri, United States of America
Marriage & children
Sarah Louisa Bond (1832–1912)
Richard Thompson Bond (1838–1917)
Missouri Anna Bond (1841–1922)
Rev. Henry Pope Bond (1843–1919)
Nathaniel Bond (c. 1845–1849)
Miller Morse Bond (1848–1914)
B. M. Bond (1852–1855)
Timeline
- 20 Nov 1823ReligionRecommended in the CARLISLE DISTRICT, Baltimore Conference ("Rec. #356", 20 Nov 1823) per his preacher record card at the Lovely Lane Museum & Archives. Admission on trial required a quarterly-conference recommendation, and a man is recommended where he lives - so the family's home society in late 1823 was in that district. The Carlisle District in 1823 and 1824 comprised EIGHT circuits, FOUR of them in MARYLAND: Carlisle station, Carlisle circuit, York and Chambersburg (PA); Harford, Great Falls, Frederick and Hagerstown (MD). It straddled the Mason-Dixon line, so a Maryland-born, Maryland-resident man could be recommended there without living in Pennsylvania - the card and the memoir's Baltimore County birth agree. The recommending circuit is NOT yet identified. Source: preacher record card, Lovely Lane Museum & Archives, Baltimore-Washington Conference (card 7), supplied 27 Jul 2026; local copy ancestry/sources/bond-richard-preacher-record-card-lovely-lane-archives.png
- FROM 1824 TO 1853OccupationMethodist Episcopal itinerant minister (Baltimore Conference 1824-1841, Missouri Conference 1841) and physician - M.D., Columbian Medical College, Washington D.C. UNVERIFIED (he is absent from Columbian's own published Doctors of Medicine list, which runs continuously 1826-1834, and his 1853 conference memoir names no degree and no school; see Audited note 30 Jul 2026)
- 6 Apr 1824ReligionWinchester, Virginia, United States — Admitted on trial to the Baltimore Conference, M.E. Church, 6 Apr 1824 at Winchester, Virginia (licensed fall 1823; first sermon 19 Oct 1823; converted 1818 - the 1853 memoir says only 'through the instrumentality of the Methodists'; the 'camp meeting' detail is the 1906 Centennial Volume's alone). Appointments per his 1853 conference memoir, which is the authority: 1824-25 Northumberland circuit (the PENNSYLVANIA district of that name); 1826 travelled with Bishop McKendree; 1827 Fairfax; 1828 Prince George (Prince George's Co., MD, Baltimore District); 1829 Winchester; 1830 Westmoreland; 1831 Lancaster; 1832 WITHOUT AN APPOINTMENT; 1833 Fairfax; 1834 Great Falls; 1835-36 Gettysburg; 1837-38 Chambersburg; 1839-40 Hollidaysburg; 1841 transferred to the Missouri Conference. NOTE: the 1853 memoir says he was 'without an appointment' in 1832 - his Lovely Lane record card codes it 'L1832' (located), which is a stronger claim; the memoir's weaker wording is recorded here, cause unknown.
- 17 Nov 1829MarriedEliza Ann Thompson — Fauquier County, Virginia, USA
- FROM 1844 TO 1853Freemasonrya Freemason: Danville Lodge No. 72; Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Missouri 1844-51; Royal Arch by 1844; a petitioner for St. Louis Chapter No. 8, 1847
- FROM 1845 TO 1853OccupationMissouri, United States — Superintendent, American Bible Society for Missouri, until death; previously Presiding Elder, St. Charles District (1841-43) and Danville circuit (1843-44), Missouri Conference
- 1850ResidenceDistrict 61, Montgomery, Missouri, USA
Records behind this page
Unnamed source
17 Mar 1853, p. 4, col. 5 (OBITUARIES)
read the transcript
"Dear Bro. McAnally: It is with mournful feelings I have to inform you of the death of our beloved Bro. BOND. He died yesterday a few minutes before one o'clock, at the residence of Dr. Maughas, in Callaway county, from the effect of an accidental discharge of a gun. When I saw him the day after the accident, he told me his 'work was done,' but since that period his friends had entertained hopes of his recovery... He has been a member of the Missouri Conference for about twelve years, and agent for the Bible cause in this State for about seven years." Signed DANIEL PENNY, Danville, March 8th, 1853. NAMES NO PARENTS, and Penny adds "I have not the means of ascertaining how long he has been in the ministry."
10 Mar 1853, p. 2, col. 6
read the transcript
"DR. R. BOND. - The latest accounts which have reached us of Dr. Bond, who accidentally shot himself some weeks ago, represent him as in a dying condition. Judging from those accounts, we think it more than probable that ere this he has gone hence. It was stated that he was perfectly rational, calm and resigned." Printed 10 Mar 1853, three days AFTER he had in fact died. "Some weeks ago" dates the shooting to about early-to-mid February 1853.
Unnamed source
11 Mar 1853, p. 2, col. 2 - 'ACCIDENT TO REV. DR. BOND', quoting a letter to the St. Louis Christian Advocate by Rev. E. M. Marvin
11 Mar 1853, p. 2 - 'ACCIDENT TO REV. DR. BOND'
Unnamed source
24 Feb 1853, p. 2, col. 1 - 'SAD ACCIDENT'. Records the PISTOL/blacksmith-shop rumour, which the Advocate letter above corrects. Cited as the error, not the fact.
Unnamed source
30 Mar 1853, p. 1
Unnamed source
Weekly Messenger, 17 Mar 1853 (Weekly Missouri Sentinel notice reprinted); see ancestry/bond-richard-missouri-newspapers-1853-READ-2026-08-05.md
1850 United States Federal Census
Year: 1850; Census Place: District 61, Montgomery, Missouri; Roll: 407; Page: 187a
Ancestry.com, 1850 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules (Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004)
The National Archive in Washington DC; Washington, DC; NARA Microform Publication: M432; Title: Seventh Census Of The United States, 1850; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29
Ancestry.com, Arizona, U.S., Death Records, 1887-1960 (Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016)
Arizona Department of Health Services; Phoenix, AZ; Arizona Genealogy Birth and Death Certificates
Ancestry.com, Montgomery County, Missouri, Cemetery Index, 1836-1954 (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2001)
Ancestry.com, U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current (Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012)
Ancestry.com, Virginia, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1740-1850 (Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999)
Dodd, Jordan R., Et Al.; Early American Marriages: Virginia to 1850; Publication Place: Bountiful, UT, USA; Publisher: Precision Indexing Publishers
Research notes
Working notes from the research, kept verbatim — what was read, what it proved, what stays open.
Research note · 6 Aug 2026
Audited 25 Jul 2026 - Verified vs Centennial Volume of Missouri Methodism 1906 (bio p.75, Missouri Conference Mexico District section), MEC General Minutes 1829-39 (annual appointments: Westmoreland, Lancaster, Fairfax, Great Falls, Gettysburg 1836-37, Chambersburg 1838-39, Hollidaysburg), and 1885 History of St. Charles/Montgomery/Warren Counties p.770 (Danville M.E. Church South). Birth 18 Oct 1800 Baltimore, marriage 17 Nov 1829 Warrenton VA, death 7 Mar 1853 Danville, and the birthplaces of the children all corroborated; he was a Methodist itinerant preacher AND physician (M.D. Columbian Medical College, Washington D.C.). UNPROVEN: parents (1906 bio names only a Christian mother); accidental gun shot death detail (bio says only suddenly removed - Penny obit in St. Louis Christian Advocate pending). Memo: ancestry/bond-baltimore-junction.mdAudited 30 Jul 2026 (research 28-29 Jul) - Lovely Lane round. Lovely Lane Museum & Archives supplied his preacher record card (Rec. #356, Carlisle Dist., 20 Nov 1823). Printed MEC General Minutes vol I confirm the Apr 1824 admission on trial (a class of eight) and place Northumberland 1824-25 in the PENNSYLVANIA district of that name, Westmoreland and Lancaster in the Potomac District (VA), and Prince George 1828 in the Baltimore District (Prince George's Co., MD). The 1853 MECS conference memoir - his own conference's obituary and the best source on him - gives birth in BALTIMORE COUNTY, Maryland, 18 Oct 1800, the full appointment list, marriage to E. A. Thompson 17 Nov 1829 at Warrenton VA, and death 7 Mar 1853 'leaving a widow and seven children'. VERIFIED against the tree: birthplace already reads Baltimore County; the marriage matches (Fauquier County = Warrenton); and the SEVEN CHILDREN figure reconciles exactly - eight children were born, Nathaniel died 1849, leaving seven alive in Mar 1853. PARENTS STILL UNKNOWN - no source yet names his father or mother; the memoir names neither. REFUTED: descent from the Harford Co. Methodist-medical Bonds - a compiled genealogy following that line states Thomas Bond x Rebecca Stansbury left three children (John the itinerant preacher, a daughter Ann, and Dr Thomas Emerson Bond) and no Richard. ALSO REFUTED: that the middle name of son John Barnitz Bond points to kin - no Bond x Barnitz marriage exists in indexed US records. UNVERIFIED: the M.D. from Columbian Medical College, and the 'accidental gun shot' death description (the 1853 memoir, closest in time, gives no manner of death). Memo: ancestry/bond-baltimore-junction.mdAudited 5 Aug 2026 - St. Louis Christian Advocate round. The State Historical Society of Missouri (Heather Richmond, Senior Archivist) supplied three microfilm page images, 5 Aug 2026; PDFs in ancestry/sources/, transcriptions in ancestry/bond-richard-stl-christian-advocate-1853-READ-2026-08-05.md. RESOLVED, superseding the UNVERIFIED wording in both sections above: the accidental gunshot is sourced to two independent 1853 printings - the editor's notice of 10 Mar 1853 p.2 c.6 ("Dr. Bond, who accidentally shot himself some weeks ago") and Rev. Daniel Penny's obituary letter of 17 Mar 1853 p.4 c.5 ("from the effect of an accidental discharge of a gun"). NEW: the shooting was not the day of death - "some weeks ago" on 10 Mar 1853 dates it to about early-to-mid February 1853, and Penny describes a weeks-long decline. DEATH PLACE CORRECTED from Danville, Montgomery Co. to CALLAWAY COUNTY, on Owen's ruling of 5 Aug 2026: Penny, at the bedside and writing the next day from Danville, says he died "at the residence of Dr. Maughas, in Callaway county"; the 1853 MECS conference memoir gives no place at all; and the 1885 county history's "who died in Danville" is a churchyard aside on a pastor list - it says the same of W. W. Redman - rather than a record of where the deathbed stood. Burial at Danville is unchanged. Dr. Maughas is probably Dr. Mordecai M. Maughs, an 1812 settler and one of Danville's founders per the 1885 History of St. Charles/Montgomery/Warren Counties, which also prints his 1837 Wetmore's Gazetteer account of the county; which county his 1853 residence stood in is UNTESTED, and a second, younger Dr. G. M. B. Maughs married in Callaway Co. in 1845. PARENTS STILL UNKNOWN, and this round closes the Missouri route to them: the obituary names no father, mother, birthplace or age, and Penny writes "I have not the means of ascertaining how long he has been in the ministry" - his pastor and neighbour of ten years did not know his earlier life. The Maryland route (MSA administration accounts, Baltimore Co. census) is unaffected. Memo: ancestry/bond-baltimore-junction.mdAUDITED 6 Aug 2026 - BIRTHPLACE EVIDENCE, THE ACCIDENT, AND AN AGE CONFLICT.BIRTHPLACE. The 1850 census (District 61, Montgomery Co., Mo.; NARA M432 roll 407 p.187a, family272 line 27, enumerated 31 Aug 1850) records his birthplace as "Va.", NOT Maryland - read on theimage. That column is careful: the enumerator changed it four times in eleven lines and every othermember of the household checks out (Penn for the two Pennsylvania-born sons, Mo for the threeMissouri-born children, Va for the Westmoreland-born wife). AGAINST it stand two of his own sons,independently, in the 1900 census, each returning FATHER'S BIRTHPLACE = MARYLAND: [191] Dr JohnBarnitz Bond (Little Rock Ward 2, Pulaski Co., Ark.; roll 73 p.20 ED 0074) and [802] Prof. RichardThompson Bond (Richmond twp., Howard Co., Mo.; roll 859 p.13 ED 0070). Every checkable field inboth 1900 rows is correct. The 1853 conference memoir and the 1906 Centennial Volume both sayBaltimore Co., Md., but they are NOT independent of each other. Position: MARYLAND STANDS - two1900 informants against one 1850 informant, both instruments passing their controls. The Virginiadatum is recorded, not adopted, and not deleted. The 1880 census of Little Rock is unusable on thisquestion either way: it gives J. B. Bond's own birthplace as "Ark" (he was born at Gettysburg) andboth his parents as "not known".AGE. Danville Lodge No. 72, minuting on the day of death, says he died "in the fifty-first year ofhis age", implying birth c.1802-03 against the memoir's 18 Oct 1800. NOT ADOPTED. The 1850 censusgives his age as 49 on 31 Aug 1850, which computes exactly for 18 Oct 1800 and is two years out for1802-03. Recorded as a conflict; the birth date is unchanged.THE ACCIDENT - RESOLVED. Two accounts conflicted: the American Bible Society's 37th Annual Report(1853) p.783 said a Mexican carbine he was examining, and the Hannibal Journal of 24 Feb 1853 said apistol that had lain about a blacksmith's shop at Danville. The Weekly Missouri Statesman (Columbia)of 11 Mar 1853 settles it, printing an extract from a letter to the St. Louis Christian Advocate byRev. E. M. Marvin - published expressly because "the circumstances have been misunderstood by thepublic": Bond called at Dr. Maughs's office FOR MEDICINE, "observed a carbine hanging against thewall", took the barrel as it hung muzzle-downward and "raised the hammer, which slipped from hisfingers"; the charge "was of duck shot" and "took effect just at the left groin, ranging downward... The wound is very deep." So: a CARBINE, at Maughs's in Callaway County - the same place he died -and NOT a pistol and NOT at Danville. The blacksmith-shop version is the error the Advocatecorrected. Marvin writes "as nearly as I could learn" and was not an eyewitness. The Tri-WeeklyMessenger (Hannibal) of 1 Mar 1853 shows how confused the reporting was: it announced his death sixdays before it happened, opening "Although the reports are confused".FREEMASONRY. Danville Lodge No. 72; Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Missouri 1844-51; RoyalArch by 1844; a petitioner for St. Louis Chapter No. 8 in 1847. Sources at register rows K74, K75and K91. (A 'Freemasonry' fact is added separately in batch B.)THE MEMOIR'S PROVENANCE, which matters because his birth date and birthplace rest on it: the WeeklyMessenger (Hannibal) of 6 Oct 1853, reporting the Missouri Conference at Palmyra, records that onSaturday 1 Oct 1853 "the chairman of the committee on Memoirs presented the memoir of Dr. Bond,which was read and adopted" - a committee document formally adopted by his own conference sevenmonths after his death. Full working: ancestry/documents-read-index.md rows K93, K94, K98-K101.
Elsewhere
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