Robert E. Bonner

Robert Edwin Bonner (April 28, 1824 – July 6, 1899) was an American publisher, now best known for The New York Ledger, a weekly story newspaper. He owned famous trotting horses and he was a prominent supporter of the Presbyterian Church and Pastor John Hall. Bonner was born in Ireland, in the town of Ramelton, Co Donegal; his ancestors were Scottish Presbyterians. He arrived in America in 1839, where his uncle owned land in Hartford, Connecticut. Bonner became an apprentice in the printing trade and worked at the Hartford Courant. There he was an extraordinarily fast compositor. Completing his apprenticeship in 1844, he moved to New York and worked for the organ of the new American Republican Party (later Native American; Know-Nothing) while he lived by "practicing the most rigid economy". When it suspended operation he found work at The Evening Mirror, a daily launched in 1844. He began writing and contributed to various newspapers in other cities. He worked at The Merchant's Ledger, a financial weekly, in the advertising department and became involved with printing that newspaper. He purchased it in 1851 and changed the name to The New York Ledger in 1855, when he sought a wider readership by running articles by well-known writers. He also used advertising to raise the profile of the paper and increase the circulation. Harness racing owner