Join us on May 3, 2026, at 10:30 AM CDT for the
88th Annual Memorial Service.
Welcome to the Bonner Memorial Cemetery
The Bonner Memorial Cemetery is located two miles west of Toxey, Alabama in what was originally the flower garden of Seaborne Lafayette Bonner, Sr. and Mary Martin Bonner. The Bonner home (built in 1837) stood on the south-southwestern edge of the current cemetery. This land was purchased from the federal government by Seaborne L. Bonner, Sr.’s father, Jordan Bonner, Sr., around 1809. The Bonner family remains the only Europeans to have ever owned this land.
The cemetery had its genesis with the death of five-year-old Nancy Bonner, daughter of Seaborne L. (Sr.) and Mary Martin Bonner, in May 1850. The Bonners buried their daughter in her mother’s flower garden. Eventually, eight of their ten children would be buried at Bonner Memorial Cemetery (Seaborn L. Bonner, Jr. is buried in Bright Water Cemetery, alongside his wife’s family; and Andrew Lee Bonner, a Confederate soldier in the 3rd Alabama Infantry, was killed during the Fredericksburg Campaign [1862] and buried near Cross Roads, Virginia). 170+ years later, Bonner Memorial Cemetery remains open to interment for lineal descendants of Seaborne L. and Mary Martin Bonner. There is no charge for burial.
Seaborn E. Bonner (Seaborne Lafayette Bonner, Sr.’s grandson), and his wife, Viola McMillan Bonner, organized a memorial service at the cemetery on the May 10, 1931. The family continued to meet for this service on the second Sunday in May each year until 2010, when the date was changed to the Sunday before Mother’s Day. Originally, the cemetery was much smaller. In 1959, Seaborn E. Bonner’s youngest son, Gleney B. Bonner, donated additional land, expanding the available burial space and providing for ample parking. Today, the cemetery encompasses three acres in total and has enough space to accommodate Bonner descendants for quite some time to come.
The Bonner Memorial Cemetery Board of Directors was formed in 1965. The first board members were Odell Davidson, Coleman Newton, Dave Casey, Tony Doggett, Gleney B. Bonner, C.L. Thompson, Slater Jackson, Douglas Jackson, Bivin Gilbert, and Seth E. Bonner (chair). Edith Barefield was elected secretary and treasurer, with Ruth B. Dicks her assistant. The Board of Directors oversee the maintenance of the cemetery grounds and facilities. Seth Bonner served as chair until 1970, when his brother, Gleney, assumed the position.
The tabernacle was erected in 1967, with a dirt floor. By 1971, the floor was concrete and an addition had been added to the north side of the tabernacle for hosting the annual dinner-on-the-grounds that follows the memorial service. In May 1975, descendants dedicated a granite marker at the entrance to the cemetery. A brief history of Seaborne L. Bonner, Sr. was read by Marcus R. Bonner, who, along with John Hubert Bonner (at that time the sole surviving grandson of Seaborn L. Bonner, Sr.), unveiled the marker. Reverend Edwin K. Broadhead (ggg-grandson) gave the invocation.
In April 1977, the cemetery association, under the direction and financial support of Gleney Bonner, established a savings trust fund to ensure the perpetual care of the cemetery. The generosity and continual patronage of the Bonner descendants, however, has largely funded the maintenance and upkeep of the cemetery. The association relied upon the trust fund in April 2025 to remove pine trees destroyed during a beetle infestation. Gleney Bonner’s foresight ensures that the final resting place of the Bonner family will be cared for long after the present generation is gone.
Throughout the years, the following descendants of Seaborne L. (Sr.) and Mary Bonner have conducted memorial services at the cemetery: Rev. Andy L. Bonner, Mr. Gleney B. Bonner, Rev. Dr. Edwin K. Broadhead, Rev. Hermese Broadhead, Rev. William P. Bonner, Rev. Lynn Bonner, and Dr. John Ratliff.
Gleney Bonner died in August 1989 and was succeeded as chair by his nephew, Michael R. Speed, who continues in that capacity to this day. Under Michael’s leadership (and his mother’s orders) a drive was established around the outer edge of the cemetery on the western side. A survey committee was formed at the instigation of John S. “Steve” Ratliff in order to survey, plot, record, and reserve spaces within the cemetery. Slater Jackson, Anna S. Ratliff, Michelle E. Lee, John Ratliff, and H. Gray Speed assisted Steve in this endeavor. The committee placed eight bronze markers, marking the corners and midpoints, around the cemetery boundary. They also developed a grid map for recording grave sites.
Ruth B. Dicks was succeeded as secretary/treasurer by Louise Cook, who served throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s. The current secretary treasurer is Anna S. Ratliff.
The 2020 and 2021 memorial services were cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Services resumed, however, in 2022.
The current board of directors are Michael R. Speed (chair); John Lewis Jackson; Sammie Bonner, Jr.; Sherry Bonner; Jimmy Davidson; John Ratliff, Oscar H. Goree, and Cecil Smith.