American Medical Biographies/Bonine, Evan J.
Bonine, Evan J. (1821–1892)
Evan J. Bonine, surgeon, of Quaker parents, was born at Richmond, Indiana September 10, 1821; the third son of a family of twelve children. Until seventeen he worked on his father's large farm during the summer and attended school during the winter, then, owing to his father's financial losses, he depended on himself. He began medical study with Dr. J. Pritchett of Centerville, Indiana, and received his M. D. from Ohio Medical College in 1843. Settling in Niles, Michigan, he soon became a leader in things surgical and medical; in politics and social life. Several times he served in the House of Representatives and in 1870 in the Senate. During the war of the rebellion he was appointed surgeon to the Second Michigan Infantry, rapidly being promoted until he was surgeon-in-chief of the third division, ninth army corps, during service taking part in twenty-nine different engagements. On June 17, 1864, Dr. Bonine had charge of two thousand wounded and dying soldiers brought in from all directions, and forty surgeons working under him. In the fall of 1864, because of illness (chronic diarrhea), he resigned and was appointed examining surgeon on the Provost Marshal's staff for the Western District of Michigan with headquarters at Kalamazoo, and filled the place until the close of the war. He was a member of the Michigan State Medical Society. Dr. S. Belknap of Niles, his partner for eleven years and a personal friend, said: "As a surgeon he had marked ability and superior judgment; he rendered unusual public service to his city and the state; his business ability guided the affairs of many households; his sympathy for his fellows impelled him to put forth his life to help others, either as individuals or institutions." In 1844 he married Eveline Beall, and his three children survived him; one son was Dr. F. N. Bonine. Dr. Evan J. Bonine died at Niles, Michigan, December 28, 1892, from chronic diarrhea acquired during army service.
Paper: "Report of a Case of Ear Embolism," "Physician and Surgeon, Ann Arbor, vol. vii.