"Our Heritage"
By Claude Moore
July 31, 1984

I was collecting data on William and Julius Bonitz of Goldsboro when the Wayne County Heritage Book came out and I found that Mr. Charles Norwood had done two excellent articles on them. I am indebted to him for the data which I am using. I know that during the War Between the States that they had made official envelopes for the Confederate government and I had seen their gravestones at Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington.

Julius A. (1841-1891) and J. H. William (1839-1913) Bonitz were born in the Kingdom of Hanover (Germany after 1870) and were the sons of Johann and Dorothea Louise Schalitz Bonitz. They came from a long line of mining engineers.

William Bonitz came to the United States and for a time lived in Washington, D.C. He came to Goldsboro in 1859 and purchased a 550 acre tract of land on Stoney Creek, east of Goldsboro. In 1862, he married Mary Elise Stegner, and they had nine children. During the War, William Bonitz worked with his brother, Julius, on his newspaper called at first "Rough Notes" and later the "Goldsboro Messenger."

At the same time they manufactured and printed official envelopes for the Confederacy. His health was not good enough for military service, but in 1865, he volunteered and fought at the Battle of Bentonville. From 1867 to 1879, he operated the elegant Bonitz Hotel on the corner of Chestnut and Center Streets in Goldsboro, but in 1879, he sold the hotel. In 1889 he moved to Wilmington and opened the Bonitz Hotel on the north side of Market Street between Front and Market streets.

William Bonitz died in Wilmington and left a number of children among whom was Henry Emil Bonitz, an eminent architect.

Julius Bonitz came to the United States in 1857 and to Goldsboro in 1861. Goldsboro had a population of one thousand persons at that time including slaves. Young Julius enlisted in the Goldsboro Rifles and served in the Confederate Army for three years.

After the War he purchased the newspaper "Rough Notes" (Goldsboro Messenger) which he published until 1888 and then moved the newspaper to Wilmington. At one time the "Goldsboro Messenger" had the largest circulation of any paper in North Carolina.

Julius Bonitz was married to Delia Berndt of Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1873, and they lived on Elm Street in Goldsboro. He was very active as a Democrat in politics, having served as chairman of the Wayne County Democratic Committee, and he was a delegate of the Democratic National Conventions in 1872-1880, and in 1884.

He was chairman of the Wayne County Board of Education and a trustee of the North Carolina State Hospital at Goldsboro. In 1881 Julius Bonitz built the Messenger Opera House in Goldsboro on the north east corner of Chestnut and Center Streets. Many traveling musical and dramatic groups played at the opera house. In fact, the famous Sousa Band played there as well as the Ziegfield Musicals, and Billie Burke.

Julius Bonitz moved to Wilmington in 1888 and continued to operate the newspaper until his death in 1891. Even though he was buried in Wilmington, a monument was erected to him at Willowdale in Goldsboro. His daughter, Mrs. Hilda Bonitz Canady, lived until 1971.

The Bonitz Brothers were typical of the many young, capable and energetic Germans who came to the United States in the 19th century.