JHC Bonté

John Harmon Charles Bonté (1831-1896) was a lawyer and Episcopal priest from Ohio who served as a Union chaplain in the Civil War. He was rector of churches in D.C. and Oswego, NY, after the war then moved with his family to Sacramento in 1870. He became rector of Grace Episcopal Church whose parishioners included Leland Stanford and Charles Crocker. He was chaplain of both the state assembly and state senate. He became rector of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Redwood City but left to become Secretary of the Board of Regents of the University of California in 1880. He developed a tyrannical reputation on campus and was often ridiculed in student publications and given the nickname "Jesus H. Christ Bonté ". He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by his alma mater, Kenyon College, and taught as a Professor of Legal Ethics at U.C.'s Hastings College of Law. Bonté was a visiting dignitary at the opening of Stanford University and gave the benediction after the formal program.