Obituary: Mariana Pingron Bonifay, 1829

Mariana Pingron Bonifay was born in Nantes, on the western coast of France, sometime between 1750 and 1758. Her memorial gives her age as 79 at her death in 1829 which would put her birth in 1750. Her 1784 entry in the Spanish Census of Pensacola gives her age as 26, putting her birth about 1758. The notice of death gives her name as Mariane, not Mariana. If she was born French, Mariane would have been her given name, but because she lived under the Spanish in Pensacola, her name would have become Mariana.

Mariana married Joseph Bonifay in Santo Domingo, probably about 1775-76, may have lived in New Orleans for a time, and moved to Pensacola by 1784. Joseph, possibly serving in the Spanish military, was, in her words, separated from her because of the war, and she was on her own in Pensacola. She did very well for herself and her children, involved in real estate, home construction, a brickyard and the cattle business. There are many Bonifay descendants, many of them in Pensacola, where the name Bonifay is well known.

Her place of burial is not recorded but is most likely in St. Michael's Cemetery in Pensacola.


Related Links:
Bonifay family of Pensacola