AUGUST BONDI 1833-1907 Jewish-American Abolitionist, Salina Resident
“August Bondi was born July 21, 1831, in Vienna, Austria. The Bondis, Jewish European refugees, fled the Austrian Empire after the failed revolutions of 1848 and settled in St. Louis, Missouri. August Bondi moved to Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas in 1855 with his business partner, Jacob Benjamin and began homesteading. As Free-Soilers who hated slavery, their farm was attacked and burned by "Border Ruffians" (pro-slavers). A neighboring farmer rushed to their aide with his sons. His name was John Brown.
Bondi joined with Brown and fought alongside of him at the Battle of Black Jack in 1856, defeating the pro-slave forces and helping enable Kansas to be admitted to the Union as a Free State January 29, 1861. Bondi enlisted in the Fifth Kansas Cavalry and served until he was seriously wounded three years later. Bondi settled in Salina, Kansas in 1866 becoming Postmaster and later a County Judge. A believer in the brotherhood of all men, he rose to be a 32nd degree Mason.”
