USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > The history of Waterbury, Connecticut; the original township embracing present Watertown and Plymouth, and parts of Oxford, Wolcott, Middlebury, Prospect and Naugatuck. With an appendix of biography, genealogy and statistics > Part 37
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Isaac Bronson died of a neuralgic affection of the heart, at Greenfield Hill, May 19, 1839. His widow died, at the same place, May 17, 1850, in the 86th year of her age.
ETHEL BRONSON,
A younger brother of Dr. Isaac Bronson, was born in that part of Waterbury which is now Middlebury, July 22d, 1765, and married Dec. 30, 1787, Hepzibah, daughter of Joseph Hopkins, Esq. He became a prominent citizen of his native town, was a justice of the peace, and a member of the Legislature for six sessions.
In May, 1804, he removed to Jefferson County, N. Y., and became the agent of his brother Isaac for the sale of lands. He went with his family in company with David Tyler and Josiah Tyler. The journey occupied three weeks, over roads barely passable with teams, and through uninhabited forests. The party were obliged to walk much of the dis- tance, to encamp in their wagons, and to subsist, in good part, on wild
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game. They settled in Rutland, near Watertown, Bronson in the center of the town.
Ethel Bronson was one of the leading men of Jefferson County. He was three times elected to the Legislature, and in 1813 was judge of the County Court. At the time of his death, in 1825, he was president of the Jefferson County Bank. "He was not ambitious for public office; but in those qualities that make a good citizen, a kind neighbor and a valued friend, he was preëminent. He was kind and liberal al- most to a fault ; yet public spirited, and enterprising, and possessing a character marked with integrity and probity. He was beloved by his friends, and respected by all who knew him."*
ISAAC H. BRONSON,
Son of Ethel Bronson, was born in Waterbury, parish of Middle- bury, probably in 1802. An obituary notice, published in the New York Journal of Commerce, Aug. 29, 1855, says that he was born in Rutland, Jefferson Co., Oct. 16, 1802. At this period, his father had not removed from Middlebury. The American Almanac, for 1856, gives his age at the time of his death, in 1855, as 48. He must have been several years older.
Mr. Bronson, according to the Journal of Commerce, was admitted to the bar in 1822. He rose rapidly to eminence, as a lawyer, in Jeffer- son County. He was elected to the twenty-fifth Congress, in 1836, and was a candidate, in 1838, for the next Congress, but was defeated. In the last named year, he was appointed Circuit Judge, but being in deli- cate health, he declined to serve, and retired to private life.
In 1840, Mr. Bronson was appointed United States Judge for the Eastern District of Florida, and retained the office till 1845, when Flor- ida became a State. His residence during this period, and afterwards, while United States Judge, is set down as St. Augustine. At the first session of the Legislature of the new State, he was chosen unanimously Circuit Judge of the Eastern Circuit of Florida. Soon after, he was appointed United States District Judge of the State ; and a year later, when the State was divided, he retained the Northern District, and was continued in office till his decease. He died at his residence, Sunny Point, Palatka, (a few miles from St. Augustine,) Fla., Aug. 13, 1855.
Mr. Bronson is described as a most able judge-a man of high moral principle, of liberal and patriotic views, of energy, sagacity and busi-
* Hough's History of Jefferson County, N. Y.
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ness capacity. For fifteen years his name was identified with the his- tory and prosperity of Florida.
TILLOTSON BRONSON, D. D.,
The fourth in descent from Isaac Bronson, the original planter of Wa- terbury, was the sixth chill and eldest son of Capt. Amos and Anna (Blakeslee) Bronson, and was born at a place called Jerico, on the Nang- atuck River, in Northbury, Jan. 8, 1762. His father was one of the leading men of the Episcopal society of the place. Being a regular attendant at church, and living at some distance, he was accustomed, on Sunday morning, to provide himself as follows :- Taking a common brown corn bag, he would put the dinner in one end and a wooden bot- tle of cider in the other. Placing this across the saddle, he mounted the horse, took his wife behind him on a pillion, placed " Tilly," or some of the other children, before, and thus equipped for the day, rode to church. This was the common method of traveling in those days. Sometimes a second child would be taken in the lap of the mother. Occasionally, still another, it is stated, was added to the load ; but I know not where it could have been placed, unless in the bag to balance the oats which were sometimes carried. A horse fully freighted in this way, with provision, live stock and cider, was said to carry a " Judd load," after some of the Judds who were remarkable for these demon- strations.
Capt. Bronson was a respectable farmer, and very naturally desired that his eldest son, who could be of most assistance to him, should fol- low his own occupation. The son acceded to the wishes of the father, and labored upon the farm ; but his heart and mind were somewhere else. Refraining wholly from amusements, it is stated that he spent all his leisure hours in the perusal of the few books which he could command. IIis mother encouraged him in his studies, and desired he should have the benefit of a public education. But the father was still averse to gratifying these inclinations, thinking perhaps he could ill afford the ex- pense. But the mother persevered, and the result was Tilly, at the age of eighteen, was put under the care of the Rev. Mr. Trumbull of West- bury to study Latin and Greek, and prepare for college. He afterwards taught school in Waterbury, in order to aid in defraying the expenses of his education. While a member of Yale College, his mother, persever- ing in her purpose, made great exertions for his support. She spun, and wove, and carded wool. Often she rode into New Haven on horseback, carrying the rolls (of wool) which she had prepared, behind her, with
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which she paid her son's quarter bills. He assisted by keeping school ; the last year of his college course, in New Milford. He graduated in 1786, having for classmates, Stanley Griswold, Frederick Wolcott, John Kingsbury, (afterwards of Waterbury,) &c. Little is known of his scholarship at this time, except that he was a laborious student. Imme- diately after graduation, he was admitted as a candidate for holy orders .* HIe prosecuted, for a time, his theological studies under the direction of the Rev. Dr. Mansfield, but completed them under the immediate super- intendence of Bishop Seabury. By the latter, he was ordained as dea- con, Sept. 11, 1787, and priest, Feb. 24, 1788.
In the first year of his ministry, Mr. Bronson officiated in the churches at Stratford, Vt., and Hanover, N. H. Afterwards, he went to Boston and supplied the place of Rev. Mr. Montague, Rector of Christ's Church, during a temporary absence. At a later period, he officiated in Hebron, Chatham and Middle Haddam, in this State. In 1795, by invitation of the Episcopal Convention, he opened a school in Cheshire, which was designed to prepare the way for the Academy in that place. In Decem- ber, 1797, he accepted an invitation from the Episcopal society of Wa- terbury, and became its first settled pastor after the completion of the new church. Here he labored three-fourths of the time, for which he received $250 per annum. The remaining fourth, he preached in Salem. He resided in the old " Barlow house," the house next east of Almon Farrel's, on Grand street. His parochial duties were discharged with faithfulness, ability and success. The parish prospered under his teach- ings, and a strong affection grew up between minister and people. He was wont to recur, in after life, to the period he spent in Waterbury, in charge of St. John's church, as the happiest and most satisfactory of his life. At last, however, the inadequateness of his salary, and the unwill- ingness or inability of his people to raise it, compelled him to seek a new situation. He preached his farewell sermon in June, 1806.
From Waterbury, Mr. Bronson removed to New Haven, and became the editor of the Churchman's Magazine. Soon after, in the same year, he was appointed, by the Episcopal Convention, principal of the Acade- my in Cheshire, where he took up his residence. He continued, how- ever, in the management of the Magazine, arranging the papers, and furnishing much of the matter, editorially and in the way of commu- nications. The interesting sketch of the history of the church in Wa- terbury, of which I have made a liberal use on a previous occasion, ap-
* See Rev. Dr. Beardsley's Historical Address, giving an account of the Episcopal Academy in Cheshire-also, the Rev. Dr. Noble's Memoir of Dr. Bronson in the Churchman's Magazine, Vol. V. To both of these sources, I am indebted for facts contained in this sketch.
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pears to have been furnished by him. After two or three years, the place of publication of the periodical was removed to New York, and Mr. Bronson's connection with it ceased. At a subsequent period, he once more became the editor, the work having, in the mean time, been discontinued and again revived. He was acting in this capacity when fatal disease overtook him. The volumes which were published under his supervision, are regarded as the ablest and most valuable of the whole, and creditable to American literature.
About the time Mr. Bronson was appointed principal of the Acad- emy, he was chosen a member of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1813, he received from Brown University the degree of Doctor of Divinity. His influence in the councils of the Diocese was uniformly great, and for twenty years he was chosen by the Convention their standing committee. He held other offices of honor and responsi- bility, all of which his broken health compelled him to resign or de- cline in June, 1826. At this time, an affecting letter was addressed by him to the Convention, in session at Newtown, from which the following is an extract. I give also some remarks by Dr. Beardsley.
Next October will complete forty years that I have been in the ministry. Dur- ing the whole of which time, I have been blessed with such a measure of health as never to have been absent from Convention through bodily indisposition ; rarely from any other cause ; and never more than on three or four occasions, from the public service of the Church, until within a few weeks past. At this time, there is but one elergyman in these states, whose letters of orders, from the American Episcopate, are dated earlier than mine. During twenty years past, just one half of my clerical life, I have been honored with the confidence of the Convention in their choice of standing committee. It is thus full time I should wish to retire from the trust. To this I am loudly admonished by increasing years, and more by a bodily infirmity which threatens to render me incapable of discharging the incumbent duty. It is therefore my earnest desire no longer to be considered as a candidate for any appointment in the gift of the Convention. With all proper sentiments of respect and gratitude for the past, I beg the acceptance of my best wishes and prayers for the harmony, peace and prosperity of the Church and Diocese, in which I have so long ministered.
As a scholar, [says the Rev. Dr. Beardsley,] his reputation was deservedly high. He was profonnd and correct, without being brilliant or polished. His love of the classics increased with his years, and the glow of enthusiasm into which he would kindle while commenting on beautiful passages in Homer and Virgil, often transported him, like Priam's zeal for fallen Troy, beyond the neces- sities of the occasion. But his favorite studies were mathematics and natural philosophy ; and to these he would devote himself for hours, unconscious of ex- ternal things and unmindful of his bodily comfort. [He delivered to the pupils of the Academy of which he had charge till the close of life] a series of lectures on the rise and progress of the manual arts, which, begun at an early period of his labors as an instructor, were perfected as the advancement of science and his own
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researches furnished materials. Detached parts of these lectures appeared in the Churchman's Magazine ; and so highly were they esteemed by his pupils, that the project was once suggested of securing the publication of the whole series.
He wrote and published, in his magazine, several short pieces of poetry. One, entitled the "Retrospect," (Vol. V, p. 158,) describes the wild scenery which surrounded his youthful home on the Naugatuck ; and if it does not reach the highest standard of excellence, it is supe- rior to much that goes by the name of poetry.
Dr. Bronson was not an orator. IIe did not study the graces of elo- cution. Still, his sermons were always good. Their characteristics were clearness and fulness. As a teacher, he acquired a wide reputation ; and the Academy of which he was the head, a degree of respectability which had then been obtained by few similar institutions. The number of students ranged, for a long period, from eighty to one hundred, a great proportion of whom were preparing for college, or pursuing a pro- fessional course of theology.
The subject of this notice was distinguished for modesty, simplicity, sincerity. He was mild, amiable and indulgent, and is charged with being lax in discipline. At the same time, he is described as inflexible in principle. After having suffered several months from stone in the bladder, he had repeated paralytic attacks, and died Sept. 6, 1826, in the 65th year of his age.
BENNET BRONSON
Was the youngest son of Dea. Stephen Bronson, a thrifty farmer, and was born on the old Isaac Bronson place, Nov. 14, 1775. In childhood, he worked upon the farm in the summer, and attended a district school in the winter. In 1786, he went to the town Academy, then recently opened, having for a schoolmate Jeremiah Day, afterwards president of Yale College. From an early period, his father had intended he should go to college ; but at the age of twelve years he had a long course of sickness, from which he did not recover till after the death of his eldest brother, Jesse. Being now an only son, his father wanted his assistance on the farm, but at length concluded to put him upon a course of study. With this object, he was sent to Cheshire, at the age of fifteen, to study with the Rev. John Foot, the Congregational minister, in whose family he resided. After six months, he returned home, and al- ternately labored on the farm and studied, till May, 1793. He then went back to Mr. Foot's, completed his preparatory studies, and entered Yale College. In 1797, he graduated, having for classmates, Lyman
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Beecher, Thomas Day, Samuel A. Foot, James Murdock, Horatio Sey- mour, Seth P. Staples, and other distinguished men.
The first year after leaving College, Mr. Bronson spent in teaching school and working his father's farm. In September, 1798, he engaged in a school at Derby Landing; but before the end of the first quarter received the appointment of first lieutenant in the provisional army of the United States. He finished the quarter, and entered on the recruit- ing service in May, 1799. In August following, he joined his regi- ment at New Haven under Col. Timothy Taylor. In October, the regi- ment was ordered to New Jersey; but the packet at Hurl Gate ran upon sunken rocks and filled. Small boats came and rescued the pas- sengers, who were in great peril. They were quartered in New Jersey with two other regiments, at a place called Scotch Plains, for the winter. The three (11th, 12th and 13th) were commanded by Col. Smith of New York. But "John Adams' war" was a short one. The army was disbanded by act of Congress, in 1800, and Lieut. Bronson doffed his epaulets and returned to Waterbury.
The next week after his return, Mr. B. commenced the study of law under the Hon. Noah B. Benedict of Woodbury. In April, 1802, he was admitted to the bar in Litchfield County, and the next summer opened an office in his native town.
In May, 1809, Mr. Bronson was appointed a justice of the peace, and was reappointed 'annually till 1818. In May, 1827, he was again se- lected for that office, and held it for three successive years. After- wards, he refused to serve. In May, 1812, he was made one of the as- sistant judges of the New Haven County Court, and was continued in office two years. In 1824, he became chief judge of the same court and held the office six years, when a change of political parties caused his removal. Once only, in May, 1829, he represented the town in the Legislature.
In the spring of 1814, Mr. Bronson became interested, for the first time, in the manufacturing business. He connected himself, for one year, with the late Mark Leavenworth. They made, with a good profit, five thousand wooden clocks. In the spring of 1823, he became a lim- ited partner, in the company of " A. Benedict," for the manufacture of brass and gilt buttons. Of the $6,500 capital, he took $2,000, and his friends in New Haven, Nathan Smith, William Bristol and David C. De Forest, 3,000. IIe besides lent the company money and supplied it, to a limited extent, with credit. Though not, at that time, a man of large means, he was better known for his pecuniary reliability than any man in his neighborhood. Thus the company started with a good
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credit, which, under the skillful management of the general partner, it ever afterwards maintained. ITis interest in the business, carried on un- der various names and organizations, continued till his decease.
When the Waterbury Bank was organized in 1848, Mr. B. was one of its most influential friends. Its stock was taken up with the under- standing that he was to be its chief officer. He subscribed largely him- self, and was the president till his death.
From an early period, the subject of this notice was an extensive land owner. Indeed, farming was the only business, except his profession, to which he gave his personal attention. He soon discovered, or rather re- discovered, the superior value of the river over the hill lands, and their greater susceptibility of improvement by good husbandry. While the lat- ter would yield say three or four per cent. on the buying price, the former might be readily made to pay seven or eight. Ile deelined, therefore, to till his uplands, and bought in the meadows, adding to his purchases from year to year, till he finally owned about one hundred acres up and down the Naugatuck River. These lands were near at hand and easily worked. Manure could be got upon them with much less expense than upon the uplands. His first work was to clear up the bushes which had been gradually extending from many points, and to fill up the holes with brush-wood loaded with stones. IIe thus removed the impediments to the current of water which, in flood time, had made such havoc with the soil. He selected the more elevated and least valuable ground, covered the surface deeply with manure, plowed and planted it with corn, and then, in the fall, sowed it with rye and grass seed. Thus he obtained excellent crops of corn, rye, oats and grass, and made lands which were nearly worthless-which had lain neglected for a long time -quite valuable. Sometimes his plowed fields would get washed by the floods, but not often.
Mr. Bronson's professional business, though not extensive, was respect- able. He was a good lawyer, sound, discriminating, and in early and middle life studious. Hle was confided in by members of the bar, and as a draughtsman had few superiors. He never encouraged litigation, and never engaged in a suit which should injure the reputation of an honest man. As an advocate, he always addressed himself to the point ; but his language did not flow easily and was not always accurate. His words were not as clear as his thoughts; and yet he often made an able argument.
Upon the bench, Judge Bronson was thoroughly competent, dis- charging his duties with uprightness and ability. His naturally strong and discriminating mind, and his thorough acquaintance with legal
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science, well fitted him for this position. No man was better proof against ingenious sophistry ; less likely to be imposed upon by refined legal subtleties. There doubtless have been more learned jurists ; but a sounder or better judge has rarely sat in the courts of this State. This opinion prevailed inside as well as outside the bar. Conse- quently, his decisions commanded respect.
As a man, Judge Bronson was known for truth, fidelity and probity -for his prudence, good judgment and admirable common sense. For truth he had such veneration that he never indulged in the common luxury of exaggeration. Nor would he speak carelessly, in way of statement, even on unimportant matters. He did not allow himself to guess. So far as he knew, he would say, but would not go a step be- yond. No man knew better the limits of one's own knowledge. If his opinion was required, he would give it, cautiously, as a judgment, aware of the responsibility. He did not confound facts with inferences. Rigidly and exactly just, it is believed he never took an unfair advantage of the necessities of his fellow men, or of his own position or knowledge. If he wished to buy, he was willing to give a fair price, and if he desired to sell, he would ask no more than the thing was honestly worth. He never cried down another man's goods or praised his own, in order to get a good bargain. With him, there was no haggling or chaffering about prices. What he would do, he said at the beginning, and that was the end of it. If a person tried to beat him down in his price, he would sometimes raise it, and then get what he asked. If he was cheated, he remem- bered it, and would have no more to do with the cheater. If a man tried to get an undue advantage, he considered himself at liberty to make him pay for it. For instance, he and another person, whom I shall call Mr. A., owned between them a large amount of mixed proper- ty. When they came to divide, they agreed to assort it, throw it into two parcels and then draw lots for the parcels. If either did not like his allotment, he might bid for a choice. The lot was drawn, and each got the parcel he desired, and the only parcel he could use. This both understood. After a minute's silence, Mr. A. turned to Mr. B. and said-"Well, shall you bid ?" Mr. B .- "I will think of it." Mr. A .- "I think I shall bid." Mr. B .- " Well, what will you give ?" Mr. A. -" Ten dollars." Mr. B .- " I will take it, and you shall have your choice." Mr. A .- " When will you execute the necessary papers ?" Mr. B .- " Now." Mr. A .- " Well, perhaps we will put it off till to- morrow." The result was as had been foreseen. Mr. A. chose the property which had been distributed to him by lot, and paid the ten dollars.
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Judge Bronson's opinions and judgments on common affairs, and on all those subjects with which his life had made him familiar, were more relied on, perhaps, than those of any man in the section of the State in which he lived. Few, for instance, could estimate with equal precision the powers and capacities and money value of a tract of land, with which he had been unacquainted. IIe could tell with great accuracy what land would produce, and on this knowledge grounded his judg- ment. And this accuracy was extended to all subjects to which he gave his attention. As appraiser, arbitrator, commissioner and referee, his services were much sought.
Judge B. was hard headed, rather incredulous than the contrary, and was not often deceived by appearances. Those epidemic excite- ments which overthrow the reason and carry down the masses did not move him. If there was a truth at the foundation, he usually found it and accepted it, but could see no good from getting wild over it.
Mr. B. always had a taste for reading. For a resident of a country town, he had a large law library, and a good collection of miscellaneous books. IIe was familiar with theology, history and politics. He stu- died thoroughly the masterly volumes of Edwards, and was conversant with Bellamy and Dwight. Chalmers' essay on Christianity, in the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, he admired ; but the later productions of that distinguished author were too gorgeously ornamented for his severe taste. As a historian and writer, Ilume was his pattern-man. The style of Robertson was too much adorned. Bancroft was ambitious and affected ; but Prescott he liked. Few men were better acquainted with New England history. He read old Benjamin Trumbull, Hutchinson, Cotton Mather; and was at home among the chroniclers of the Puri- tan faith. He was himself a Puritan, and reverenced the stern simpli- city, the deep piety and unswerving constancy of the fathers of that sect. Of the traditional and record-history of his native town-of the geneal- ogy of its old families-he knew far more than anybody else. His memory for facts, dates, numbers and statistics in general, was unsur- passed. He had a good mathematical mind, and would carry more figures in his head than anybody the writer has happened to know. He was par- ticularly well provided with geographical information. In fact, his read- ing and inquiries took a wide range. His favorite papers were the old Hartford Courant and the old Connecticut Journal. These he read from the first to the last line. After the New York Observer was established he took that. In politics, he was an unflinching Federalist, and did not live long enough to repent of it. Washington and Hamilton were his great men in the general government. At home, he associated himself
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