John (Brownson) Bronson (abt. 1602 - abt. 1680)

Born about 1602 in Earls Colne, Essex, England

Ancestors

Husband of Frances (Hills) Bronson — married 19 Nov 1626 in Halstead, Essex, England

Descendants

Died about 28 Nov 1680 at about age 78 in Farmington, Hartford, Connecticut

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John (Brownson) Bronson migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 46) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Disproved Ancestry

It was thought that John was the son of "Old Richard" Brunson, with an illustrious ancestry. This ancestry was included in Harriet Bronson Sibley's Bronson Lineage, Dallas, Oregon, 1917. It has been disproved by John Insley Coddington in the article mentioned below. Baptismal records for John, the son of Roger Bownson, were found at Earl's Colne, as well as records showing that Roger married Mary Underwood. Other errors include the attachment of a coat of arms to this family, when it was clearly not a noble family and the statement that the family came to England from Scotland in 1568

The most accurate information regarding John's life and ancestry is available in an article by Coddington in The American Genealogist.^[1] This article was used as a basis for much of this biography.

Biography

Although John was called Bronson in later records in America, he was baptized as John Brownson at Holy Innocents Church, Lamarsh, Essex, England, on 21 Sept 1602, the son of Roger Brownson and his wife Mary Underwood, daughter of John Underwood.

John Brownson was a brother of Richard Brownson and Mary Disborough, all of whom emigrated to New England. He was called John Brownson Junr to differential him from his uncle John.

He married Frances Hills at Halstead, Essex, England, on 19 Nov 1626. Her origins have not been proven. It is possible that she died and John remarried, as the name of John's wife is never mentioned in New England, although no record of her death had been found in England.

He had at least the following children at Earl's Colne:^[2]

• Mary, bpt. 12 Dec 1627; m1. John Wyatt; m2. John Graves; m3. William Allis; m4. Samuel Gaylord; d. after 4 Sept 1690
• John, bpt. 17 Feb 1628/29; d. in infancy
• John, bpt. 28 Dec 1631; buried 23 March 1631/32
• Dorcas, bpt. 19 Dec 1633; m. Stephen Hopkins; d. 13 May 1697 at Hartford, Connecticut

In 1635 he went to Massachusetts along with his brother Richard and sister Mary. Likely they traveled on the Defense to Boston, arriving at Boston on 8 Oct 1635. The Defence had other people from Earl's Colne aboard, although the Brownsons are not listed as passengers.^[3] There is no record of John in Massachusetts, so he probably moved to Connecticut very soon after his arrival. Likely they were in the first group that left for Hartford, Connecticut with Thomas Hooker in 1636.

John served in the Pequot War. He enlisted in 1637 under the name Brunson.

John had additional children in Connecticut:

• Sarah, b. ca. 1639 at Hartford; m. William Kilbourn; d. 4 Dec 1711 at Wethersfield, Connecticut
• Jacob, b. Hartford ca. 1641; d. 1708
• John, b. Hartford or Farmington ca. 1643; d. South Carolina 1712
• Isaac, b. Hartford or Farmington ca. Nov 1645; d. before 29 Feb 1719/20 at Waterbury, Connecticut
• Abraham, b. Hartford or Farmington 1647; bpt. 28 Nov 1647 at Farmington; d. 1719 at Lyme, Connecticut

He moved to Farmington, Connecticut about 1641 when that community was founded.^[4] He appears in records by 7 March 1649/50. The following children were mentioned in medical records in 1657: Sarah, 18; John, 15; Isaac, 12; and Abraham, 10; and Jacob was mentioned as being 28 in 1669.

John left no Will. The Inventory of John Brunson's estate was taken on 28 Nov 1680, so he probably died in October or November 1680. His property was divided among his surviving children, Jacob Brunson; Isaac Brunson; Mary Ellis; John Brunson; Abraham Brunson; Dorcas Hopkins; and Sarah Kilbourn, who had to make payments to the surviving widow.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ The Brownson, Bronson or Brunson of Earle's Colne, Essex, England, - Connecticut and South Carolina; Coddington, John Insley; The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) TAG 38(1963):193
2. ↑ N. Grier Parke, ed. Donald Lines Jacobus.The Ancestry of Lorenzo Ackley & His Wife Emma Arabella Bosworth, Woodstock, VT: The Elm Tree Press, 1960. Page 214ff.
3. ↑ Lynn Winfield Wilson, however, says that John Brownson "came over with the London company on the ship Hercules in 1628". History of Fairfield County, Connecticut, 1639-1928, Volume 2 (S.J. Clarke, 1929), p. 539.
4. ↑ Orcutt, History of New Milford and Bridgewater: "BROWNSON, John, believed to have been one of the company who came with Mr. Hooker to Hartford in 1636; was in the bloody Pequot battle of 1637. He removed to Tunxis (Farmington) about 1641; and was one of the seven pillars at the organization of the Farmington church in 1652."
5. ↑ Manwaring, Charles William. A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records.Volume 1. Hartford District 1635-1700. Hartford, Conn., R.S. Peck & Co., Printers, 1904.) p. 52

• Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford
• New Englanders in the 1600s: A Guide to Genealogical Research Published Between 1980 and 2005, by Matin E. Hollick (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston: 2006) WorldCat.

BRONSON, JOHN, b. 1602, d. Farmington, Conn., November 1680. Goodman [Harrison Black, The Ancestry of Frances Maria Goodman 1829-1912, Wife of Learner Blackman Harrison (Boston, MA: Newbury Street Press, 2001). Reviews: TAG 77:320-21, NEHGR 156:395-96, CN 35:449], pp. 109-15; including English origins; Pond [Robert Croll Stevens, Ancestry of the Children of Rober Croll Stevens and Jane Eleanor (Knauss) Stevens (Pittsford, NY; Tucker Printers, Inc. 1990)], 276, including English origins; TAG [The American Genealogist] 71:206-14 (Isaac2). Page 30.

• Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700, by Clarence Almon Torrey (New England Historic Genealogical Society: Boston 2011)

BRONSON, John (?1600-1680) & [?Frances]_______; by 1631, by 1646; Hartford/Farmington, CT/Waterbury, CT {Reg. 4:325, 12:192; Waterbury 137-8; Deerfield 25; Sunderland Hist. 250; Sv. 1:280; Boardman Anc. 252; Collins 21; Fulton Anc. 166, 316; Peabody Anc. 99; TAG 9:68; Dommerich Chart 21; Beach Anc. (1936) 61; Bronson 8, 11, 177; Hartford Prob. 1:278; Bassett (1926) 133; Warner-Harrington 80; Hale (1952) 577, 656; Ackley-Bosworth 216; R. W. Cooke Chart}

• 11 Generations of the Clothier Genealogy',by Jesse Clothier Davis, Compiler: Anthony Clemente Jr., Warren State: Michigan
• The Family Memorial: A History and Genealogy of the Kilbourn Family in the US and Canada from 1635 to the Present, by Payne Keyyon Kilbourn (Brown and Parsons, Hatford, CT, 1845)
• Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s Author: Gale Research Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010.Original data - Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2010.
• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~stuw/fam02829.htm
• Orcutt, Samuel. History of the Town of Wolcott (American Printing Co., Waterbury, Conn, 1874) Page 458