Born: 06 June 1713 Breakneck, Waterbury, New Haven, CT Married: 1st: 23 Jul 1735 to Dinah Sutliff               2nd: 15 May 1740 to Sarah Hurd (widow of David Leavenworth)               3rd: 23 Dec 1767 to Rebeckah Warner (widow of Moses Hurlburt)               4th: 12 Jun 1798 to Hulda Warner (widow of Samuel Williams) Died: 02 Feb 1804 Middlebury, New Haven, CT Buried: Middlebury Cemetery, Middlebury, New Haven, CT FATHER Isaac Bronson MOTHER Mary Morgan WIVES 1. Dinah Sutliff 2. Sarah Hurd  3. Rebeckah Warner                  4. Hulda Warner CHILDREN with Dianah Sutcliff 1. Lucy Bronson b. 10 Sep 1736 CHILDREN with Sarah Hurd

Josiah Bronson, oil on canvas, 25 x30 in.  Attributed to William Jennys.  Hanging in Mattatuck Museum. Gift of Mrs. Ernest R. Dalley, 1949

1. David Bronson  b. 25 June 1741

2. Abel Bronson  b. 30 May 1743

3. Azuba Bronson b. 28 April 1745

4. Reuben Bronson b. 05 June 1747

5. Thaddeus Bronson b. 22 July 1749

6. Josiah Bronson b. 01 Feb 1751

7. Elijah Bronson b. 15 May 1755

Josiah Bronson
by Susan Brooke
Aug 2021

Josiah Bronson was the 4th child born to Isaac and Mary (Morgan) Bronson.  The Barbour Collection says he was born 1 Jun 1713 but Findagrave says 6 Jun 1713. (1) (2) By all accounts he was of robust constitution, cheerful disposition and iron will. (3) He married four times.  His first wife, Dinah Sutliff, died shortly after the birth of their daughter, Lucy. At the time he was probably building his home on Breakneck Hill (4) In 1840 he married his 2nd wife, Sarah Hurd and they had seven children. She died in August 1767 and he married for the 3rd time to Rebeckah Warner in December 1767.  When he wrote his will on1 Oct 1787 he named his wife Rebecca.  However, she died in 1797 and year later he married Hulda Warner.  She was named as Mary in the estate distribution.  (5)
Josiah was a tavern and innkeeper as well as a farmer.  By the time of his death he had acquired a lot of land.  He was also a Patriot. His land and inn were first used in 1781 when Rochambeau's French army encamped in Middlebury from June 27 to July, on its way to the Siege of Yorktown, and again from October 26-28, 1782, during their return journey. (4) The French records record the arduous journey.  They even report that Josiah's daughter Esther was reportedly locked up by her father to keep her from eloping with a French officer. (6) Of course Josiah Bronson did not have a daughter named Esther, and both of his daughters were already married. Still, the report gives you the feeling of what it must have been like.  There was also reports that at some point he received an axe blow to his forehead. (7)
His will was probated on 23 Feb 1804.  When his estate was distributed each of his four youngest sons receive over £850 worth of land, housing and goods.(5) He was buried in Middlebury Cemetery. (8)

Sources

(1) Barbour Collection 

(2) Findagrave

(3) "The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut, From the Aboriginal Period To The Year Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-Five", Edited by Joseph Anderson, D, D, 1896 Volume I
pg 514  "Lieutenant Josiah Bronson, son of Isaac and Mary (Morgan) Bronson, was born in Waterbury, at Breakneck, in June 1713. He was a man of robust constitution, cheerful disposition and iron will, and took a prominent part in the religious, social and military life of the town. He belonged to a family, several members of which were Revolutionary officers.
On July 23, 1735, he married Dinah, daughter of John Sutliff, who died the following year. He married his second wife, Sarah, the widow of David Leavenworth of Woodbury, May 15, 1740. She lived until August 28, 1767, and was the mother of seven of his children. A few months after her death, that is, on December 23, 1767, he took to wife Rebekah, relict of Joseph Hurlburt of Woodbury. After thirty years of married bliss she passed away on June 5, 1797, and one year later (June 12, 1798) he married Mrs. Huldah Williams, who survived him. He died, February 20, 1804, at the ripe age of ninety."

pg 398  "In October, 1760, Josiah Bronson and other inhabitants of present Middlebury and its vicinity, complaining of their sufferings endured in reaching places of public worship because of distance and the badness of roads, besought the General Assembly to grant them winter privileges under the usual forms. The petition was granted-the time being from the first day of December to the last of March, annually, for three years."

pg 560 "The road from Watertown to Middlebury, as originally laid out, was surveyed in 1741. It began at the Woodbury road at Break Neck hill, ran a little west of Josiah Bronson's house, through Isaac Bronson's farm - - -"

"History of Waterbury, Connecticut, original township embracing present Waterbury and Plymouth, and part of Oxford, Wolcott, Middlebury, Prospect and Naugatuck, with an appendix of biography, genealogy and statistics:" Bronson Bros. 1858" 

pg 470 "Lt. Josiah, son of Isaac, m. Dinah, dau. of John Sutliff, July 23, 1735.  She d. Sept. 10, 1736, and he m. Sarah, wid. of David Leavenworth of Woodbury, May 15, 1740, who d. Aug. 28, 1767, and he m. 3d, Rebecca, wid. of Moses Hurlbut of Woodbury, Dec. 23, 1767.  She d. June 5, 1797, and he m. 4th wid. Huldah Williams, June 12, 1798. He was born at Breakneck.  Blest by nature with a robust constitution, a cheerful, bouyant spirit and an iron will, he was eminently fitted to grapple with the many difficulties incident to the time in which he lived.  He was shrewd, calculating and social; became a lieutenant, secured wealth, and obtained an honorable position in society. With less of the puritan strictness which characterized most men of his day, he was a professor of religion, and died, at a good old age, Feb. 20, 1804."

(4) Home built by Josiah Bronson on Breakneck Hill

The oldest surviving house in Middlebury was built by Josiah Bronson on Breakneck Hill Road in 1738. The house also served as a tavern and hosted a number of French officers during the Revolutionary War: first in 1781 when Rochambeau’s French army encamped in Middlebury from June 27 to July 1, on its way to the Siege of Yorktown, and again from October 26-28, 1782, during their return journey. One of the officers to stay in the tavern was the Baron de Viomenil, who was second in command to General Rochambeau during the Yorktown Campaign. At these times, Rochambeau himself most likely stayed with Captain Isaac Bronson, Josiah’s father, further down the hill. The Josiah Bronson House was acquired in 1940 by Lawrence M. and Esther Duryee, who restored it.

(5) Connecticut Wills and Probate Records

Will written 1 Oct 1787 and probated 23 Feb 1804.  Names wife Rebecca.  Leaves the house he formerly gave to his son David to his son, to be accounted to him.    Leaves £6 to his son Joseph in addition to the gifts he has already received.  Mentions his grandchildren, heirs of his daughter Lucy late wife of Capt. James Porter.  Mentions Azabah, wife of Abner Munson.  The rest to be divided among his sons: David, Abel, Reuben, Thaddeus and Elijah. Each of these last 4 sons received £859. 75. 5