Bios: JOHN BRONSON, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens
  
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      JOHN BRONSON,
  
  [p. 661] who owns 112 acres of valuable land in the northern part of
  Little Beaver Township, which he devotes to general farming,
  berry-growing and stockraising, is one of the substantial men of this
  section. He was born July 5, 1865, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania,
  and is a son of Samuel and Sarah Ellen (Russell) Bronson.
  
  Samuel Bronson, father of John, was born in Belle Vernon, now in Fayette
  County, Pennsylvania, and was a son of Abner Bronson, who was one of the
  first settlers in that vicinity. He came to that section from Venice
  Center, New York, and Indians still had their home in the wild place
  where he located. He was a lime-burner, and like many other men in that
  dangerous business, was accidentally smothered to death by the fumes in
  one of the kilns. He married Eliza McClain and they had six children:
  Amon, Samuel, William, Sarah, Madison and Anna.
  
  When Samuel Bronson was born, on May 11, 1835, Belle Vernon was nothing
  but a village, but farming lands surrounded it and coal fields were soon
  opened up and as a boy he worked in both. For five continuous years he
  was employed by Capt. John Gilmar on the Monongahela, Grey Fox, and Fox
  steamboats, which plied on the Ohio, Monongahela and Mississippi Rivers.
  When the Civil War broke out, Mr. Bronson was with one of these vessels
  in the harbor at New Orleans, but he was able to return unmolested to
  the North and then engaged in farming in Westmoreland County, which he
  continued until he accompanied his son, John Bronson, to Lawrence
  County. On February 19, 1862, he was married to Sarah Ellen Russell, a
  daughter of Samuel and Hannah (Shadwick) Russell. Samuel Russell came
  from Ireland and reached America as a stowaway on a ship. Mr. and Mrs.
  Bronson had seven children, namely: Robert, who died in infancy; John;
  Harry Franklin, deceased; Della, deceased; Mary Jane and Anna Belle,
  twins, the former of whom married J. O. Davenport; and Eliza.
  
  John Bronson may surely claim to have lived an industrious life for he
  was only six years old when he began to use his puny strength as a wage
  earner in the coal mines. As soon as he was able he became a user of the
  coal pick and off and on he continued work in the mines for a period of
  twenty-six years, and also, from the age of twenty-one, has been engaged
  more or less in farming. In 1903, he bought his present farm and the
  larger number of the buildings now standing, from Edward Underwood and
  the family will always remember the February day on which they came to
  Lawrence County, on account of the worst blizzard of the winter then
  prevailing. Mr. Bronson raises many berries for market, does general
  farming and is much interested in thoroughbred stock, particularly
  Jersey cattle and Berkshire hogs. He owns the fine racing mare, Nellie
  Trimble, which has a pacing record of 2:40, and this animal has had two
  colts.
  
  In politics, Mr. Bronson is a Democrat. He belongs to the Methodist
  Episcopal Church at Wampum.
  
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and
  Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing
  Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
  
  Updated: 21 Nov 2001