Stephen Bronson (1735-1809), a thrifty farmer
and a deacon of the Congregational church, was the grandson
of Rev. John Southmayd, Waterburys Congregational
minister from 1705 to 1740. Bronsons mother died when
he was only 6 years old, and his father married Anna Hopkins,
sister of Joseph Hopkins, four years later. Stephens
father died of measles in 1759, when Stephen was 25. Stephen
was the eldest son, and probably helped support his family
-- he had six siblings who survived childhood.
Stephen married Sarah Humaston in 1764; the couple had
seven children, three of whom survived to adulthood. Their
youngest son, Bennet, suffered from a long illness when
he was 12; his brother Jesse died of smallpox the following
year, 1788. Bennet was now the only son left in the Bronson
family, and, according to a story told later by his son,
his parents wanted him to abandon his education in order
to manage the farm. At the same time, in 1788, Stephen
Bronsons neighbor, the Episcopal minister and accused
Tory sympathizer, Rev. James Scovill, left Waterbury to
live in Canada.
Scovill had enslaved a man named Dick, who had been captured
in Africa during his childhood. Bennet Bronsons
son, Henry Bronson, later wrote in his 1858 History
of Waterbury that Dick was owned by Stephen Bronson
as well as by Rev. Scovill, although the chronology of
ownership is not clear. Dick was in his late forties when
Scovill left Waterbury. Rev. Scovills son remained
in the family home. Dick continued to work for him and
for Stephen Bronson. He would most likely have worked
the Bronson farm, allowing Bennet Bronson to return to
his academic pursuits.
Bennet entered Yale College in 1793 and went on to study
law with Noah B. Benedict in Woodbury. He married a relative
of Noah Benedicts in 1801 and opened a law office
in Waterbury the following year. He eventually became
one of the wealthiest men in Waterbury and was the first
president of the Waterbury Bank. His son Henry Bronson,
author of The History of Waterbury, published in
1858, had many fond memories of Dick, who had died 22
years earlier. Henry recalled that Dick was always
regarded as a member of the family.