Isaac Bronson

Portrait of Isaac Bronson by John Trumbull

Isaac Bronson (March 10, 1760 in Middlebury, CT - May 19, 1838 in Greenfield Hill) was a surgeon during the American Revolutionary War. He was later a successful banker and land speculator and is credited with co-founding the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company and Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company. Bronson was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati.

Bronson's home "Verna" in Greenfield Hill later became Fairfield Country Day School. He is credited with planting the first dogwood trees along Bronson Road where today there is a yearly Dogwood Festival.

Life

Isaac Bronson trained medicine and received a warrant to become a junior surgeon ant the mere age or 19. He was then the senior surgeon and served until the end of the American Revolutionary War serving in the 2nd Regiment of Light Dragoons under George Washington. Bronson made a personal appeal to George Washington to have his mates treated fairly and awarded pensions like the other officers. Three decades later, the omission was finally addressed and surgeons were granted full pay for life. ^[1]

After the War, Isaac Bronson became interested in foreign commerce and traveled as far as China. After his last trip, he married Anna Olcott three months later ion August 30, 1789, and settled in New York. They had ten children, two who died in infancy.

Bronson then pursued a career in purchasing and selling government obligations. He was assisted by many friends from former officers, including Alexander Hamilton. By 1828, he was one of the wealthiest men in New York City, with assets of more than $250,000.

References

• Morrison, Grant. Isaac Bronson and the Search for System in American Capitalism, 1789-1838. New York: Arno Press, 1978