The collection includes Arthur Bronson’s Accounts, 1817-1843 and undated; Land Papers, 1833-1844, for Illinois, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, New York (State) and Kings County, and Wisconsin; Legal Papers, 1828-1849; Correspondence, 1820-1848 and undated; Miscellaneous, 1825-1843 and undated; and Printed Materials, including maps, laws, land sale fliers and advertisements, etc., 1815-1867 and undated. Companies documented include the Peru Iron Company, Union Bank of New York, and the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company.
Some of Arthur’s papers are found in the collections of his father and brother, Isaac and Frederic Bronson, and in the Bronson Family Papers. Bronson papers housed at other institutions are available at the Clarke on 30 reels of positive microfilm (Micro. Mss. F-40). These include Arthur’s letters, 1825-1838?, 1815-1844 and accounts, 1823-1844 (reels 3-5); letters, 1822-1834 (reels 9-10); letters, 1838-1844 (reels 13-16); legal cases, undated (reel 19); letters, 1835-1836 (reel 22); and accounts, 1846-1865 (reel 23).
For additional letters of Anna Eliza (Bailey) Bronson, see the Bronson Family Papers finding aid.
Letters to Arthur Bronson may also be found in the Charles Butler Papers (3 reels of positive microfilm, Mss. Micro. F-79).
Biography:
Arthur Bronson was born on January 14, 1801 in New York (City), the seventh child of Isaac and Anna (Olcott) Bronson. He married Anna Eliza Bailey, daughter of Gen. Theodorus Bailey of New York, on November 20, 1823. They lived in New York and Connecticut.
Arthur was an attorney, a land speculator, a money lender, and a promoter of westward expansion. He died of pneumonia on November 19, 1844, leaving three children, names unknown. Anna Eliza survived until at least 1847. (This information is from reel 1 of 30 of the Bronson Family Papers in microfilm.)
