Silas Bronson
{{Short description|Connecticut merchant and philanthropist (1788–1867)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Silas Bronson
|image = Silas Bronson (Portrait).png
|signature = Silas Bronson (Signature).png
|birth_date = {{birth date|1788|02|15}}
|birth_place = West Farms, Waterbury, Connecticut (now part of Middlebury)
|death_date = {{death date and age|1867|11|24|1788|02|15}}
|death_place = New York City
|occupation = Merchant
Philanthropist
}}
Silas Bronson (February 15, 1788 – November 24, 1867) was a Connecticut-born merchant and philanthropist based in New York City. Born to a farmer in what is now Middlebury, Bronson grew up to become a successful merchant in Georgia and New York. Although he seldom revisited Connecticut or his relatives there, he managed to bequeath US$200,000 towards the funding of a public library in Waterbury by the time of his death. At the end of the 19th century, his legacy was commemorated in a portrait and bronze inscription at the facility named after him.
Life and career
Silas Bronson was born on February 15, 1788 in the West Farms area of Waterbury, Connecticut (now part of Middlebury);{{cite news |date=1934-02-01 |title=Know Your Waterbury: Its History, Facts and General Information |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-waterbury-democrat/146341676/ |newspaper=The Waterbury Democrat |url-access=limited |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=2024-04-30 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430074032/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-waterbury-democrat/146341676/ |archivedate=2024-04-30 }} he was the second of eight children of Elijah Bronson (a farmer) and Lois Bunnell.{{PD-notice|{{cite news |date=1867-12-03 |title=The Good Fortune of Waterbury |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/hartford-courant/146341517/ |newspaper=Hartford Courant |url-access=limited |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=2024-04-30 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430072329/https://www.newspapers.com/article/hartford-courant/146341517/ |archivedate=2024-04-30 }}}}{{sfn|Anderson|1896|pp=1013-1015}} He was born in the same "Old Bronson Place" as his cousin Titus Bronson, the founder of Kalamazoo in Michigan.{{cite book |last1=Kekic |first1=Nick |title=A Fine Place for a City: Titus Bronson and the founding of Kalamazoo |chapter=Chapter Three: The Puritan Roots of Titus Bronson |date=1984 |publisher=Oak Opening press |location=Kalamazoo |isbn=0-9613850-0-6 |page=44 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/fineplaceforcity0000keki/page/44/mode/2up?view=theater&q=%22Silas+Bronson%22 |access-date=2024-04-30 |chapter-url-access=registration|via=Archive.org}}
Since Elijah Bronson's income was modest, his children were encouraged to support themselves at a young age.{{sfn|Anderson|1896|pp=1013-1015}} While still in Connecticut, his son Silas had a limited common school education, and took up carpentry for four years; he also worked as a farmer and store clerk in his youth.{{PD-notice|{{cite book |last1=Pidgeon |first1=Daniel |title=Old-World Questions and New-World Answers |date=1885 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |page=60 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/oldworldquestion00pidguoft/page/60/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater&q=%22Silas+Bronson%22 |access-date=2024-04-30 |chapter=An Industrial Pioneer |via=Archive.org}}}} Around the age of 21, Silas Bronson moved to the Augusta, Georgia area and eventually spent at least 15 years as a merchant there. Upon moving to New York City in 1830, he specialized in selling dry goods and later moved on to commissioning.{{sfn|Anderson|1896|pp=1013-1015}} Although he ran an increasingly successful business and became a millionaire{{PD-notice|{{cite news |date=1867-12-27 |title=Tennesseans in Luck: Several $15,000 Legacies for Somebody |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pulaski-citizen/146341711/ |newspaper=Pulaski Citizen |url-access=limited |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=2024-04-30 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430074433/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pulaski-citizen/146341711/ |archivedate=2024-04-30 }}}} (despite facing some setback after 1835's Great Fire),{{sfn|Anderson|1896|pp=1013-1015}} his health later began to deteriorate, causing him to end his ventures and retire.{{sfn|Anderson|1896|pp=1013-1015}} His plans to open a boys' school in the vein of Vassar College—founded by a friend of his, Matthew Vassar—were also canceled amid his ill health.{{sfn|Anderson|1896|pp=1013-1015}} From the mid-1840s up until 1864–65, he was listed as a director of the American Exchange Bank of New York.{{cite book |last1=Doggett, Jr. |first1=John |title=The Great Metropolis: or, New York in 1845 |date=1845 |publisher=John Doggett, Jr. |location=New York City |page=74 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/greatmetropoliso00dogg/page/74/mode/2up?ref=ol&access=1&view=theater&q=%22Silas+Bronson%22+%22American+Exchange%22 |access-date=2024-06-04 |chapter=Banks of the City of New York -- Directors of the Banks: American Exchange |via=Archive.org}}{{cite book |last1=Hamon |first1=Henry |title=New York Stock Exchange Manual |date=1865 |publisher=John F. Trow |location=New York City |page=184 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkstockexch00hamorich/page/184/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater&q=Bronson |access-date=2024-06-04 |chapter=Banks of New York -- State Banks: American Exchange Bank |via=Archive.org}}
Bronson never married, nor did he often revisit Connecticut or his relatives there.{{sfn|Anderson|1896|pp=1013-1015}} He died on November 24, 1867 at New York's St. Nicholas Hotel. In his will, he left:
- $15,000 to each of his nieces and nephews (numbering at least 25);
- another $25,000 to the New York City Hospital;
- and $200,000 towards the funding of a public library in his former hometown of Waterbury,{{PD-notice|{{cite news |date=1895-01-06 |title=A Magnificent Library: Silas Bronson's Grand Gift to Waterbury, Conn. An Everlasting Benefaction. Sufficiently Endowed, It Contains Thousands of Volumes Free to the Poor in Perpetuity |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1895/01/06/archives/a-magnificent-library-silas-bronsons-grand-gift-to-waterbury-conn-a.html |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |accessdate=2024-04-30 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430075903/https://www.nytimes.com/1895/01/06/archives/a-magnificent-library-silas-bronsons-grand-gift-to-waterbury-conn-a.html |archivedate=2024-04-30 }}}} a gift allegedly prompted under the imploration of his longtime associate Lucien S. Bronson.{{sfn|Anderson|1896|pp=1013-1015}}{{cite thesis|url=https://proquest.com/openview/679ad9eb8590241f7838055c375dddad/1?cbl=18750&diss=y&pq-origsite=gscholar|last=Mitchell|first=M. W.|year=1966|title=An Historical Study of the Silas Bronson Library of Waterbury, Connecticut|type=Master's thesis|pages=41–43|publisher=Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU)|access-date=2024-04-30|url-access=registration|via=ProQuest|archive-date=April 30, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430015616/https://www.proquest.com/openview/679ad9eb8590241f7838055c375dddad/1?cbl=18750&diss=y&pq-origsite=gscholar|url-status=live}}
Bronson's decision to bequeath money for library services in Waterbury may have followed on the heels of John Jacob Astor's $400,000 grant to establish the New York Public Library in 1848. News of the library funds surprised most of the town's residents, most of whom never knew him. Contemporary and later biographies did not state whether Bronson possessed an affinity for books or reading.
Legacy
A year after Bronson's death, the Waterbury authorities used his $200,000 gift to establish the Silas Bronson Library, whose service remains in operation today.{{cite news |title=Public Libraries in Connecticut |url=https://proquest.com/docview/2220460009/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=The New York Times Online |date=2009-03-11 |url-access=registration |via=ProQuest}} In the later years of the 19th century, an unnamed friend of his commented on his generosity;{{sfn|Anderson|1896|pp=1013-1015}} in a 1966 thesis, M. W. Mitchell deemed him "a hardworking, industrious individual."
In 1890, the library commissioned a portrait of its namesake founder by Horace Johnson.{{cite news |title=News of the State: Personals |url=https://newspapers.com/article/hartford-courant-news-of-the-state-pers/146352693/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=Hartford Courant |date=1890-01-01 |page=4 |url-access=limited |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502023247/https://www.newspapers.com/article/hartford-courant-news-of-the-state-pers/146352693/ |url-status=live }} A bronze inscription at the facility, dedicated to his legacy, read in part:
{{blockquote|
An enterprising merchant in busy centres of trade, he was not forgetful of his native town, but bequeathed to it the fruit of his industry for the establishment of a free public library, seeking thereby "to encourage and sustain good order and sound morals." Let all who read these books and find help and comfort in them cherish his memory.{{sfn|Anderson|1896|p=1012}}
}}
References
= General =
- {{PD-notice|{{cite book|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/towncityofwaterb03ande/page/1012/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater&q=%22Silas+Bronson%22|last=Anderson|first=Joseph|title=The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut|volume=III|chapter=History of Waterbury: Libraries, Book-stores, Literary Societies -- The Silas Bronson Library; Silas Bronson|pages=1012–1015|year=1896|accessdate=2024-04-30|location=New Haven|publisher=The Price & Lee Company|via=Archive.org}}}}
= Specific =
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://bronsonlibrary.org/silasbronson Biography page] at the Silas Bronson Library site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bronson, Silas}}
Category:19th-century American merchants