Scope and Contents
The Miles Bronson Family Papers, 1831-1883, primarily document Baptist missionary work in Assam, India, 1836-1879. The collection is arranged according to the following categories: journals; essays and poems; sermons and addresses; correspondence; records of the work of the American Baptist Missionary Union in Assam.
The correspondence is business and personal in nature. Details of administration of the Assam mission appear in letters of Miles Bronson and other missionary personnel: Nathan Brown, Milton B. Comfort, Oliver T. Cutter, Appleton H. Danforth, Grell Keeler, Thomas J. Keith, Marcus C. Mason, John N. Murdock, R. Edward Neighbor, Solomon Peck, Edward P. Scott, Annie K. Scott, Ira J. Stoddard, Cyrus Tolman, William Ward. A personal dimension of nineteenth century missionary experience is reflected in the letters of Ruth Lucas Bronson, Frances Danforth Bronson and other women who worked in Assam: Eliza Brown, Harriet B. L. Cutter, Cordelia S. Ward, Susan R. Ward. There is a name index to the correspondence.
The collection contains a small number of mission records. Included in this material are committee reports related to specific issues of mission administration, such as governance of individual mission stations and financial support of missionary work in general.
The correspondence is business and personal in nature. Details of administration of the Assam mission appear in letters of Miles Bronson and other missionary personnel: Nathan Brown, Milton B. Comfort, Oliver T. Cutter, Appleton H. Danforth, Grell Keeler, Thomas J. Keith, Marcus C. Mason, John N. Murdock, R. Edward Neighbor, Solomon Peck, Edward P. Scott, Annie K. Scott, Ira J. Stoddard, Cyrus Tolman, William Ward. A personal dimension of nineteenth century missionary experience is reflected in the letters of Ruth Lucas Bronson, Frances Danforth Bronson and other women who worked in Assam: Eliza Brown, Harriet B. L. Cutter, Cordelia S. Ward, Susan R. Ward. There is a name index to the correspondence.
The collection contains a small number of mission records. Included in this material are committee reports related to specific issues of mission administration, such as governance of individual mission stations and financial support of missionary work in general.
Dates
- 1831 - 1883
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Existence and Location of Copies
6 reels of microfilm
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Transferred from Andover Newton Theological School, 2017
Arrangement
Series I. Journals
Series II. Essays and Poems
Series III. Sermons and Addresses
Series IV. Correspondence
Series V. Mission Records
Series II. Essays and Poems
Series III. Sermons and Addresses
Series IV. Correspondence
Series V. Mission Records
Extent
4 Linear Feet (10 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
The collection documents the work of Miles Bronson and his family, American Baptist missionaries serving in Assam, India from 1836-1879.
Biographical / Historical
Miles Bronson was born in Norway, New York, July 20, 1812. He graduated from Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution (Colgate University) in 1836 and was ordained to the Baptist ministry that same year. On April 29, 1836, he received an appointment from the American Baptist Missionary Union for service in Assam, India.
Ruth Montague Lucas was born in Madison, New York, August 13, 1813. She was educated at Ladies Seminary in Hamilton, New York, and received an appointment for missionary service on the date of her marriage to Miles, September 7, 1836.
After brief terms of service at the mission stations of Jaipur and Namsang, in 1841 the Bronsons were sent to Nowgong. With the exception of visits to the United States 1848-1850, 1855, and 1857-1860; Miles and Ruth remained in Nowgong until 1868. Shortly after Ruth's death in the United States in 1869, Miles returned to Assam and the Nowgong station. He married Frances Studley Danforth* in 1872; and Miles and Frances continued the work at Nowgong. After the death of Frances in 1874, Miles moved to Gauhati. That same year he married Mary Rankin. Miles and Mary remained in Gauhati until 1879, when they moved to Dibrugarh to open a mission station. Shortly thereafter, Miles and Mary returned to the United States where they lived in Eaton Rapids, Michigan. Miles died there, November 9, 1883.
The children of Miles and Ruth Lucas Bronson were: Mary Rebecca, 1838-1903 (married Cyrus Tolman), Maria, 1841-1874 (unmarried), Ruth Eliza, 1842-1912 (married to a Mr. Cotes, widowed, and then married Albert Robinson), Harriette, 1844-1929 (married William Gunn), Ann Sophia, 1846-1920 (married John Titterington), Frances Jane, 1847-1849, Martha, 1850 (died in infancy).
The children of Miles and Mary Rankin Bronson were Miles, b.1875, Ruth and Laura, b.1878.
Ruth Montague Lucas was born in Madison, New York, August 13, 1813. She was educated at Ladies Seminary in Hamilton, New York, and received an appointment for missionary service on the date of her marriage to Miles, September 7, 1836.
After brief terms of service at the mission stations of Jaipur and Namsang, in 1841 the Bronsons were sent to Nowgong. With the exception of visits to the United States 1848-1850, 1855, and 1857-1860; Miles and Ruth remained in Nowgong until 1868. Shortly after Ruth's death in the United States in 1869, Miles returned to Assam and the Nowgong station. He married Frances Studley Danforth* in 1872; and Miles and Frances continued the work at Nowgong. After the death of Frances in 1874, Miles moved to Gauhati. That same year he married Mary Rankin. Miles and Mary remained in Gauhati until 1879, when they moved to Dibrugarh to open a mission station. Shortly thereafter, Miles and Mary returned to the United States where they lived in Eaton Rapids, Michigan. Miles died there, November 9, 1883.
The children of Miles and Ruth Lucas Bronson were: Mary Rebecca, 1838-1903 (married Cyrus Tolman), Maria, 1841-1874 (unmarried), Ruth Eliza, 1842-1912 (married to a Mr. Cotes, widowed, and then married Albert Robinson), Harriette, 1844-1929 (married William Gunn), Ann Sophia, 1846-1920 (married John Titterington), Frances Jane, 1847-1849, Martha, 1850 (died in infancy).
The children of Miles and Mary Rankin Bronson were Miles, b.1875, Ruth and Laura, b.1878.
Creator
- Title
- Guide to the Miles Bronson Family Papers
- Author
- Andover Newton Theological School library staff
- Date
- 2017
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Yale Divinity Library Repository