Bennington

BROWNSON Family

Vermont Historical Magazine, No XI, October 1867, p 135

Richard BROWNSON, an original settler of Farmington [Hartford County], 
Connecticut, had sons among whom was Cornelius, born 1648, and died in 1732. 
His [Cornelius BROWNSON's] children were Cornelius, Elisabeth, Abraham, 
Stephen, Timothy, John, and Amos. Corenlius Jr., who lived in Southbury [New 
Haven County, Connecticut], married Abigail JACKSON of Lebanon [New London 
County, Connecticut]. They left ten children, eight of whom early made a 
profession of religion and united with the Congregational church.

Mary BROWNSON, their [Cornelius and Abigail BROWNSON Jr.'s] other child, was 
married to Col. Ethan ALLEN, 23 June 1762, by the Rev. Daniel BRINSMADE of 
Judea Parish, Woodbury [Washington County, Vermont], for which service ALLEN 
paid the fee of four shillings, from which we may infer that the future hero 
of Vermont was not in very opulent circumstances. Their children [the 
children of Ethan and Mary (BROWNSON) ALLEN] were Joseph E., Lorraine, Lucy, 
Mary Ann, and Parmelia. Joseph E. died when eleven years old, and was buried 
in the Arlington church yard [Bennington County, Vermont]. While Col. ALLEN 
was a captive in England, with a spirit chafed by the insults of his 
country's enemies, his desolate wife was enabled to recall the instructions 
of her youth, made a profession of religion, and had her children baptized. 
She [Mary (BROWNSON) ALLEN] died in Sunderland [Bennington County, Vermont] 
about 1784, of consumption, and was buried in Arlington [Bennington County, 
Vermont]. No stone was ever erected to her memory, and the fact of her 
burial here rests upon the remembered statement of Dr. Ebenezer HITCHCOCK of 
Sunderland, who assisted in carrying the body to the church yard, a distance 
of three miles.

It was of Lorraine [ALLEN] that the following anecdote appeared in the public 
papers. Being sick and likely to die, her mother being gone before her, she 
anxiously inquired of her father, "Whose faith shall I embrace, yours or that 
of my mother?" The trembling father walked the room in great agitation, and 
then replied, "That of your mother." The story has been denied by some of 
the ALLEN family, but the BROWNSON family, some of whom were with the dying 
girl, affirm that it is substantially true. There is nothing at all 
improbable in the story, and yet perhaps more has been made of the anecdote 
than the facts would warrant.

Lorraine [ALLEN] had much of her father's disposition and shared in his 
skepticism. She sometimes even made sport of dying. One day she asked Col. 
Matthew LYON who was very fond of her, if he had any messages to send to his 
friends in the old country, for she expected to go, by the way of Cork. She 
said many strange things during her last sickness, and the question put to 
her father and his answer probably indicated a somewhat similar state of mind 
in both.

Lucy [ALLEN], who married --- HITCHCOCK, was a pious woman. Of Parmelia 
[ALLEN], the writer has no information. The BRONSONs of Sunderland and 
Arlington are descended from Timothy, a brother of Cornelius Jr., and came 
from Salisbury [Litchfield County], Connecticut.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly