1890 Buchanan and Delaware Counties History pgs. 418-419

HON. CHARLES E. BRONSON, lawyer and editor, and one of the most influential and prominent citizens of Manchester, Iowa, is a native of New
York State and was born in Lee Center,  Oneida   county,   November   14, 1841.    His father, Clark M. Bronson, was a native of the same state, was by trade a tailor, but for the better part of his life was engaged in the mercantile business. His death took place in Delaware county, Iowa, March 7, 1887, when he had filled out the allotted span of life-seventy years.

His widow, who bore the maiden name of Abby A. Cornish, was born also in Oneida county, N. Y., is a resident of Delaware county, Iowa, and has reached the venerable age of seventy-one years. Of the three children born to these parents, our subject is the eldest-Clark Henry, the next in order of birth, lives in Chicago, Ill., and the youngest, Nellie E., wife of Charles H. Day, is a resident of Manchester, Iowa.In  October, 1855, Charles E. Bronson was brought by his parents to Iowa City, Iowa, and here supplemented his earlier education by an academic course of study. In the spring of 1864 he went to Chicago, Ill., entered Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College, and received his diploma from that institution  the  following fall.   Returning to Iowa City, he entered the law office of Fairall & Boal, and under their tuition acquired so thorough a knowledge of law that he was admitted to the bar in December, 1866, and at once settled in Manchester for practice, and that he made a phenomenal success in this and also won a high position in the favor of the general public isevidenced by the following facts: In the fall of 1877 he was nominated on the democratic ticket for state senator to fill for two years a vacancy caused by the resignation of that office by L.G. Hersey, of Earlville.       At   that   time,   Delaware county constituted the thirty-sixth senatorial   district,   and   gave   a   republican majority of fully eight hundred, but Mr. Bronson  was nevertheless elected  by a majority of four hundred, so popular was he with all parties. While in the senate, he was appointed one of the legislative commission and joint committee of the general assembly to investigate the affairs of the state penitentiary, located at Fort Madison; he was also a member of the judiciary committee and of a number of other committees of almost equal importance, and, it is needless to state, was equal to the task imposed upon him by each and all of them. In 1880 he was nominated on the democratic ticket as candidate for supreme judge, but the state was overwhelmingly republican, and consequently Mr. Bronson met with defeat, the contest having been conducted on strictly party lines.

 

Just after Mr. Bronson had been sent to the state senate, he became one of the proprietors and editors of the Manchester Democrat. This journal was established January 20, 1875, by a joint stock company, E. M. Carr at its head, and was conducted under his auspices as a weekly newspaper until April, 1878, when Mr. Bronson and E. M. Carr purchased and took possession, and under their able management it soon reached a circulation of one thousand six hundred copies weekly, and it is needless to state that the able pen of Mr. Bronson had much to do with the bringing about of its great popularity and in raising its subscription list to this, for a village journal, unwontedly large size. The Democrat is a ten-column folio, is  "printed all at home," and every Wednesday is sent forth to its expectant patrons.

Since January, 1875, Charles E. Bronson and E. M. Carr have been associated together in the newspaper business, and since July, 1884, have been law partners; in which latter they have met with abundant success in a pecuniary sense, and in a professional sense stand at the very "head and front" of the fraternity. Mr. Bronson was appointed postmaster of Manchester in April, 1885, and filled the position to the entire satisfaction of the public until February, 1890. He has also held the office of city attorney, and has been a member of the school board for a number of years.

June 29, 1868, Mr. Bronson was united in marriage with Miss Jennie E. Shelden, who was born in Berea, Ohio, December, 1848, and is a daughter of Justus Shelden. This union has been crowned by the birth of five children, named-Earl, Wirt, Leo, Byron and Henry. Mr. Bronson is a Master Mason and a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and he ever meets his friends on the level and parts with them on the square.

 

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