Pheobe was born September 28, 1859 on the NJ side of Greenwood Lake.* Her family lived in Warwick, NY (Orange County) which is adjacent to Greenwood Lake. I believe that her mother moved in with her sister to give birth to Phoebe, as census records show Phoebe's aunt, Elizabeth Decker Leachman, residing in Greenwood Lake.* Phoebe's parents were Edward Bronson/Brunson and Anna Maria Decker, both from Warwick, NY (in Orange County).
Phoebe was the youngest of 7 children born to Anna Maria. Pheobe had sisters Harriet, Sarah and brothers John, Daniel, and William. The family was relatively poor, however, they did manage to live in a house at 130 South Street Extension in Warwick, which I have seen, so they were not likely impoverished. Phoebe's father Edward did not own any property at that time, however in her later years his widow, Anna Maria owned a small plot of land that her house may have been on. Edward was a general farm laborer. My suspicion is that he farmed on land connected to his wife's kin. Anna Maria's paternal grandparents may have owned, at one time, property in the area called "The Drowned Lands" which may be where Edward farmed. Anna Maria's great grandfather was Samuel Knapp who was a landowner and he may have left some of his property to his daughter Phoebe Knapp Decker and her son, Jesse Decker (Ann Maria's father).
In any case, Phoebe was almost 3 when her father enlisted in "The Ironsides", company 176th infantry. He may have come home periodically, but he wasn't home permanently until the end of the civil war in 1865. I am not sure what the family did for money during that time, but I'm sure it was not easy. I get the feeling, after having reviewed all of the census records, newspaper articles and military records for Edward Bronson, (including several articles highlighting his multiple suicide attempts) that the family needed the monthly salary and subsequent pension that his military enlistment would bring. Edward Bronson was captured in Louisiana and was held captive for a brief time, before heading home and changing regiments. He was 50 when Phoebe was born, so he was not a young man at the onset of the Civil war.
Warwick, NY was a charming village in those days as it is now. The family home is still standing and is about 1 mile from the main strip. Phoebe was likely to have been educated. From my grandmother's recollection (Phoebe was my grandmother's grandmother) Phoebe was an energetic, adventurous and fun person, She was very "American" minded and may have been somewhat xenophobic, as were many descendants of American colonial families. As an adult, she belonged to The Order of the Eastern Star and The Daughters of Liberty and was very patriotic. As a senior citizen, she had an opportunity to be a passenger in a single engine airplane and eagerly accepted.
I also was able to speak to another of her grandchildren, George Garrabrant II who was a first cousin of my grandmother. I actually visited George in prison several times when he was in his 70s, during his incarceration. I was very zealous with my genealogy in my earlier years and the fact that he was convicted of manslaughter didn't dissuade me in the least. George said he loved his grandmother Phoebe very much. He was present when she died and recalls that just prior to passing she sat up in bed and reached her arms up to the sky. Strangely enough, my own grandmother, Elsie, did the same thing, reaching her arms out as if to embrace a loved one.
One mystery surrounding Phoebe was the birth of her first daughter Hannah Townsend Bronson, who was born when Phoebe was just 16 years old. On Hannah's birth certificate, it states that her father was William Bronson, yet in her obituary, it states that her father was William Clark. What is interesting is Hannah's middle name of Townsend, which is a Warwick, NY surname for many families. I can't imagine just randomly giving a child that middle name. My feeling is that it is a surname in her father Edward'd line or in the family of Hannah's biolgical father.
