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Biography
Isaac Hopkins Bronson (October 16, 1802 – August 13, 1855) was a United States federal judge and U.S. Representative from New York.
Bronson was born either in Waterbury, Connecticut or Rutland, New York. Bronson attended the public schools and read law in 1822, after which he was in private practice in Watertown, New York from 1822 to 1837. Bronson was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1839), where he served as chairman of the Committee on Territories in the Twenty-fifth Congress. During his term he proposed the act by which Florida became a state. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1838 to the Twenty-sixth Congress.
Bronson was appointed judge of the fifth judicial district of New York on April 18, 1838, and served from 1839 to 1840. He moved to St. Augustine, Florida, and a number of years later moved to Palatka, Florida. He was appointed United States judge for the eastern district of the Territory of Florida, March 14, 1840, and served from 1840 to 1846.
Florida was admitted as a State of the Union in 1845, and on May 5, 1846, Bronson was nominated by President James K. Polk to a new seat on the United States District Court for the District of Florida, created by 5 Stat. 788. He was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on August 8, 1846, and received his commission the same day. When the State was subdivided, Bronson was reassigned by operation of law to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, on February 23, 1847. He served until his death in Palatka, Florida, on August 13, 1855, and was interred in the Episcopal Church Cemetery.
