The family roots of Claude & Ermina go deep into the history of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Both Grandmother and Grandfather Bronson's progenitors were found in the very early days of the Latter Day Saint movement. As nearly as it can be determined, the Bronson or Brunson (the family has used both spellings through the past years) first became united with the Latter Day Saint movement in Ohio in the year 1832. Seymour Brunson, a distant cousin of Phineas Bronson (our great, great, great grandfather), met Joseph Smith, Jr. at Amhurst, Ohio in 1832 and joined the church. Seymour was ordained an elder, later a high priest and apparently was quite active in the affairs of the early church.Great, Great, Great Grandfather Phineas Bronson was born in Oblong, Connecticut, 9 November, 1764. He was a private in the American Revolutionary War and died 24 October, 1845 at Princeville, Illinois. We are not certain if he was a member of the church or not. However, at least three of his ten children were members and were active in the church. These were, Phineas Jr., Hiel and Amos.
Great, Great Grandfather Amos was baptized and confirmed on 30 June, 1841, at Princeville, Illinois by his older brother, Phineas Jr. Phineas Jr. had been baptized in Ohio in November 1834 and ordained a high priest by Joseph Smith Sr., Patriarch. Amos was ordained an elder 18 June, 1864. He moved to the state of Wisconsin in 1878 and labored for the church until his death in May of 1883.
Great Grandfather William Diton Brunson was born 25 May, 1830 in Wadsworth, Ohio. He was baptized in February, 1863 at Princeville, Illinois and ordained an elder 8 February, 1878. In the spring of 1868, he served on a building committee composed of Joseph Smith III, Isaac Sheen and William Bronson to secure the means and proceed with building a church for the Plano, Illinois RLDS congregation. (This stone church was the first church building to be deeded to the Reorganization and still is in use today.) William died just before his 56th birthday at Plano, Illinois, where he is buried.
Grandfather Claude L Bronson, was baptized a member of the church 13 September, 1888 and remained a faithful member until his death 1 April, 1949, near Holden, Missouri. Although Grand father was not in the priesthood of the church, each of his sons (except one) was in the Melchisedec priesthood and each of his daughters husbands were priesthood members. The Bronson family has produced many ministers and many, many good faithful members who remained true to the faith and became identified with the Reorganized Church and are numbered among those who formed its earliest churches.
Our maternal great grandmother was Cynthia Permelia Shumway Wildermuth. Her parents, Otis and Sally Shumway, were baptized into the Latter Day Saint movement in October of 1832. They lived at Kirtland, Ohio and helped build the temple there. Otis was ordained a seventy and preached in Kirtland and the surrounding country. The Shumway family went to Far West, Missouri in July 1838, joining with the Zion s Camp at Petersburg, Ohio. The family continued on with this company until they reached Far West. Later they went with the Saints to Nauvoo, Illinois, remaining there until after the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Shumway family then started west with Brigham Young, going by way of Council Bluffs, Iowa. They soon discovered they had made an error in going with him, and one dark night they wrapped the wheels of their wagon with burlap and drove away. They lived at Inland, in Cedar County, near Tipton, Iowa for awhile. In 1846, Otis and his family went to Voree, Wisconsin to investigate the claims of J. J. Strang. He accepted them and on 9 July, 1846 Otis was ordained a high priest. (We read that Mrs. Shumway was also ordained a high priest!)
Soon after this, they became disgusted with the Strangite church and left again for Cedar County, Iowa. A few years later, they joined the Reorganization and Otis served as a Seventy. A report from the Quorum of Seventy to the Annual Conference of 1875 mentions Otis Shumway as follows: Otis Shumway; about 82. Always had a good standing in the church, preaching in the branch and vicinity.
Otis s daughter, Cynthia Permelia Shumway was the second wife of Eli Mozart Wildermuth (our great grandfather), and the mother of Grandmother Ermina Wildermuth Bronson. Cynthia was baptized at Amboy, Illinois in 1862. She too was a faithful member of the church and also a poetess. She wrote for the church publications using the pen name of Perla Wild. She died at the age of 48 near Springdale, Arkansas.
Ermina Clarisa Wildermuth, our grandmother, was baptized 8 October, 1882, in Lamoni, Iowa. She and Grand-dad were married 4 August, 1889. Ermina died 7 October, 1953 at Independence, Missouri at the age of 83. Grandmother, also was a good and faithful member of the Reorganized Church all her life.
The Wildermuths did not learn of the church until after the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, Jr. Great, Great Grandfather David and Anna (Newkirk) Wildermuth s baby son, David, died on 5 August, 1850. David (Sr.) Wildermuth was a very positive and progressive man and had fallen out with the Methodist people, for he earnestly contended for the faith once delivered to the saints. He delighted to quote the 12th chapter of I Corinthians and the 4th chapter of Ephesians to them and contend that Christians ought to have the kind of organization and enjoy the same spiritual blessing that the saints enjoyed in the days of the apostles. After some warm discussions on the subject, the Methodist people pronounced him not orthodox and withdrew the hand of fellowship from him. So it happened that when their baby died, David and Anna were at a loss to get a minister to preach the sermon.
It happened that a day or two before the baby s death, Elder Zenas Hovey Gurley, who was on a mission under the auspices of the J. J. Strang faction of the church, had come into the southern Wisconsin area where the Wildermuths lived. He was asked to preach the funeral sermon. The Wildermuths were so pleased with the sermon that Elder Gurley was asked to stay and hold some meet ings in their home. After hearing a few sermons, David and Anna Wildermuth, their daughter, Clarisa, two sons, Edwin C. and Eli Mozart (our great grandfather), and two old neighbor ladies were baptized and became the nucleus of the Yellowstone, Wisconsin branch of the (Strangite) church. Gurley moved his family to the area and became the presiding elder. Within a few months, David Wildermuth s two married sisters and their families, the William Clines, and the Cyrus Newkirk s joined the church and became charter members of the Zarahemla group at what is now called Blanchardville, Wisconsin, some seven miles away. Within the year, the newly baptized members were horrified to learn that Strang was teaching and practicing polygamy. When David heard this, he said, I am going to bolt. I will not belong to a church that practices that abominable doctrine.
Elder Gurley was gone from home at the time, but the people were so anxious to let their friends and neighbors know they weren't connected with such an institution, they didn t wait for him to return. They held a meeting and drew up a document repudiating the practice of polygamy and the claims of all pretenders to the presidency of the church, among them, James J. Strang, Brigham Young, William B. Smith, Colin Brewster, Alpheus Cutler, Lyman Wright and others. This was signed by David Wildermuth and family, Henry Harrison Deam, David Newkirk, Reuben Newkirk, and others. It was published in the Mineral Point Tribune and the local paper in Galena, two Wisconsin newspapers.
When Brother Gurley returned home and found out about it he said, Brother Wildermuth, what are you going to do?
His reply was, I do not know what to do, but I will not hold membership in that church any longer. I believe in the first principles of the gospel and that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but I do not believe in polygamy.
Brother Gurley said, Let us take the advice of the Apostle James and make this a matter of prayer. There were many prayers offered up for guidance and it was made known to them that God would raise up a prophet the son of Joseph Smith, the martyr.
The main body of the church was from four to eight miles from them and when they learned that the Wildermuths, Newkirks and Gurleys were withdrawing from Strang, they considered them apostates. Gradually, however, they were convinced and the groups were again united. The branch had been organized under Strang so now it was necessary to change their organization. After a series of meetings and conferences, on April 6, 1853, the groups of Yellowstone, Beloit, Zarahelma, and others met in the old log schoolhouse on the William Cline farm. Here at Zarahemla was effected an organization which became the foundation of the Reorganization.
Great Grandfather Eli Mozart Wildermuth, the father of our grandmother, Ermina Clarisa Wildermuth Bronson, was baptized in August 1850, in Wisconsin. He was ordained an elder in 1853 and a seventy in October 1855. He served as a missionary for over fifty years.
We are to be proud of our heritage in the church and our progenitors, yet humbled by their hardships and accomplishments. Also we are to be mindful of the fact that nowhere in the scriptures are there examples of grandchildren of God. We are called to be the children of God. God has no grandchildren. While we can and should learn and profit from the example of our forbearers, we alone must have a firsthand relationship and experience with God or we will have no real awareness of Him to enrich our lives.
Barbara Beverly Bronson Hutchinson
54 NE 1300th Road
Chilhowee, MO 64733
12 February, 1996