Hugh Bronte Descendants, including
John Bronte & Mary Pitman Thompson, Descendants


John Bronte was descended from Hugh Bronte, in Northern Ireland. He immigrated to the United States from County Down in Northern Ireland, arriving in North Carolina (according to family tradition). He was the son of William Bronte (brother of the Bronte sisters' father Patrick Bronte). William's descendants still live in County Down. John settled in Winona, Mississippi, and married Mary Pitman Thompson, the widow of Fowler Thompson and also from Robeson County, North Carolina. Descendants of John and Mary still live in the Winona, Miss., area.

John visited occasionally his brother Matthew Bronte, who lived in Brownsville, Tennessee. John and Mary had two children, John Calvin and Lucretia. Matthew married twice ( Jane Whitney and Ellen Clay ) and had two sons by each marriage: William E. and Junius Howell. William was a confederate soldier in the Civil War, and after surrendering in Memphis, went to live in the Brinkley, Arkansas area, practicing as a physician. Junius became a resident of Ft. Smith Arkansas.

John Calvin Bronte apparently grew up to be friends with his cousin Junius, and took his wife Virginia and 5 children to the Fort Smith area to reside, possibly in the Paris Arkansas vicinity. While in the there, John Calvin's wife, Virginia, became ill and died a month after giving birth to their youngest son, Benjamin Franklin Bronte. This had a significant affect on his life and that of his family. Benjamin Franklin was taken by her sister and family, Elizabeth Echols Cain and Ishom Cain, in Mississippi and raised with the name Roy Cain. The older Bronte children also had to live with other relatives and friends. John Calvin lived and worked much of the rest of his life in the area around McCrory and Brinkley Arkansas. He's buried in Beards Cemetery (McCrory) in an unmarked grave.