Methodist clergyman, lawyer, politician, author, b. Danbury, Conn. He joined the Methodist Church (1809), served in the War of 1812, and was accepted as a minister (1815). After riding circuits in Ohio and Pennsylvania for 20 years, he moved to Prairie du Chien (1835) and was assigned a circuit extending from Rock Island, Ill., to the Falls of St. Anthony (Minneapolis). He resigned his post in 1839, studied law, and was admitted to the bar (1840). A Whig, he was elected to the territorial legislature in 1840. In 1842 Governor Doty (q.v.) appointed him Indian agent at La Pointe on Lake Superior, where he served until 1843. In 1850 he returned to the ministry after having been defeated for the office of county judge; he was assigned to Mineral Point, and in 1853 was appointed elder of Prairie du Chien. During the Civil War he served as chaplain of the 31st Wisconsin Volunteers (1862-1863). He continued his work with the Methodist Church until his retirement in 1873, and devoted the remainder of his life to writing. His works include his autobiography, A Western Pioneer (2 vols., 1872) and Key to the Apocalypse (1879). His son, IRA BURR BRUNSON, b. Fowler, Ohio, was a Democrat, served in the territorial lower house (1837--1840) and as a U.S. deputy marshal, to remove squatters from Fort Snelling (1839). He surveyed large areas of the frontier, platted the town site of La Crosse (1842), and made an unofficial plat of St. Paul, Minn., for the squatters at that site (1847). Appointed postmaster of Prairie du Chien (1840) and elected county judge of Crawford County (1853), he held both of these posts until his death. Hist. of Crawford and Richland Cos. (Spring-field, 111., 1884); A. Brunson, Western Pioneer (2 vols., Cincinnati, 1872-[1879]); Wis. Mag. Hist., 2; W. H. C. Folsom, 50 Years in the N.W. ([St. Paul] 1888); Madison Wis. State Journal, Aug. 4, 1882; Prairie du Chien Union, Aug. 24, 1883; WPA MS; A. Brunson Papers.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Alfred Brunson Papers for details.

View a related article at Wisconsin Magazine of History Archives.

View Brunson's 1835 travel diary at Wisconsin Historical Collections.

View newspaper clippings at Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]