{{Short description|American clergyman and politician}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Alfred Brunson | image = Reverend Alfred Brunson.jpg | caption = 1837 (age 44) | birth_date = February 9, 1793 | birth_place = Danbury, Connecticut | death_date = August 3, 1882 | occupation = Methodist circuit rider, lawyer, and territorial legislator | children = Ira B. Brunson<br />Benjamin Wetherill Brunson | relatives = Thomas P. Burnett (son-in-law) }} '''Alfred Brunson''' (February 9, 1793 – August 3, 1882) was an American Methodist missionary and circuit rider, lawyer, and territorial legislator.
== Biography == Born in Danbury, Connecticut,<ref name="Obit">{{cite news|title=Death of a Pioneer|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24602746/alfred_brunson_17931882/|newspaper=Green Bay Weekly Gazette |date=August 12, 1882|page=1|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = October 17, 2018 }} {{Open access}}</ref> Brunson served in the War of 1812.<ref name="Obit" /> Brunson was a Methodist church circuit rider in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
In 1835, he moved to Prairie du Chien, Michigan Territory and was a Methodist circuit rider.<ref name="Obit" />
In 1836, Brunson was searching for someone who spoke the Dakota language and shared his Methodist values to serve as an interpreter for his mission work. He chose James Thompson, who was enslaved to military officer William Day and was married to a Dakota woman, the daughter of Mahipiya Wicasta (Cloud Man). Brunson wrote to Methodist journals and others out East in order to raise $1,200 to free Thompson from his enslaver.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brunson |first=Ella C. |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-4630141 |title=Alfred Brunson, Pioneer of Wisconsin Methodism |date=1918-12-01 |publisher=Wisconsin Magazine of History |pages=140–141}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Riggs |first=Stephen R |url=https://archive.org/details/collections06minnuoft |title=Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |year=1894 |pages=136–137 |chapter=Protestant Missions in the Northwest}}</ref> Thompson was freed by spring of 1837, and returned to Fort Snelling with Brunson. They began the areas first Methodist mission at Kaposia, with land and support from Dakota leader Wakinyatanka "Big Thunder" (Little Crow III). After Wakinyatanka revoked his acceptance of the mission and attendance waned, and with Brunson ill and away from the mission, the mission closed.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |title=Thompson, James (ca. 1799–1884) {{!}} MNopedia |url=https://www3.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/person/thompson-james-ca-1799-1884 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250712132623/https://www3.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/person/thompson-james-ca-1799-1884 |archive-date=2025-07-12 |access-date=2025-11-16 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Green |first=William D. |url=https://mnhs.gitlab.io/archive/10000-books-blog/discussions.mnhs.org/10000books/the-story-of-jim-thompson/index.html |title=A Peculiar Imbalance: The Fall and Rise of Racial Inequality in Early Minnesota |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |year=2007 |isbn=9780873515863 |publication-date=2007 |trans-title=en |chapter=The Story of Jim Thompson}}</ref>
He studied law and was admitted to the Wisconsin bar in 1839.<ref name="Obit" /> He served in the Wisconsin Territorial House of Representatives of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature from 1840 to 1841 as a Whig.<ref>{{cite book |title=Laws of Wisconsin Territory |date=1842 |publisher=W.T. |page=93 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3QIrAAAAIAAJ&q=Alfred+Brunson+Wisconsin+Territorial+House+of+Representatives&pg=PA93 |language=en}}</ref>
During the American Civil War, Brunson served as a chaplain of the 31st Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He retired from the ministry in 1871.<ref name="Obit"/> He also wrote including his autobiography. His son was Ira B. Brunson who also served in the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature. His son in law was Thomas P. Burnett. Brunson died in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.<ref name="Obit"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=1844&keyword=brunson |title=Wisconsin Historical Society-Alfred and Ira Brunson |access-date=March 31, 2014 |archive-date=March 31, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140331143720/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=1844&keyword=brunson |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>''Proceedings of the State Bar Association of Wisconsin 1900'', Wisconsin Bar Association: 1901, Biographical Sketch of Alfred Brunson, p. 212.</ref>
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunson, Alfred}} Category:1793 births Category:1882 deaths Category:Politicians from Danbury, Connecticut Category:People from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin Category:United States Army personnel of the War of 1812 Category:People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War Category:Methodist circuit riders Category:Wisconsin lawyers Category:Wisconsin Whigs Category:Writers from Danbury, Connecticut Category:Writers from Wisconsin Category:Members of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature Category:United States Army soldiers Category:Union army chaplains Category:19th-century American Methodist ministers
{{Wisconsin-politician-stub}}