Sterne Brunson
b. 1806, Genesee County, New York, to Reuben and Nancy (Cathcart) Brunson
d. April 1878, Benton Harbor, Michigan

m. 27 April 1826, Wayne County, Indiana
Sarah Shank
b. about 1808, Pennsylvania
d. August 1886, Benton Harbor, Michigan

Children with Sarah Shank:

• Lewis
• Nancy A. (b. 28 October 1830, Wayne County, Indiana) married (1) Alvin Burridge, (2) S.G. Antisdale
• John (b. ca. 1832 in Elkhart County, Indiana)
• Rufus (b. 24 June 1835)
• Allen (b. 21 October 1837)
• Horace (b. ca. 1838)

Sterne Brunson moved about 1812 with his parents and his grandparents from Genesee County, New York, to Cincinnati, Ohio. David Cathcart, his mother’s brother, was postmaster there.

After only three years in Ohio, the extended family moved to Wayne County, Indiana, where they remained until 1830, when they moved to Elkhart County, Indiana.

Sterne’s maternal grandfather, Revolutionary War veteran Robert Cathcart, died several years after the move to Elkhart County and was buried at Bristol, Indiana.

Sterne Brunson remained on his farm near Elkhart until 1859, when he purchased two hundred acres in Michigan, the present site of Benton Harbor. There he conceived the idea of building a canal of nearly one mile in length to connect the St. Joseph River with Lake Michigan. The canal was first named Brunson Canal, and the village established on the east bank of the river was named Brunson Harbor but later changed to Benton Harbor. To many, Sterne Brunson was known as the “father” of Benton Harbor, Michigan.

Submitted by:
Elaine Smith
Elkhart IN