Andrew Brosnahan, or O’Brosnahan, was born about 1758,1 and was in New York by 1787. He married Margaret Rim in Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, 2 May 1787.2 Margaret was also called Pegge.3 Dutchess County lies in the lower Hudson River Valley. No information has been found on Margaret’s family but it is possible that her ancestry was Dutch. The couple married in a Reformed Dutch Church in Rhinebeck, and both their sons were christened in a Reformed Dutch Church in Catskill.4

By about 1787-88, when their first child, George, was born, Andrew and Margaret were living in Catskill, in what was then Albany County.5

In 1789 Andrew Brushinham, an innkeeper in Catskill, was granted a license (called a permit) to sell “spirituous liquors” and he was also granted the right to retail them. The price for the permit was £2. In 1803 Andrew Brosnahan was again listed as an innkeeper. In 1807 Andrew Brosnahan was again granted a permit which this time cost $5.00.6

In 1791 a second son, John, was born.7 Two years later, on August 1793, Andrew Brosnahan subscribed for 1 share, £4, towards the building of a an academy. Many others also subscribed at that time. The school was open by at least 1797 as both George Brosnaham and John Brosnaham were pupils for the 17 August 1797 to 17 March 1798 school term. The teacher was Elisha Bishop.8

Andrew was recorded in Catskill in all the U.S. Censuses, 1790 through 1830. When John, his son, went aboard the privateer General Armstrong in 1814 during the War of 1812, he signed a document giving power of attorney to his father to take care of his affairs:

“Know all men by these presents that I, John Brosnaham, of the city of New York and surgeon of the Privateer Brig, General Armstrong of New York, have made constituted and appointed, and by these presents do make constitute and appoint my trusty and loving friend and father, Andrew Brosnaham, of Catskill, in the state of New York. Farmer. ..”9

This is the only time that Andrew was referred to as a farmer.

Andrew purchased several pieces of property in the Catskill area, most of them along Catskill Creek. On an old 1889 Sanborn map of Catskill, there is a street, about two blocks long, named Brosnaham Street. It is now part of Main Street. Andrew is listed in the 1813 Property Assessment Roll of Greene County, New York, as having 9 1/4 acres of land, 4 houses, and 7 outbuildings. It is not known what kinds of buildings these were.

Andrew died in 1833, age 75. He was buried in the Catskill Village Cemetery.10 His wife, Margaret, lived another fourteen years, dying in 1847, and his son George died in 1855.11 There is no evidence that George ever married. Margaret and George are also buried in the Catskill Village Cemetery, as is Clotilda Brosnaham Shuttleworth, granddaughter of Andrew and Margaret, and her two children who died in infancy.



Descendants of Andrew Brosnahan and Margaret Rim

1813 Property Assessment for Andrew Brosnahan, Greene County, New York

Brosnaham Street, Catskill, New York, 1889

Land and Property of Andrew Brosnahan in Catskill

Power of Atty given to Andrew Brosnahan by his son John Brosnahan, 1814

Notices of death for Andrew and Margaret Brosnahan

Catskill Village Cemetery Inscriptions for Brosnahans and Shuttleworths

John Brosnaham, son of Andrew Brosnahan and Margaret Rim



  1. Inscriptions of the Gravestones of the Catskill Village Cemetery, Greene Co., New York, Cohen, Minnie, comp. & ed., 1931. FHL Microfilm 17560, Vol. II, p.70. Andrew's tombstone gives his date of death as 19 August 1833 and his age as 75 which puts his birth about 1758. Family tradition says he was born in Ireland. In the 1870 census for Pensacola, Escambia County, Florida, his son John's information states that his parents are both foreign born.

  2. Reformed Dutch Church (New Hackensack, New York), edited by M. Tower, Records 1757-1906, Vol. 5, Marriage Register, 1765-1906, p.106. "May 2, 1787: Married at Rhinebeek, Andrew Brosnahain (or Brosrahain) & Margaret Rim, with consent of all parties."

  3. Margaret is listed as Pegge in both her son's christening records.

  4. It is possible that the Dutch Reformed Church was the only church in the area at the time and so that is where they were married and where their sons were christened. In a book on the History of Greene County, along with two of the Brosnahan sons is another child, whose last name is Rimpf. Andrew Brosnahan has paid for his school fees also. So Rim could possibly be Rimpf.

  5. Figuring his date of birth from his gravestone inscription gives a date of birth about 1787. His christening took place on 11 November 1788.

    Reformed Dutch Church, Catskill, Greene County, New York, 1732-1833 [and three other churches], transcribed by the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, and edited by their archivist, Royden Woodward Vosburgh, 1919-1921 ; copied, typed and indexed by Mrs. Jean D. Worden. p.40: "11 Nov. 1788, parents: Andrue Brosinaham and Pegge Brosinaham, child: Jorge, Witness: Admund Marorty."

  6. History of Greene Co., New York. J.B. Beers, 1884. 462p., p.121-122.

  7. John was born 1 April 1791 and christened 28 June 1791.

    Reformed Dutch Church, Catskill, Greene County, New York, 1732-1833 [and three other churches], transcribed by the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, and edited by their archivist, Royden Woodward Vosburgh, 1919-1921 ; copied, typed and indexed by Mrs. Jean D. Worden. p.45, 28 June 1791, parents: Andrew Bruschenham and Pegge Bruschenham, child: John, Witness: none."

  8. History of Greene Co., New York. J.B. Beers, 1884. 462p., p.130.

  9. Bible records from Dr. George O. Brosnaham. Information in papers sent to Anne Field by Cynthia Brosnaham Richardson. Power of Attorney signed by John Brosnaham on 3 September 1814.

  10. Inscriptions of the Gravestones of the Catskill Village Cemetery, Greene Co., New York, Cohen, Minnie, comp. & ed.

  11. Inscriptions of the Gravestones of the Catskill Village Cemetery, Greene Co., New York, Cohen, Minnie, comp. & ed.






Photograph: Looking across the Hudson River to the west. The Village of Catskill lies to the south of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge where Catskill Creek flows into the Hudson River. The Catskill Mountains are in the background. Photo by Anne Healy Field, May 2008.


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This page created 18 February 2008, updated 7 December 2008