Samuel Bromley

Samuel Bromley was born in October 1753. He was a younger son of Albany residents William and Lena Boom Bromley. He shared the first ward home of a marginal Albany native along with a number of older siblings who would become city residents.

In February 1776, Samuel married Maria Spoor at the Albany Dutch church. It appears that the marriage was long lasting but perhaps childless. Maria was dead by July 1826, when Samuel married Mrs. Elizabeth Brown. A newspaper noted that both partners were then seventy-three years old.

Beginning in 1779, his lots in the western part of the second ward were valued on Albany assessment rolls. In 1788, his real and personal property was valued at a total of ten pounds. On a number of occasions, he seems to have bought and sold lots located along Fox Creek, in the western part of Albany, and larger tracts in Guilderland.

Beginning in 1790, his household was configured on the second ward census. Over the next three decades, his household appeared on the Albany census. As many as nine people of varying ages lived in his house. However, it appears that Samuel and Maria christened no children in the Albany churches. By 1820, his household consisted only of an aged couple and one servant.

Beginning in 1797 (but perhaps somewhat earlier), community-based records identified him as an innkeeper - mostly located on Lion Street/Washington Avenue near the beginning of the main road to Schenectady.

In 1813, the first city directory listed the home of "Samuel Bromley" at 140 Lion Street. Subsequent directories identified him as an innkeeper with an address roughly at 130-40 Lion (Washington) Street. A developer's map dated 1794 shows his house and property on the southwestern corner of Lion and Dove Streets. He was last listed in the directory in 1822 at 140 Washington.

In September 1824, a State Supreme Court awarded Samuel Bromley a judgment of $600 from a loan to Albany potter Paul Cushman.

A Samuel Bromley was convicted of manslaughter in Albany County in 1825 and sentenced to ten years in prison. We guess (but certainly are not certain) that the criminal probably was not this subject.

A lifelong resident and Albany mainliner, innkeeper Samuel Bromley was dead by June 28, 1828 when his will passed probate.

Sources: The life of Samuel Bromley is CAP biography number 5963. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.