Charles Jacob Bronston was the son of Thomas Springer "Tom" Bronston Jr (1817–1890) & Sallie Ann Bronston Bronston (1823–1849). Tom and Sallie were paternal first cousins: he the son of Jacob Bronston of Lexington, and she the daughter of Thomas Springer Bronston Sr of Richmond, KY, Jacob's younger brother.

Sallie died of cholera a few days after Charlie's 1st birthday after declining to flee to the mountains with the rest of her family.
Charlie's father married 3 times and had 12 children. His first two wives died shortly after giving him sons. Henrietta A Baker, his 3rd wife (m: 1852) was the only mother CJ remembered.

In 1862 Charlie's father, Tom, was imprisoned as a civilian in 'Camp Chase' a Union prison camp in OH, for aiding the Confederacy. Tom wrote to Charlie - the family still has one stirring letter.

Charlie was married on 28 May 1874 to Susan Wallace "Susie" Hughes (1854–1891), daughter of William Thomas Hughes (1832–1874) & Sallie Kirkpatrick Cooper (1833–1914), who lived on the farm now known as Elmendorf. Susie's father was murdered two weeks after the wedding, by his own uncle.

Charlie and Susie were the parents of 9 children, 6 of whom lived to adulthood. See them linked here and listed under Susan Hughes Bronston.

Charles Jacob Bronston, a lawyer and statesman familiarly known about Lexington as the 'Red Fox', was notorious for his flaming red hair, hair-trigger temper, and exemplary sense of justice.

~ A very young portrait of Bronston hangs in the Fayette County Courthouse in Lexington.
~ The photograph attached to this memorial was taken for the 1890-1891 Kentucky Constitutional Convention.
~ The attached cartoon was published in the Pittsburgh Press in 1899 and told the melodramatic tale of a standoff between Red Fox Bronston and Col Jack Chinn.

A brief summary of Bronston's distinguished career:

~ 1869 Kentucky University at Lexington, graduated with valedictorian honors.
~ 1869-1870 University of Virginia, Law Department.
~ Began the practice of Law in Richmond, Kentucky.
~ Law partner of Hon. James B. McCreary, later Governor of Kentucky
~ Professor in the Law School of the Central University of Kentucky (now Center College)
~ 1879-1895 Commonwealth's Attorney for the 10th Judicial District (Madison, Fayette, Clark, Bourbon, Scott, Woodford and Jessamine Counties)
~ 1890-1891 Member of the Constitutional Convention of the State.
~ 1892 Delegate to the National Convention of the Democratic Party from the 7th Congressional District.
~ 1896-1900 Kentucky State Senator
~ 1901 the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on him by Kentucky University at Lexington
~ President of the Blue Grass Rapid Transit Company
~ President of the Southern Mutual Investment Company
~ Instrumental in acquiring funding from Andrew Carnegie to build the Lexington Library (see the KY historical marker in Gratz Park)

Susie Hughes Bronston died on 14 May 1891 after several weeks of illness, leaving a bereft husband and 6 young children.

CJ Bronston was remarried 13 Feb 1897 to Miss Belle Wisdom (1864-1945) of Paducah, KY. Her father Benjamin Henry Wisdom was said to be the richest man in Kentucky.
This marriage lasted more than a decade but did not go smoothly - Belle was only a few years older than her husband's eldest daughters, and expelled them from the family home. The couple was in the middle of a contentious divorce when he died suddenly.

At her death, Belle left her oil fields near Houston, Texas in trust to her sisters and to Midway College in Midway, KY. A descendent of Belle's sister, contacted this FAG contributor, 67 years after her death, and noted "Their marriage with her difficult disposition mixed with C. J.'s pugnacious character was doomed to a caustic end." ... and that his entire family is still receiving checks from the Belle Wisdom Trust.