The Colonial and Revolutionary ancestors of Robert P. Brodhead were men of note in civil life and valiant in war.  They served from New England, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  Through both paternal (Brodhead) and maternal (Easton) lines Mr. Brodhead traces this ancestry to England.  His membership in the Patriotic Order Sons of the Revolution is derived from the military service of his maternal great-great-grandfather, Colonel James Easton, who was of the fifth generation in America from Joseph Easton, the early emigrant.  Colonel Easton's son Norman was also a Revolutionary soldier.  On the paternal side Mr. Brodhead descends from Lieutenant Garret Brodhead, his great-great- grandfather (see forward).  Captain Daniel Brodhead, father of Lieutenant Garret Brodhead, was a captain of New York forces engaged in Indian warfare, as was Captain Richard Brodhead, father of Captain Daniel, while Captain Daniel, the emigrant ancestor, was a captain in the British army in 1664.  Another famous soldier of Revolutionary times was Brigadier General Gerard Daniel Brodhead, brother of Lieutenant Garret (see forward).  Another Revolutionary ancestor was Captain Samuel Drake, father of Hannah, wife of Richard Brodhead (see forward). Andrew Dingman, a patriot soldier from New Jersey, was the father of Cornelia Dingman, the wife of Private Garret Brodhead.  Isaac Newman, a private in the War for Independence, was the father of Charlotte Newman Easton, the mother of Ophelia and grandmother of Robert P. Brodhead.  This line of Colonial and Revolutionary descent opens the doors of membership to every patriotic order.

Ancestors of the Brodhead family are said to have emigrated from Germany to England and settled in Yorkshire during the reign of Henry VIII.  In the parish records at Royston, which are nearly perfect from 1530, the name is spelled "Brodhead" until about 1640, when it began to be written "Broadhead", as it is still spelled by members of the family in England.

Captain Daniel Brodhead, ancestor of the American branch, was a kinsman of John Brodhead, of Benton (or Monk Bretton) West Riding, Yorkshire.  Daniel was born in Yorkshire, England, and married Ann Tye, who survived him and had two subsequent husbands -- Lieutenant William Nottingham and Judge Thomas Gaston, of Ulster county, New York.  Ann (Tye) (Nottingham) (Gaston) Brodhead died in the year 1714.  Captain Daniel Brodhead was with the expedition sent out from England in 1664 under Colonel Richard Nichols by the Duke of York to make a conquest of New Amsterdam and the other Dutch possession in New Netherlands.  He was a captain of the British grenadiers, was present at the surrender, and September 14, 1665, was commander of the British post at Esopus, near Kingston, Ulster county, New York, where he died July 14, 1667.

Captain Daniel and Ann Brodhead had three sons:

1. Daniel (2),  born 1661, died in 1705.

2. Ensign Charles, born 1663, married Maria Ten Brock.

3. Richard, see forward.

Captain Richard Brodhead, son of Captain Daniel and Ann Brodhead, was born at Marbletown, New York, in the year 1666, died in 1758. Little is satisfactorily known of this Richard.  It is known, however, that he held a captain's commission in the Ulster county militia, in 1728, and it is likely that he was engaged in the Indian wars of that period.  His wife was Magdalen Jansen, whom he married, April 19, 1692, by whom he had a son Daniel. Magdalena Jansen Brodhead died in 1701.

Captain Daniel Brodhead, son of Captain Richard and Magdalena Brodhead, was born in Marbletown, April 20, 1693, died at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, July 22, 1753.  Daniel attained the rank of captain of the Ulster county (New York) militia, serving first as private and later as lieutenant.  He removed to Pennsylvania in the year 1737, and bought one thousand acres of land at Stroudsburg, and was the proprietor of Brodhead Manor, Northampton county.  He was a justice of the peace in Bucks county.  He had been a merchant in Albany, New York, as early as 
1726, and in 1730 was a "Licensed Trader" among the Indians.  In Pennsylvania he built the town of Dansbury which was named for him.  He was of the Moravian church.  Captain Daniel Brodhead married, September 19, 1719, Hester Wyngart, baptized March 14, 1697, daughter of Lieutenant Gerrit Lucas and his wife Sarah (Visscher) Wyngart.

Eight children were born to Captain Daniel and Hester Brodhead: 

1. Thomas Gaston, died at sea.

2. Garrett Lucas.

3. Richard R.

4. Ann Gaston.

5. Charles, born September 7, 1729; in November, 1755, he visited the aged Shawanese chief, Paxinos, in the Valley, who urged him to secure the allegiance of the Valley Indians; his message was sent to the governor, and he empowered Charles Brodhead to visit the Indians of the Wyoming Valley and secure their friendship by the liberal use of presents, but before he arrived Teedyuscung had attacked the Delaware country and destroyed the Brodhead and Dupuy Plantation (see Pennsylvania Colonial Records, VI. 751-4, VII. 326-8).

6. Garret (2), see forward,

7. Daniel, see forward.

8. Luke, born 1737, died June 19, 1806. Luke Brodhead was another of this family numbered among the heroes of the Revolution.  He enlisted in the spring of 1776 as third lieutenant, First American Rifle Regiment, Colonel William Thompson commanding.  He was appointed second lieutenant, October 24, 1776, in Major Simon Williams' regiment.  He was wounded and taken prisoner at battle of Long Island.  Later he was commissioned captain of the Sixth Pennsylvania Regiment under Colonel Magaw in Continental service. He retired in 1778 incapacitated by wounds recieved in battle.  He married Elizabeth Harrison, of ---, Pennsylvania.  One of their sons, Rev. John Brodhead, became an eminent divine of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Lieutenant Garret Brodhead, sixth child of Captain Daniel and Hester (Wyngart) Brodhead, was born in Marbletown, Ulster county, New York, January 31, 1733, died at Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, during the year 1804.  He enlisted in the New York Colonial troops as sergeant, April 4, 1758, and was promoted lieutenant of the Second Regiment, Ulster county troops, in 1760.  He located in Smithfield township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, between the years 1770-72, as he was taxed there in the latter year, thus: "Garret Brodhead £7 s10 -- and in 1785 £5 s4 d8 for six hundred acres land, five horses, seven cattle."  He was in service on the frontier during the Revolution and held a lieutenant's commission.  Lieutenant Garret Brodhead married, March 15, 1759, Jane Davis. Children: John, Daniel, Richard (see forward), George, Elizabeth (Mrs. Dr. Francis Joseph Smith), Rachel (Mrs. David Dills), Samuel, married Hannah Shoemaker.

Brigadier General Daniel Brodhead, seventh child of Captain Daniel and Hester (Wyngart) Brodhead, was one of the famous heroes of the Revolution.  He was born (probably at Albany, New York) September 17, 1736, died November 15, 1809.  In 1737 he removed to Pennsylvania, settling at what is now East Stroudsburg, Monroe county, where he grew up amid the wild surroundings of the frontier, and where on December 11, 1755, he first met the Indians in warfare, when they made a fierce but unsuccessful attack on the Brodhead house.  In 1775 he was of Reading, Pennsylvania, and deputy surveyor under John Lukens, surveyor-general of the province.  In July, 1775, he was a delegate from Berks county to the provincial convention in Philadelphia, and early in 1776 was lieutenant colonel of a rifle regiment with headquarters at Marcus Hook.  Their orders were to support the American vessels on the Delaware in resisting British approach to Philadelphia by water.  Later with his command he was sent to join the Continental forces in New York, and after the capture of Colonel Miles at Long Island the command of the remnant of the regiment fell upon Lieutenant Colonel Brodhead.  He was home for a time on sick leave and rejoined the army as colonel of the Eighth Regiment.  On the organization of the army he was made colonel of the First Regiment, commission dating from September 29, 1776, and later appears to have been commissioned brigadier general.  He made many treaties with the Indians, transacted business with heads of the federal and state government, and in every respect proved himself a man of ability, tact and courage.  He was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly, and for eleven years, from 1789, was surveyor-general of the state.  He married (first) Elizabeth Dupui; (second) Rebecca, widow of General and Governor Thomas Mifflin, of Pennsylvania.

Richard Brodhead, third son of Lieutenant Garret and Jane (Davis) Brodhead, was born at Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, July 31, 1762, died at Milford, Pennsylvania, November 11, 1843.  He was the first of his family in direct descent from Daniel the American ancestor who did not bear a military title nor could not lay claim to service against the Indians or in the war of the Revolution.  This was because of his youth and not from lack of the family spirit.  He was, however, a captain of the state militia during the war of 1812-14.  He has been described as "a man of splendid physique, over six feet tall and of a stern and serious character".  He was sheriff of Wayne county, Pennsylvania, in 1798, a member of the legislature in 1802-03, associate judge eleven years, revenue collector of Wayne and Pike counties in 1812-15; was postmaster seven years, major of the Second Battalion, Pennsylvania Militia, prothonotary of Pike county in 1821; county commissioner in 1835-36, and was county auditor.  Richard Brodhead married, during the year 1790, Hannah Drake, born November 15, 1759, died July 31, 1832.  She was the daughter of Captain Samuel Drake, a soldier of the Revolution. Captain Samuel Drake was lieutenant of Pensylvania Militia, May 22, 1775, and captain, December, 1776.  There were eleven children born of this marriage:

 1. Sarah (Mrs. John Westbrook).
 2. Garret, see forward.
 3. William, married Susan Coolbaugh.
 4. Jane (Mrs. Moses S. Brundage).
 5. Albert Gallatin, married Ellen Middaugh.
 6. Anna Maria (Mrs. John Seaman).
 7. Charles, married Mary Brown.
 8. Rachel (Mrs. Dr. John J. Linderman).
 9. Richard, married Mary Jane Bradford.
10. Elizabeth, died young.
11. Elizabeth (2), died in infancy.

Garret Brodhead, eldest son of Richard and Hannah (Drake) Brodhead, was born December 2, 1793, died at East Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, January 18, 1872.  He served as a private in Captain Adam Hawk's second brigade, Pennsylvania militia, in the War of 1812-15.  He was a farmer of Pike county.  From 1850 until 1858 he held an important position in the civil administration of the navy yard at Philadelphia.  Garret Brodhead married, November 25, 1813, Cornelia Dingman, born October 3, 1797, died June 18, 1883, daughter of Daniel W. and Mary (Westbrook) Dingman.  Their children were:

1. Albert Gallatin, married Sally Ann Tolan.
2. Daniel Dingman, see forward.
3. Andrew Jackson, see forward.
4. Abram Coolbaugh, married Cornelia M. Ely.

Daniel Dingman Brodhead, second son of Garret and Cornelia (Dingman) Brodhead, was born September 6, 1818, died June 3, 1905.  He was a prominent merchant of Mauch Chunk in Carbon county, and for twenty years actively engaged in mercantile life in Philadelphia, where he founded the wholesale boot and shoe house of Brodhead & Roberts.  He married, May 6, 1847, Mary Ann Broderick, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Dougherty) Broderick, both born in Ireland, their children all being of American birth. Daniel D. and Mary A. Brodhead were the parents of a family of nine. His sons: Henry C., Albert G., Robert S., are large land and mine owners in Colorado, where the town of Brodhead is located, a town founded by them in the progress of their very large enterprises.  The Brodhead properties are held by an incorporated company of which Henry C. Brodhead is president, Robert S. Brodhead, vice-president, and Albert G. Brodhead, secretary and general manager, with principal offices at Denver, Colorado.  Andrew Jackson Brodhead, third son of Garret and Cornelia (Dingman) Brodhead, was born in Northampton (now Pike county), Pennsylvania, May 6, 1822.  He received his early education in the common schools of the towns in which his parents lived, at the Dingman Academy, and a term at the Stroudsburg Academic School.  He taught school one year, and in 1850 began working in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, where he removed his family in 1851.  From 1851 to 1857 he was employed as clerk and bookkeeper, and for five years was in business with a partner, repairing cars used by the pioneer coal company of that region. About 1861 Mr. Brodhead began shipping coal for other producers, and in 1877 opened a general store at Hickory Run, Pennsylvania, where he lived until 1883, when he returned to Mauch Chunck.  In 1884 he removed to Flemington, New Jersey, his present home.  In 1868-69 he was treasurer of Carbon county, Pennsylvania, for several years he was school director of East Mauch Chunk, and served as justice of the peace.  Andrew J. Brodhead married, December 31, 1845, Ophelia Easton, born May 9, 1822, in Milford, Pennsylvania, died in Flemington, New Jersey, April 26, 1904. They were the parents of ten children:

1. Calvin Easton, born in Pike county, Pennsylvania, December 27, 1846; married (first) December 6, 1870, Laura Clewell Leisenring, born at Mauch Chunk, August 9, 1848, daughter of Alexander William and Ann (Ruddle) Leisenring.  They had Anna Leisenring, born November 12, 1871; Emily Easton, born November 3, 1872; Alexander William, January 1, 1874; married (second) at Oakville, Canada, Mary Lewis, who died March 31, 1905.

2. Garret, born in Pike county, Pennsylvania, February 11, 1848; married, September 17, 1872, Annie Kocher, born in Mauch Chunk, August 25, 1849, daughter of Conrad and Catherine (Wasser) Kocher.  Seven children: Conrad and Andrew Jackson (twins), born July 19, 1873; Alonzo Blakeslee, December 26, 1875; Calvin Easton and Laura Leisenring (twins), born September 21, 1878; Ruth Randall, born March 7, 1884; and Garrett, born January 3, 1888.

3. John Romeyn, born in Pike county, Pennsylvania, June 11, 1849; married, November 13, 1882, Mary Martha Holbert, born in Chemung, New York, March 22, 1858, daughter of Joshua Sayre and Catherine Van Houton (Ryerson) Holbert.  They had Henry Holbert, born September 29, 1883, and Arthur Sayre, born November 26, 1886.

4. James Easton, born in Pike county, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1851; married, May 1, 1877, Hattie Lochlin Boyd, born July 11, 1852, daughter of Nathaniel and Jane (Curran) Boyd.  They have Walter, born March 9, 1878; John Romeyn, born September 25, 1880; Frederick Moon, born July 31, 1883; and Nathaniel Boyd, born June 22, 1891.

5. Andrew Douglass, born in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, August 17, 1852; married Margaret Lewis Martin, born January 15, 1859, daughter of Moses and Sarah Augusta (Lewis) Martin.  They have Edith Easton, born November 3, 1879; Frank Martin, born February 5, 1882; Lewis Dingman, born October 5, 1884; Andrew Jackson, born October 3, 1886.

6. Charlotte Easton, born in Mauch Chunk, December 11, 1855; married, October 5, 1887, Franklin Clark Burk, born in Flemington, New Jersey, April 8, 1853, son of Peter Wilson and Clarinda (Bellis) Burk.

7. Jean Struthers, born in Mauch Chunk, November 21, 1857; married, October 15, 1885, Charles Ashley Blakslee, born in Mauch Chunk, July 4, 1859, son of James Irwin and Caroline Jones (Ashley) Blakslee.  They have Gertrude Easton, born June 21, 1887, and Ophelia Easton Blakslee, born January 9, 1895. 8. Robert Packer, see forward.

9. Emily Linderman, born in East Mauch Chunk, June 1, 1862; married Frederick Moon, born September 30, 1851, son of Samuel and Matilda White Moon. They have Frederick Wiles Moon, born July 27, 1882.

10. Richard Henry, born in East Mauch Chunk, November 4, 1864; married, March 6, 1890, Jane Vanderveer Smock, born October 15, 1861, daughter of Daniel Polheim and Sarah Jane Smock. They have Estelle Smock, born November 26, 1890; Mary Ophelia, born April 2, 1892; Jean Blakslee, born July 3, 1893, died July 27, 1893, and Richard Henry.

Robert Packer Brodhead, eighth child and sixth son of Andrew Jackson and Ophelia (Easton) Brodhead, was born in East Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, October 12, 1860.  He was educated in the public schools of his native town at Wyoming Seminary, where he took a commercial course in 1879-80.  He was first employed as a clerk in the lumber business at Hickory Run, below White Haven, Pennsylvania.  In the fall of 1882 he went to New York, where he was a lumber salesman.  In 1883 he began railroad construction contracting, and had charge of the Vosburg tunnel, completed in 1886.  In the following year he became junior partner in the contracting firm of Brodhead & Hickey, 1883-94, succeeded in the latter year by C.E. Brodhead & Brother, 1894-98, and now the Brodhead Contracting Company, of which Robert P. Brodhead is president.  Since engaging in the contracting business he has had charge of the following important works: Part of the Lizard Creek branch of the Lehigh railroad; a large part of the Lehigh Construction in New York, crossing the Genessee river; the Rochester branch, a part of the Mountain cut off near Wilkes- Barre, all Lehigh railroad work, and Wilkes-Barre end of the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley railroad (Laurel line), and rebuilt the Pittsburgh and Bessemer railroad.  He also built the stockyard of the Steel Company at Youngstown, Ohio, the Palisade tunnel on the New York, Susquehanna and Western railroad. The other business connections of Mr. Brodhead are numerous and exceedingly weighty.  He is treasurer of Paine and Company (Limited), Wholesale Meat and Oil, vice-president and director of the Kingston Deposit and Savings Bank, director of the Wilkes- Barre Deposit and Savings Bank, and has extensive lumber interests in Kentucky.

Robert Packer Brodhead married, May 22, 1889, Fanny Vaughn Loveland.  Children:

1. Robert Packer, born in Kingston, Pennsylvania, April 11, 1890, died April 10, 1900.

2. William Loveland, born in Caledonia, New York, June 10, 1891. 

3. Lydia Hurlburt, born in Geneva, New York, June 11, 1893.

4. Mary Buckingham, born in Kingston, August 29, 1895.

5. Frances Loveland, born in Kingston, October 16, 1896.

6. James Easton, born in Kingston, September 20, 1899.

7. Charles Dingman, born February 13, 1906.