On Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at 7 pm at Legion Hall, the Groton Historical Society will sponsor a talk by Deborah M. Child titled “A Stranger in our Midst—Richard Brunton, Soldier, Engraver, Forger”. Groton has had its share of interesting characters throughout its history, and Mr. Brunton was an early example.

Once described as a man of great ingenuity and skill and a fine engraver of silver, Mr. Brunton was a deserter from the British army.  He and his wife Mary were warned out of the town of Groton in 1783. By the late 1780s, Brunton was working as a journeyman engraver in Connecticut where he was apprehended for counterfeiting currency on at least two occasions. Sometime in 1803, after serving a two year prison sentence, Brunton returned to Groton. This time he boarded with William Farwell where he reportedly set up yet another counterfeiting operation. In 1807, he was arrested in Boston with engraving plates and bogus bank notes and given a life sentence to MA state prison. After an early pardon in 1811, he returned once again to Groton where he resided until his death in 1832 in the poorhouse. This lecture will shed new light on his life and times and feature many works by his hand associated with Groton families. If you have information or items by Richard Brunton, please bring them with you to the talk.

Deb Child is an author, lecturer and independent curator. Her biography “Soldier, Engraver, Forger: Richard Brunton’s Life on the Fringe in America’s New Republic” was published by the New England Historical Genealogical Society, Boston, MA.

Thanks to a grant from the Commissioners of Trust Funds, this program is free and open to the public. For more information, go to GrotonHistoricalSociety.org or call 978-448-0092.