Colonial era>Switzerland Mitchell>1710> New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina
SAMUEL MITCHELL BRINSON, Superintendent of Public Instruction of Craven County, North Carolina, was born in New Bern, in that State, March 20, 1870. His parents
were William George Brinson and Kitty Chestnut Brinson.
The Brinson family came to this country from the north of
Ireland, where they emigrated from England in Cromwell's time. In a careful survey of the records of Craven County we find that the name Brinson is associated with the early history of that section, a land grant having been issued to Casin Brinson at a Council held at New Bern, March 21, 1747, for two hundred acres of land in Currituck County. In the Militia returns of 1754-1757, we see the name of Cassin Brison in the list of Field Officers of the regiment of Craven. The names of Matthew Brinson,
Adam Brinson, and George Brinson appear in Captain Shack-
el ford's Company, Onslow County, 1754-1755. The patriotism of the Brinson family is shown in the record of Hilary Brinson, private soldier in the Revolutionary War. That Samuel Mitchell Brinson's ancestors insisted upon freedom of religious thought is evidenced by the fact that in the early Colonial days a Brinson forbear refused to subscribe to all of the articles of the Established
Church, and in consequence of his loyalty to his religious
convictions, was punished as a "dissenter." It is on account of the stand of men of his kind that the United States is recognized to-day as the home of religious liberty. Through his paternal grandmother, SAMUEL MITCHELL BRINSON not less interestingly connected. She was a descendant of FRANZ LOUIS MICHEL, a Swiss gentleman, who, with Baron Christoph Von Graffenried, brought the Swiss and Germans to Carolina and founded the town of New Bern in the year 1710.
Previous to this time there lived in that portion of Germany, situated on both sides of the River Rhine, known as the Palatinate, a people who had suffered great tribulations. As Germany had been the battlefield of Europe for many years, the Palatinate, bordering on France and Germany, had been the Province most subjected to the ravages of war. It is small wonder that these border people, inhabitants of Switzerland and Germany, who faced a poverty that had existed for years, owing to the devastation of their property by war, should be in a state
of great unrest. And added to their destitute condition was the...
Source: I don't know where I found this. I forgot to write it down. He was a public figure and it is easy to find out more with a search engine. I am not related, just sharing.