Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/157

Rh entirely from his parents. At eighteen years of age he joined the revolutionary army. Four years later he entered the family of Rev. Mr. Day, father of President Day of Yale, and began study with boys of eight or nine years. Soon afterward he determined to become a clergyman, and entered Yale college in 1781. He at first supported himself by manual labor and afterward by teaching school, the sum of $200, in continental money, which he had saved, scarcely serving to buy him a coat. He was graduated in 1785, studied divinity, and in 1787 became pastor at Blandford, Mass., where he remained until 1800. In that year the missionary society sent him to the unsettled part of the country northwest of the Ohio river. Here he endured great hardships for thirty years, going from settlement to settlement, over a country where there were neither roads nor bridges, and often passing the night in the branches of a tree. This mode of life gave him great familiarity with the country, which was of use to the American army during the war of 1813, when he served as chaplain. He became an intimate friend of Gen. Harrison, who gave him his appointment. In 1835 he retired and lived with a daughter until his death. See an autobiographical letter in the "American Quarterly Register" (vol. xiii., Andover).

BADGER, Joseph, clergyman, b. in Gilmanton, N. H., 16 Aug., 1792; d. 12 May, 1852. His father, revolting against the Calvinism in which he had been educated, had become a deist, and Joseph was given no religious training. When he was ten years old his family removed to Crompton, Canada, then almost a wilderness. He was converted in 1811 while visiting his native place, and in 1812 was baptized and began preaching without connecting himself with any regular church. He travelled for a time with a young man named Adams, who shortly afterward united with the Methodists; but Badger determined to "go forth and preach a free salvation to all who would hear." After laboring for two years in Lower Canada with great success. Badger received ordination at the hands of the Free-will Baptists, but maintained his independent position. In 1814 he returned to New Hampshire and preached with remarkable success, though his methods made him unpopular with the Calvinists. In 1817 he preached as an itinerant in the state of New York, and the churches that he founded joined the denomination known as Christians. After a preaching tour through the west in 1825 and a visit to Boston, Mr. Badger returned to New York, where he edited the "Palladium," at that time the organ of the Christian denomination. A stroke of paralysis forced him to give up work, but he preached again for some time before the final shock. See "Life of Joseph Badger," by E. G. Holland (New York, 1854).

BADGER, Milton, clergyman, b. in Coventry, Conn., 6 May, 1800; d. in Madison, Conn., 1 March, 1873. He was graduated at Yale with honor in 1823. After spending a year in teaching in New Canaan, Conn., he began his theological studies at Andover theological seminary, but in 1826 removed to New Haven to become a tutor in Yale college, and finished his preparation for the ministry there. He was ordained 3 Jan., 1828, as pastor of the South Congregational church in Andover, Mass., and remained there until 1835, when he became associate secretary of the American home missionary society. He was soon, by the resignation of Dr. Peters, placed in the position of senior secretary, and for thirty-four years he performed the duties of his office with great faithfulness and skill. He possessed a vigorous constitution, but the constant pressure of his work proved too much for him, and in 1869 he was compelled, by the manifestations of the disease that finally ended his life, to withdraw from active duties.

BADGER, Oscar C., naval officer, b. in Windham, Conn., 12 Aug., 1823; d. in Concord, Mass., 20 June, 1899. He entered the navy as a midshipman, served on the steamer &ldquo;Mississippi&rdquo; on the eastern coast of Mexico during the war with that country, and participated in the attack on Alvarado in 1846. He was made passed midshipman 10 Aug., 1847, from that time until 1852 was on various ships of the Pacific squadron, and in 1853-'4 at the naval observatory. On 15 Sept., 1855, he was made lieutenant, and, while attached to the sloop &ldquo;John Adams&rdquo; in 1855-'6, he commanded a party that attacked and destroyed the village of Vutia, Feejee islands. In 1861-'2 he commanded the steamer &ldquo;Anacostia,&rdquo; of the Potomac flotilla, and Lieut. Wyman, the commander of the flotilla, often mentioned in his reports the precision of fire of Badger's vessel. He was made lieutenant-commander on 16 July, 1862, and commanded the iron-clads &ldquo;Patapsco&rdquo; and &ldquo;Montauk&rdquo; in the engagements with the forts and batteries in Charleston harbor in 1863. In the night attack on Fort Sumter, 1 Sept., 1863, he was on the flag-ship &ldquo;Weehawken,&rdquo; as acting fleet captain, when he was severely wounded in the leg by a metallic splinter. After this he was on shore duty until 1866, and on 23 July of that year was made commander. From 1866 to 1867 he commanded the &ldquo;Peoria,&rdquo; of the North Atlantic squadron, and received a vote of thanks from the legislatures of the islands of Antigua and St. Kitts for services rendered to the authorities. From 1868 to 1870 he was at the Portsmouth navy-yard. In 1872 he was made captain, and on 15 Nov., 1881, commodore. In 1885 he was placed on the retired list.

BADGER, William, governor of New Hampshire, b. in Gilmanton, N. H., 13 Jan., 1779 ; d. there, 21 Sept., 1852. In his youth he devoted himself to business. He was in the lower house of the state legislature from 1810 to 1812, and from 1814 to 1816 in the state senate, of which he was the president in 1816. He was associate justice of the court of common pleas from 1816 to 1821, and from 1822 to 1832 high sheriff of Strafford co. He was governor from 1834 to 1836.

BADIN, Etienne Théodore, clergyman, b. in Orleans, France, in 1768; d. in Cincinnati in 1853. His parents regarded the mental qualities that he developed in his boyhood as extraordinary, and, although very poor, gave him a classical education. He was sent for three years to the college Montagu in Paris, where he acquired a thorough classical training, and entered the Sulpician seminary at Tours in 1789, with the object of becoming a priest. He immigrated to the United States in 1792 and was ordained by Bishop Carroll in the old cathedral of Baltimore in 1793, being the first priest ordained in the United States. He went to Georgetown college soon afterward to perfect himself in the knowledge of the English language, and was then appointed to do missionary work in Kentucky, which at that period formed a part of the diocese of Baltimore. He took up his residence in Scott CO., occasionally making excursions to the Catholic settlements in other parts of the territory. His mission extended over hundreds of miles, and he was obliged to be almost constantly on horseback, in which way he travelled more than 100,000 miles. In 1796, when his sufferings and hardships were greatest, he was offered the rectorship of St. Genevieve by the Spanish governor of the town.