Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/385

Rh portrait, Hartford, 1842).—His brother, Dyar Throop, a well-known physician of New London, also eminent as a botanist and chemist, was graduated at Yale in 1810, and died in New London, 6 Feb., 1863, aged seventy-three years.

BRAINE, Daniel Lawrence, naval officer, b. in New York city. 18 May, 1829; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y.. 30 Jan.. 1898. He was appointed to the navy in 1846, and during the Mexican war was in the actions at Alvarado, Tabasco, Laguna, Tuspan, Tampico, and Vera Cruz. He was made passed midshipman, 8 June, 1852, master in 1855, and lieutenant, 15 Sept., 1858. At the beginning of the civil war he was selected by the union defence committee to command the steamer "Monticello," fitted out in forty-eight hours to provision Fortress Monroe. The "Monticello" was afterward attached to the North Atlantic blockading squadron, and on 19 May, 1861, participated in the first naval engagement of the war, with a battery of five guns, at Sewall's Point, Va. In October, 1861, he attacked the confederate gun-boats above Cape Hatteras and dispersed two regiments of infantry, sinking two barges filled with soldiers, and rescuing the 20th Indiana regiment, who were cut off from Hatteras inlet by the enemy. On 15 July, 1862, he received his commission as lieutenant-commander, and from that time till 1864 was in numerous engagements, commanding the "Pequot" in the attacks on Fort Fisher, Fort Anderson, and the forts on Cape Fear river. For "cool performance of his duty" in these fights he was recommended for promotion by Rear-Admiral Porter in his despatch of 28 Jan., 1865, and on 25 July, 1866, was commissioned as commander. He had charge of the equipment department of the Brooklyn navy-yard from 1869 till 1872, and commanded the "Juniata," of the Polaris search expedition, in 1873. In the latter part of that year he demanded and received the "Virginius" prisoners at Santiago de Cuba, and brought them to New York. He became captain on 11 Dec., 1874. commodore, 2 March. 1885. and admiral. 4 Sept., 1887. He was assigned to the command of the South Atlantic squadron in August. 1886. Admiral Braine was retired 18 May. 1891, after forty-one years of service afloat and ashore.

BRAINERD, David, missionary, b. in Haddam. Conn., 20 April, 1718 ; d. in Northampton, Mass., 9 Oct., 1747. From early childhood he had strong religious feeling, and after entering Yale college in 1739, at the time of the great revival under Whitefield, his zeal led him into indiscretions. The attitude of the college toward the "New Lights" was cold, and students had been forbidden to attend their meetings. Brainerd. then in his junior year, disobeyed this rule, and was also heard to say of one of the tutors that he had "no more religion than the chair on which he sat." Refusing to make public confession of these offences in chapel, Brainerd was expelled. He never ceased to regard this action as unjust, though acknowledging that he had been at fault. After leaving college he began to study theology, and on 20 July, 1742, was licensed to preach by the Danbury association of ministers. He had for some time been interested in missions, and in the autumn after he was licensed received an appointment from the society for the propagation of Christian knowledge as missionary at the Indian village of Kaunameek, twenty miles from Stockbridge, Mass. He arrived at his post on 1 April, 1743, and labored there for a year, living in a wigwam and enduring many hardships. After he had persuaded the Indians to move to Stockbridge and place themselves in charge of the minister there, Mr. Brainerd was ordained by the New York presbytery at Newark, N. J., and went to the forks of the Delaware, where he remained for about a year, making two visits to the Indians of the Susquehanna, but meeting with little success. He next went to Crossweeksung, near Freehold, N. J., where his labor had a wonderful result. In less than a year he had baptized seventy-seven persons, of whom thirty-eight were adults, and the lives of most of these were permanently reformed. In 1747 Brainerd's health, exhausted by his labors, broke down completely. He had never been strong; while he was in college a severe illness had almost ended his life, and after that he suffered from consumption. By advice of his physician, he determined to visit his friends in New England. July, 1747, found him in Northampton, Mass., at the house of Jonathan Edwards, to whose daughter he was betrothed, and here he remained till his death. Brainerd wrote an account of his labors at Kaunameek, which was published with the sermon delivered at his ordination. His journals, under the titles "Mirabilia Dei apud Indicos" and "Divine Grace Displayed," appeared in 1746. His life, compiled chiefly from his diary, was written by Jonathan Edwards (1749), and a second edition, including the journals mentioned above, was edited by Sereno Edwards Dwight (New Haven, Conn., 1822). A third edition was edited by J. M. Sherwood, with an introductory essay on Brainerd's life and character (New York, 1884). An abridgment, by John Wesley, of Edwards's life, was also published in England (2d American ed., Boston, 1821). See also Sparks's "American Biographies" and Sprague's "Annals of the American Pulpit."—His brother, John, missionary, b. in Haddam, Conn., 28 Feb., 1720; d. in Deerfield, N. J., 18 March, 1781, was graduated at Yale in 1746, and in April, 1747, became his brother's successor at the settlement of Bethel, near Cranberry, N. J., whither the Indians under his charge had removed from Crossweeksung. He encountered great difficulties, owing to troubles about the ownership of the land, the enlistment of many of his flock in the army, the breaking out of hostilities on the border, and the opposition of the Quakers to his work. He was obliged to move twice with his congregation, and paid nearly $2,000 out of his own pocket for various expenses. The society in whose employ he was, dissatisfied with the state of affairs, twice dismissed him, and as many times asked him to undertake the work again. He preached for some time at Newark, N. J., and also at Mount Holly, N. J., and from 1760 till 1777 preached about five hundred times in filling vacancies near Egg Harbor, N. J. In 1777 he removed to Deerfield, N. J., and remained there until his death.—Thomas, clergyman, b. in Leyden, N. Y., 17 June, 1804; d. in Scranton, Pa., 21 Aug., 1866. He passed most of his childhood in Rome, N. Y., and after his graduation at Hamilton college began the study of law, but left it to enter Andover theological seminary, where he was graduated in 1831. After studying under the Rev. Dr. Patterson, of Philadelphia, he was ordained as a Presbyterian on 7 Oct. of that year, and went to Cincinnati, where he took charge of the 4th Presbyterian church until 1833. From 1833 till 1836 he edited the "Cincinnati Journal" and the "Youth's Magazine," and also assisted in editing the "Presbyterian Quarterly Review." He espoused the cause of Dr. Lyman Beecher, who was then the head of the newly established Lane theological seminary, and was encountering much opposition because of his