Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/417

 BRAXTON.

BRAY.

BRAXTON, Carter, statesman, was born at Newington. Va., Sept. 10, 1736. His father was wealthy. His mother was the daughter of one of the presidents of tlie Royal council of Virginia. He graduated at WiUiam and Mary college, and at the age of nineteen married Judith Robin- son. He was one of the richest men in the county of King and Queen. He lost his wife within two years of his marriage, and went to England, where he remained until 1760. The year follow- ing he married the daughter of Richard Corbin of Lanneville, royal receiver-general of the cus- toms of Virginia. In 1765 he took his seat in the house of burgesses. He was present when Patrick Henry presented his resolutions on the stamp act, and, stirred by the fiery eloquence of that impetuous orator, unhesitatingly supported them. He was a member of the Virginia conven- tion in 1769, and when it was suddenly dissolved by Lord Botetourt, signed the non-importation agreement. Lord Botetourt died in 1770, and until the arrival of his successor, Braxton acted as high sheriff of the country, but refused to serve under Lord Dunmore. In 1774 Dunmore dissolved the assembly, and Braxton was one of the eighty-nine protesting members who recom- mended the general convention at Williamsburg, which was held in August, 1774, at which dele- gates were elected to the Continental Congress. Mr. Braxton was chosen, Dec. 15, 1775, delegate to Congress, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Peyton Randolph, and as such voted for and signed the Declaration of Independence. He was in Congress only one session, leaving Aug. 11, 1776, Virginia having voted to reduce the number of delegates from seven to five. He re- sumed his seat in the Virginia legislature and held it until 1786, when he was appointed as member of the council of state, and continued as such until 1791. After an interval of two years, he was again elected to the executive council, and served until his death. He became largely engaged in commerce, and during the revolution his ships were captured, and his last years were embittered by financial troubles. He died in Richmond, Va., Oct. 10, 1797.

BRAY, Thomas, missionary, was born in Mar- ton, Shropshire, England, in 1656. He was grad- iiated at All Souls, Oxford, in 1678, and after receiving holy orders served for several years as curate and vicar in various small livings. In 1690 he delivered a course of " Cateclietical Lec- tures," which were published by the " authorita- tive injimctions " of Dr. Lloyd, bishop of Litchfield and Coventry, to whom the volume was dedicated. This work brought Bray into prominence and se- <!ured for him the notice of Dr. Compton, bishop of London, who in 1695 selected him to act as his suffragan in the territory of Maryland, which had

been divided into thirty-one pari-shes with a i^ro- posed clergyman in each parish, and a suffragan or commissary to be appointed by the bi.shop of London, to act as general supervi-sor. Complica- tions having arisen in regard to the law establish- ing the Church of England in the colonies, Mr. Bray was called upon to assist in the adjustment of the diflSculty, and as a result of investigations and inquiries he addressed the following com- munication to the bishops : ' ' Since none but the poorer sort of clergy, who cannot sufficiently svipply themselves with books, can be persuaded to leave their friends and change their country for one so remote ; and since without a compe- tent provision of books they cannot an.swer the ends of their mission ; if your lordships think fit to assist me in providing parochial libraries for the ministers that may be sent, I shall be content to accept the commissary's office in Mary- land." His plans at once received the counte- nance and hearty support of the bishops, and he procured a generous supply of books for his Mary- land undertaking. Queen Anne having donated four hundred pounds for the establishment of a library at Annapolis, and he had also succeeded in urging a number of yoimg curates to accom- pany him to the new world as missionaries, the prospect of a helpful supply of books acting as an inducement to some who would not otherwise have consented to face the hardships and sacri- fices involved. Arriving in America in March, 1700, Dr. Bray at once set about the work of or- ganizing the church, and providing for the settle- ment and maintenance of the clergy. Some thirty-nine libraries, some of them containing as many as a thousand volmnes, were established by him in the texTitory extending from Massachu- setts to the Carolinas. In 1706 he accepted the offer of the living of St. Bartolph, Aldgate With- out, which he had refused in 1696, on account of his Maryland appointment. " The Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge," and " The Society for the propagating of the Gospel in Foreign Parts ' ' were the outgrowth of his library schemes, and to the latter of these asso- ciations, which was chartered by the king in 1701, the Protestant Episcopal chm-ch in America owes its early growth and prosperity. Dr. Bray's exertions in the cause of Christianity were untir- ing, and the amount of good he accomplished is inestimable, since its effects have proved peren- nial. He was the author of " An essay toward promoting aU Necessary and Useful KJnowledge, both Human and Divine, in all Parts of his Majesty's Dominions" (1687); " Bibliotheca Parochialis, or a Scheme of such Theological Heads as are Requisite to be studied by every Pastor of a Parish " (1697); two circular letters to the clergy of Maryland, " A Memorial on the