Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/386

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358
BRAINERD
BRANDT

"new-school" theology. From 1837 until his death Dr. Brainerd was pastor of the old Pine street church in Philadelphia. During the civil war he was earnest in his support of the government, both in the pulpit and in conversation, and so great was his influence that 130 young men of his congregation volunteered either in the army or the navy. He published a "Life of John Brainerd, the Brother of David Brainerd, and his Successor as Missionary to the Indians of New Jersey" (Philadelphia, 1866), and numerous sermons and tracts. He was also a frequent contributor to the magazines. See "Memoir of Thomas Brainerd," by Mary Brainerd (Philadelphia, 1870).


BRAINERD, Lawrence, senator, b. in 1794; d. in St. Albans, Vt., 9 May, 1870. He was active in forwarding the political, commercial, and railroad interests of Vermont, and was for several years candidate for governor. After the death of Senator Upham, Mr. Brainerd was chosen to the senate as a free-soiler for the remainder of the term, serving from 5 Dec, 1854, till 3 March, 1855.


BRAMAN, Benjamin, microscopist, b. in Norton, Mass., 23 Nov., 1831. He was graduated at Brown in 1854, and at Andover theological seminary in 1859, after which he was acting pastor at Shutesbury, Mass., and in 1863-'3 principal of an academy in Westport, Mass. During 1863-'4 he was teaching at Astoria, and after that date taught drawing in the Cooper Union and elsewhere in New York. He is a skilful microscopist, and from its first issue has edited the "Journal of the New York Microscopical Society," of which organization he has some time been president.


BRAMLETTE, Thomas E., governor of Kentucky, b. in Cumberland co., Ky., 3 Jan., 1817; d. in Louisville, Ky., 12 Jan., 1875. He was educated in the schools of his native county, was admitted to the bar in 1837, became attorney for the state in 1848, and in 1850 resigned, to devote himself to his private practice. In 1856 he was chosen judge of the sixth judicial district, and in 1861 resigned and entered the national army. He raised the 3d Kentucky infantry, and became its colonel. He was elected governor of his state, as a union man, in 1863, and, by re-election, remained in office until 1867, and afterward was a successful lawyer in Louisville. He was also U. S. district attorney for some time.


BRANCH, Charles James, clergyman, b. in Barbadoes iu 1834. He was educated at Codrington college, of that place ; was appointed curate of St. Simon's, Barbadoes, in 1857; rector of St. Andrew's, Grenada, in 1864 ; rector of St. John's, St. Croix, in 1866; and archdeacon of Antigua in 1879. On 25 July, 1882, he was consecrated bishop-coadjutor of Antigua, in the chapel of Lambeth palace.


BRANCH, John, secretary of the navy, b. in Halifax, N. C, 4 Nov., 1782 ; d. in Enfield, N. C., 4 Jan., 1863. After graduation at the university of North Carolina in 1801, he studied law, became judge of the superior court, and was a state senator from 1811 till 1817, in 1822, and again in 1834. He was elected governor of his state in 1817, and from 1823 till 1829 was U. S. senator, resigning in the latter year, when he was appointed secretary of the navy by President Jackson. He held this office till 1831, when the cabinet broke up, more on account of social than political dissensions, as was commonly thought. A letter from Sec. Branch on the subject is published in Niles's "Register" (vol. xli.). Judge Branch was elected to congress as a democrat in 1831. In 1838 he was defeated as democratic candidate for governor of his state, and in 1844-"5 was governor of the territory of Florida, serving until the election of a governor under the state constitution.—His son, Lawrence O'Brien, soldier, b. in Halifax co., N. C., 7 July, 1820; killed at Antietam, 17 Sept., 1862, was graduated at Princeton in 1838, studied law, and began practice at Raleigh. He was chosen to congress for three successive terms, serving from 3 Dec, 1855, till 3 March, 1861. After the secession of his state in May, 1861, he entered the confederate army, and became a brigadier-general in November of that year. He commanded at Newbern, N. C, when it was captured by Burnside, and afterward took part in several battles in that state and on the peninsula.


BRANCH, Mary Lydia Bolles, author, b. in New London, Conn., 13 June, 1840. Her maiden name was Bolles. She was educated at the New London high school and at L. F. Emerson's school in Boston, where she was graduated in 1860. She was assistant editor of the Philadelphia "Saturday Evening Post" for a short time in 1865, and has written much for periodicals, principally stories and poems for young people. Her best-known poem is "The Petrified Fern." She married John S. Branch, a lawyer in New York city.


BRANCIFORTE, Miguel de la Grua Talamanca (bran-the-for'tay), marquis of, Spanish soldier, b. in Sicily, Italy, about the middle of the 18th century. He belonged to the family of the Sicilian princes Carini, and served in the body-guards of both Charles III. and Charles IV. After he had reached the rank of lieutenant-general in the Spanish army he was appointed governor of the Canary islands, and subsequently viceroy of New Spain, and as such was received in Mexico in July, 1794. He promoted public works and industries, but was not liked by the people on account of his intrigues against his predecessor, the count of Revillagigedo, a very popular man in Mexico. He was finally replaced by Azanza on 31 May, 1798. During the French invasion (1808-'14) he joined the Napoleonic party, and for this cause his property in Mexico was confiscated by order of the viceroy, Archbishop Lizana.


BRANDRETH, Benjamin, physician, b. in Leeds, England, 9 Jan., 1807; d. in Sing Sing, N.Y., 19 Feb., 1880. He was a grandson of Dr. William Brandreth, introducer of Brandreth's pills. Coming to the United States in 1835, he established a laboratory in Sing Sing, N. Y. In 1874 he presented to Dr. Robert S. Newton and his associates the building used by the eclectic medical college of New York.


BRANDT, Carl Ludwig, artist, b. near Hamburg, in Holstein, Germany, 22 Sept., 1831. His father and grandfather were eminent physicians in Hamburg. His father taught him drawing at the age of seven, and he subsequently studied in the principal galleries of Europe. He served in the war of 1848-'50, between Germany and Denmark, and came to the United States in 1852. He painted several portraits previous to 1864, and in that year built his studio in Hastings-on-Hudson, N. Y., but lived in Europe from 1865 till 1869. He was chosen a national academician in 1872, and in 1883 was elected director of the “Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences,” Savannah, Ga., where he resides in winter. Among his works are “A Dish of Alpine Strawberries”; “The Fortune-Teller” (1869); “Return from the Alps” (1874); “Monte Rosa at Sunrise”; “Bay of Naples during Eruption of Vesuvius in 1867”; “Etna from Taurinino, Sicily”; “Resignation”; and “The Golden Treasures of Mexico.” The numerous portraits painted since his return from Europe include likenesses of John Jacob Astor the elder; Mr. and Mrs. William B.