Early American Presbyterians -- B

Rev. James Baber (1794-1863)

Rev. Wilbur Backus (1788-1818)

Rev. Joseph Badger (1757-1846)

Joseph Badger was born in Wilbraham, Mass., February 28th, 1757. At the age of eighteen he entered the army, and continued in military service several years. After his conversion, he entered Yale College, in 1781, as a Freshman, and pursued his studies under great pecuniary embarrassment. Here he constructed a planetarium that cost him three months labor, and for which the college authorities gave him an order on the steward for one hundred dollars. He graduated in the Fall of 1783.

The next year Mr. Badger taught school and studied theology under the venerable Rev. Mark Leavenworth, and in due course was licensed to preach the gospel, by the New Haven Association. After serving several churches in Connecticut, until October 24th, 1800, he accepted the commission of the Connecticut Missionary Society to labor as a missionary in the Western Reserve of Ohio, or New Connecticut, as it was then called. He started for his new field of labor, November 15th, alone and on horseback. As the roads, towards the close of his journey, were mere bridle-paths, for nearly two hundred miles he had to lead his horse. He was obliged to swim the Mahoning River in Ohio, but at length reached Youngstown, and found a hospitable reception with the pastor, Rev. William Wick. Here he commenced a series of labors leading him in every direction where the cabin of a settler was to be sought. By request of the Presbytery of Ohio he went, in company with Rev. Thomas Edgar Hughes, as far as Maumee and Detroit, to consider the propriety of establishing a mission among the Indians.

Having returned to Connecticut, Mr. Badger made a report of his missionary operations to the Board, and on the 23rd of February, 1802, started with his family to the Western Reserve, a journey of four or five hundred miles. The outfit was a four-horse wagon, in which were stowed his wife and six children, together with their household effects. After much exposure and trial by the way, he reached Austenburg, Ohio, at the expiration of two months. Here he built a rude cabin of logs, without a floor, furniture, or even a door, or chinking between the logs. Leaving his family to plant the garden and the corn-field, he set out on a missionary tour that continued three months, when he returned home. These missionary tours continued with little cessation, until April, 1803. At that time, he became a member of the Presbytery of Erie.

In 1806 Mr. Badger accepted a commission from the Western Missionary Society located at Pittsburg, Pa., as a missionary to the Indians in the region of Sandusky, Ohio for about four years. After resigning this commission, in 1810, he removed to Ashtabula, Ohio, where, and in the neighboring settlements, he preached, deriving his support in part from the people, and in part from the Massachusetts Missionary Society. During the war of 1812 he was after solicitation to accept the positions, appointed brigade chaplain and postmaster of the army, by General Harrison, and served in this capacity until Spring. He continued to preach in various places, without any regular support, until 1826. At that time he was placed on the pension roll of the War Department, as a soldier of the Revolution. He was installed pastor of a small congregation in Gustavus, Trumbull County, Ohio, by the Presbytery of Grand River, in October, 1826, and labored there with encouraging success, until obliged, by declining health, to seek a release from his charge, June 26th, 1835. He died, April 5th, 1846, in the ninetieth year of his age. To the last he retained his mental powers.

Charles Washington Baird, D.D. (1828- aft 1884)

In 1876 the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by his alma mater. Dr. Baird's extensive reading, ripe scholarship, and graceful rhetoric, make him an instructive and attractive preacher. Aside from his pulpit labors he has accomplished much valuable literary work, as the following list of his publications will show: "Eutaxia or the Presbyterian Liturgies," 1855. A revised edition, under the title "A Chapter on Liturgies," was published in London, in 1856, by the Rev. Thomas Binney. "A Book of Public Prayer," compiled from the Authorized Formularies of the Presbyterian Church, as prepared by Calvin, Knox, Bucer and others, 1857. Dr. Charles W. Shields, in "Liturgia Expurgata", refers to these books as "the two learned and valuable works of the Rev. Charles W. Baird, to who belongs the credit of a first investigator and collector of the Presbyterian Liturgies." "Chronicles of a Border Town: the History of Rye, N.Y., 1660-1870" 1871. "History of Bedford Church, New York," 1882. Several minor publications might be added to this list. Dr. Baird has also published translations of "Malan on Romaism" and of Merle d'Aubigne's "Discourses and Essays." He is now in preparation of "A History of the Huguenot Emigration to America." [1884].

Henry Martyn Baird, D.D., Ph.D. (1832-aft 1884)

Robert Baird, D.D. (1798-1863)

Dr. Baird was the author of a number of useful works, some of which have obtained a very wide circulation, both in this country and in Europe.

See also, his sons, Charles Washington Baird and Henry Martyn Baird.

Samuel John Baird, D.D. (1817-aft 1884)

Rev. Thomas Dickson Baird (1773-1839)

Mr. Baird had an important agency in originating and sustaining those measures which resulted in the establishment of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, whose missions, being transferred to the General Assembly, constituted the basis of the operations of its present Board. In 1831 he took the editorial charge of the Pittsburg Christian Herald (in 1884, the Presbyterian Banner), and conducted the paper with acknowledged ability. He died January 7th, 1839.

See also, his son, Rev. Samuel John Baird.

Daniel Baker, D.D. (1791-1857)

In connection with Dr. Baker's labor's at Beaufort, South Carolina, there was an extensive and powerful revival of religion. While pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Frankfort, Kentucky (1834-36), he officiated for a considerable length of time as chaplain in the Penitentiary, where his labors were blessed to the awakening of many, and even to the hopeful conversion of some twelve or fourteen. He labored for a time, with great earnestness and success, at Galveston, Texas. He also did great work on the frontier. In arriving, toward night, at a village in which there was no Presbyterian Church, and in which he had no acquaintance, he would obtain the use of whatever public building was in the place, and hire some one to go around there that night. He subsequently became president of Austin College, and resided in Huntsville, where this institution is located.

Dr. Baker had what are called "peculiarities;" but he was one of the most devoted and successful evangelists the country, if not the world, has ever seen. His motto was "This one thing I do." The number of those hopefully converted under his preaching, he supposed to be about 2500. His "Revival Sermons," were reprinted in 1875 in England at the suggestion of Mr. Moody, as the best of the kind for distribution among the people.

He died at Austin, Texas, December 10 1857. He married Mar 28, 1816, Elizabeth McRobert, who was the granddaughter of Rev. Archibald McRobert. They has seven or more children.

Rev. James Balch (d. aft 1802)

Hezekiah Balch (d. 1810)

Rev. Hezekiah James Balch (d. 1776)

Stephen Bloomer Balch, D.D. (1747-1833)

Thomas Bloomer Balch, D.D. (1793-1878)

Rev. Samuel Baldridge

Rev. Burr Baldwin (1790-1882)

Elihu Whittlesey Baldwin, D.D. (1789-1840)

In 1835 he was recommended to the post of first President of Wabash College. Duty alone extorted his consent to the resignation of his charge. Dr. Baldwin left his people on the 1st of May, 1835. He entered on his appropriate duties as President in the early part of November, but was not regularly inaugurated until the annual Commencement, in July of the next year. His death occurred during his Presidency of Wabash College, in 1840.

Matthias W. Baldwin (1795-1866)

Having received an order to construct a road locomotive for the Germantown Railroad, the work was accomplished, and on its trial trip, November 23d, 1832, the engine proved a success. It weighed five tons, and was sold for three thousand five hundred dollars. In 1834 he constructed an engine for the South Carolina Railroad, and also one for the Pennsylvania State Line, running from Philadelphia to Columbia. The latter weighed seventeen thousand pounds, and drew at one time nineteen loaded cars. This was such an unprecedented performance that the State Legislature at once ordered several additional ones and two more were completed and delivered during the same year, and he also constructed one for the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad. In 1835 he build fourteen, in 1836, forty. His success was now assured, and his works became the largest in the United States, perhaps in the world. Engines were shipped to every quarter of the globe, even to England, where they had been invented, and the name of Baldwin grew as familiar as a household word. Mr. Baldwin was one of the founders of the Franklin Institute. He was an exemplary Christian, and a very useful elder of the Presbyterian Church. He gave very liberally and cheerfully of his large means for the cause of Christ. His name is held in honored remembrance in the community in which he lived. His death occurred September 7th, 1866.
 

Rev. Moses Baldwin (b pre 1738)

Rev. Theron Baldwin

Rev. Eliphalet Ball (pre 1728-1797)

Rev. Francis S. Ballentine

Hon. Ephraim Banks (1791-1871)

He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church at Lewistown for many years, having been elected and ordained as such, probably in 1823 or 1824. He often represented the church in meetings of Presbytery and as often, perhaps as any other elder represented the Presbytery in the meetings of the General Assembly. As a member of Church judicatories his opinions were always looked for and respected, and he was always appointed on the most important committees. He was a diligent and faithful teacher in the Sabbath School till the infirmities of age compelled him to desist.
 

Rev. Jonathan Barber, M.D. (b pre 1735)

Rev David Bard (1750-1815)

Rev. Isaac Bard (1797-1878)

Rev. Albert Barnes (1798-1870)

His ministrations were characterized by Scripturalness, clearness, fullness of treatment, fairness in dealing with objections, and thoughtful spiritual power. He was a firm and fearless advocate of the Temperance reformation, nor did he ever hesitate to express s his opposition to the system of slavery. "His name," says the Rev. Dr. Robert Davidson, "appears without any title, because he was conscientiously opposed to academic degrees. As a preacher it is sufficient to say that he stood at the head of his profession, in an arduous post, and under peculiarly trying circumstances, yet he commanded to the last the respect and admiration of the learned professions."

As a writer, Mr. Barnes was remarkably clear. In 1832 he published his "Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels; designed for Sunday school Teachers and Bible Classes." One book after another followed, until he found himself at the end of the New Testament. During these years he also wrote his Annotations on Isaiah, Job and Daniel, which were followed by his "Notes on the Psalms." Among his other more important published works are "The Way of Salvation," "The Atonement," "Lectures on the Evidences," and "Life of Saint Paul." His two discourses, "Life at Threescore," and "Life at Threescore and Ten," are among the most charming autobiographies the world has ever seen; they show beautifully how religion can gild and cheer a Christian minister's closing years. He lived to see edition after edition of his Commentaries exhausted, until more than half a million of volumes were sold in his own country, and perhaps even a greater number in England, Scotland, and Ireland, while translations of many of his Notes were made into the languages of France, Wales, India and China.

The years of controversy in the Presbyterian Church which culminated in its division in 1837, and in which some of Mr. Barnes' doctrinal views were assailed, were painful years to him. But through them all he bore himself with a firmness that never passed by its excess into obstinacy, and with a gentleness that never degenerated into weakness. He remained conspicuously connected with what was known as the New School branch of the Presbyterian Church, but through press and pulpit contributed largely to that state of things which made the reunion of the Presbyterian Church possible.

In 1849 Mr. Barnes was invited to a professorship in Lane Seminary, which he declined. In 1851 the General Assembly (New School) made him Moderator. About this time his eyes began to fail, which led him in 1868 to resign his charge, much against his people's wishes, but continuing at their request as Pastor Emeritus. To the last, however, he continued to preach occasionally in the churches, and regularly in the House of Refuge, of which he was a Manager.

Mr. Barnes died on December 24th, 1870, while in the performance of a sacred and tender duty. On that day he walked a mile to administer consolation to a bereaved family, but had scarcely seated himself when he experienced a difficulty in breathing, and suddenly falling back in his chair, expired, without a struggle.

Rev. Hugh Barr (1790-1862)

Rev. Samuel Barr (b. pre 1765)

Rev.William H. Barr (1779-1843)

George Addison Baxter, D.D. (1771-1841)

On the 19th of October, 1798, he accepted the Professorship of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, in Liberty Hall, and on the death of Mr. Graham, the next year, he was chosen his successor as Principal. In this new relation he was also constituted pastor of the congregations of New Monmouth and Lexington. He continued his connection with the Academy, which was soon after chartered as Washington College, until the Autumn of 1829, laboring for its welfare with great fidelity and self-sacrifice, but though he retired from the Institution, he still retained the pastoral charge of the congregation.

Dr. Baxter was inaugurated Professor of Theology in Union Theological Seminary, April 11th, 1832. Besides performing the duties of his Professorship, he preached regularly to vacant congregations in the neighborhood, and for four years before his decease supplied a church twenty-five miles from his residence the first two years two Sabbaths, afterwards one Sabbath in each month. He continued to labor without interruption almost to the day of his death which occurred April 24th, 1841.

See, student and colleague, Rev. Daniel Blain.
 

Rev. Andrew Bay (pre 1724-post 1776)

Bay is said to have died at the parsonage where his family lived during the American Revolution.
From the information on the Church of Newtown's website by Robert Singleton  http://www.fpcn.org/history/pastors/bay.html

John Bayard (1738-1807)

At the commencement of the Revolutionary War Mr. Bayard took a decided part in favor of his country. At the head of the Second Battalion of the Philadelphia Militia he marched to the assistance of Washington and was present at the battle of Trenton. He was a member of the committee of Safety, and for many years, Speaker of the Legislature. In 1785, he was appointed a member of the old Congress, then sitting in New York. In 1788, he removed to New Brunswick, where he was mayor of the city, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and a ruling elder of the church. Here he died, January 7th, 1807. He was a delegate for the Presbytery of New Brunswick to the meeting of the first General Assembly in 1789.

Elias Baylis (d. 1776)

The aged man was visited in prison by his wife and daughter. After a confinement of about two months, at the intercession of his friends, he was released, barely in time to breathe his last without a prison's walls. He died in crossing the ferry with his daughter.

Rev. Charles Beatty (1712?-1772)

Mr. Beatty was licensed by New Brunswick Presbytery, October 13th, 1742, was called to the Forks of Nashaminy May 26, 1743, and was ordained December 14th. The Synod of New York sent him to Virginia and North Carolina in 1754, and he accompanied Franklin, when he, with five hundred men, came up to defend the frontier, after the burning of the Moravian missionaries at Gnadenhuetten, near Lehighton. The corporation for the Widows' Fund sent him to Great Britain in 1760 to collect money for its treasury. In 1766, the Synod appointed him and the Rev. Mr. Duffield , of Carlisle, missionaries to the frontiers of the province for two months, and in fulfilling this appointment, the former passed along the Juniata, and the latter went through Path Valley, Fannet and the Cove. The Delaware town on the Muskingum, one hundred and thirty miles beyond Fort Pitt, was visited by them, and they found a cheering prospect of a door opening for the spread of the gospel among the Indians. To relieve the College of New Jersey, Mr. Beatty sailed for the West Indies, but died August 13th, 1772, soon after reaching Bridgetown, in Barbadoes.

John Beatty, M.D. (d.1826)

Lyman Beecher, D.D. (1775-aft 1852)

On the 22nd of October, 1830, Dr. Beecher was unanimously elected President and Professor of Theology in Lane Theological Seminary. So devoted were the people of Boston to him that nearly two years elapsed before arrangements were made, and he assumed his new duties. December 26th, 1832, he moved to Cincinnati, and was inducted into his office, and entered upon its duties. In the Spring following his was installed the pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati.

After giving twenty years of his life to Lane Seminary, Dr. Beecher ended his public labors in 1852, when he returned to Boston, and afterwards removed to Brooklyn, where he lived within a stone's throw of his son's (Rev. Henry Ward Beecher) house and church, and where he was for some time an honored landmark of a former generation, and an object of universal esteem and affection. He was the father of Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Gov. Gunning Bedford (d. 1812)

Rev. Lyman Beecher (b pre 1779)

Rev. L. G. Bell (1788-1868)

No other man has done, perhaps, so much for the extension of our Church in the West, as Father Bell. Nearly all the churches in the Synod of Southern Iowa were gathered and organized by him. He organized, in all, thirty-three churches, and watched over them with paternal solicitude as long as he lived. In 1861 the feeble health of his wife and his own advanced age (being over seventy years) rendered it imperative to withdraw from the kind of labor to which he had then given so many years of his life. He therefore moved from Fremont county, Iowa, to Monmouth, Illinois. There, with the church whose existence was owing to his labors, and with affectionate kindred, he designed to spend his declining years, but still he labored in vacant churches in the vicinity. In 1867, his beloved partner died, and although urged by his friends to spend the remainder of his lonely days in rest, he afterwards twice visited his beloved churches in Iowa, riding hundreds of miles on horseback, rather than be idle. He died May 20th, 1868.

Rev. Robert B. Belville (1790-1845)

Simeon Benjamin (1792-1868)

Mr. Benjamin, in 1836 became an elder of the Church at Elmira, and held the office while he lived. He was a corporate member of the American Board, and a Trustee of Hamilton College and Auburn Theological Seminary. He gave Hamilton College $10,000 towards the endowment of the chair of the Latin language and literature, and left it a legacy of $10,000. He also devised $10,000 to Auburn Theological Seminary, $30,000 to the Presbyterian Board of Publication, $2,000 to the Elmira Orphan Assylum, and ---- to be divided between the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the American Tract Society. To Elmira College he gave $55,000 and in his will he provided for the payment of $80,000 more. Mr. Benjamin died in peace in 1868.

John G. Bergen, D.D. (1790-1872)

The pastoral relation of Mr. Bergen was dissolved September 27th, 1848 and from that time his active life ceased. He devoted himself to writing for the press, and to missionary effort among feeble churches here and there. During the twenty years of his life in Illinois, about five hundred members had been received into the Church in Springfield, and six churches organized in the county. He was for many years a director of the Theological Seminary of the Northwest, at Chicago. He took an active part in the reunion movement of the Church, and was made Moderator of the reunited Synod of Illinois, in July 1870. He died January 17th, 1872.

Rev. William Bertram (1674?-1736)

Matthew L. Bevan, Esq. (1777-1849)

Robert H. Bishop, D.D.

Rev. James Black (ca. 1776-1860)

Rev. John Black (d. 1802)

Gideon Blackburn, D.D. (1772-1838)

Mr. Blackburn established the New Providence Church, Maryville, and also took charge of another church called Eusebia, about ten miles distant. Besides his stated labors in these congregations, he preached much in the region round about, and was instrumental in organizing several new churches. During the early part of his ministry here, his situation, from the exposure of the region to Indian depredations, was one of imminent peril. In 1803 he undertook a mission among the Cherokees. In 1811 he removed again to West Tennessee, settled at Franklin, took charge of Harpeth Academy, and preached in rotation at five different places within a range of fifty miles, organizing, within a few months after he commenced his labors, churches at the several places at which he preached. One of the students at this academy was Rev. William Montgomery King.

On November 12th, 1823, Dr. Blackburn was installed pastor of the Presbyterian church in Louisville, Kentucky. He was president of Centre College, Dannville, Kentucky, from 1827 until 1830. He then removed to Versailles, Kentucky, where he was occupied partly in ministering to the Church in that place, and partly as an agent of the Kentucky State Temperance Society. In October, 1833, he removed to Illinois. In 1835 he was an agent to raise funds for Illinois College in the eastern States, and whilst thus engaged, conceived a plan of establishing a theological seminary in Illinois, which resulted, after his death, in the establishment an institution at Carlinsville, Illinois. He died August 23d, 1838.

Dr. Balckburn was much above the ordinary stature, being about six feet one or two inches high. In his manner he was easy, gentle, mild, courteous, affable but always dignified. He loved to range, and was often known to dash off on horseback on a Friday afternoon, ten, twenty and even thirty miles, preach four or five times administer the communion on Sabbath, and return on Monday morning in time to be in his chair in the lecture room at nine-o'clock.

Rev. Daniel Blain (1773-1814)

Andrew Blair (1789-1861)

Rev. John Blair (d. 1771)

During the excitement growing out of the question concerning the examination of candidates on their experience of saving grace, one of the Old Side published "Thoughts on the Examination and Trials of Candidates." On this pamphlet Mr. Blair published "Animadversions," dated "Fagg's Manor, August 27th 1766." He also published a reply to Harker's "Appeal to the Christian World," entitled "The Synod of New York and Philadelphia Vindicated." He left behind him a treatise on regeneration, orthodox, and ably written; it was published shortly before his death, with the title, "A Treatise on the Nature, Use, and Subjects of the Sacraments, on Regeneration, and on the Nature and Use of the Means of Grace." The preface is dated "Goodwill, alias Wallkill, December 21st, 1770." It was reprinted by Dr. James P. Wilson, in his collection of Sacramental Treatises.

Rev. John Durburrow Blair (1759-1823)

Rev. Samuel Blair (1712-1751)

In connection with Mr. Blair's ministry at Fagg's Manor, there occurred, in 1740, a very remarkable revival of religion. The number of the awakened increased very fast; scarcely a sermon or a lecture through the whole Summer failed to produce impressions, and many persons afforded very hopeful, satisfying evidence that the Lord had brought them to a true acceptance of Christ.

Mr Blair made a tour of preaching through New England in the Summer of 1744. He was a prominent actor in those scenes which, in his day, agitated and finally divided the Presbyterian Church. He agreed with Gilbert Tennent in his opinions, and cooperated with him in his measures, and, of course, rendered himself obnoxious to the "Old Side" party in the Church. In his doctrinal views he was a thorough Calvinist, as appears from his "Treatise on Predestination and Reprobation."

Mr. Blair's last illness was contracted from his going, upon an urgent call, and in an enfeebled state of body, to meet the Trustees of New Jersey College. As he approached his end, he expressed the strongest desire to depart and be with Christ, and but a minute or two before his departure, he exclaimed, "The Bridegroom is come, and we shall now have all things." The monument over his remains in the burying ground of Fagg's Manor bears the following inscription:--

Here lieth the body of

He was the brother of Rev. John Blair and his sister married Robert Smith, of Fagg's Manor. Robert Smith had two famous educator sons: John Blair Smith and Samuel Stanhope Smith. His daughter married another famous educator, Rev. David Rice, the first Presbyterian minister to settle permanently in Kentucky.

Samuel Blair D.D. (1741-aft 1799)

In November, 1766, Mr. Blair was installed pastor of the old South Church in Boston, as a colleague of the Rev. Dr. Sewall. On his way there, after his acceptance of the call, he was shipwrecked in the night, losing his wardrobe and manuscripts, and escaping narrowly with his life. His exposure on this occasion, injured his health and the loss of his sermons, which he had written with great care, depressed his spirits. He resigned his charge October 10, 1769. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1790. After resigning his charge at Boston, he took up his residence at Germantown, now a part of Philadelphia, where he passed the remainder of his life, in retirement and devotion to his books, except that he served two years as chaplain in Congress, and preached at other times, occasionally as opportunity offered. Mr. Blair was a man of polished manners, and a superior scholar, a well-read theologian and an eloquent pulpit orator. He published two sermons, one of which was occasioned by the death of his first cousin, the Rev. Dr. John Blair Smith, Philadelphia, 1799.

Rev. William C. Blair (b. bef 1800)

James Blake (1791-1870)

Rev. Stephen Bliss

James Blythe, D.D. (1765-1842)

When the Kentucky Academy, in 1798, was merged in the University of Transylvania, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Astronomy and Geography, and subsequently was the acting President of the Institution for twelve or fifteen years. He was present at the first meeting of the Synod of Kentucky at Lexington, Kentucky in 1802 and was designated a member of the West Lexington Presbytery. In 1818 he was transferred to the chair of Chemistry in the Medical Department, and retained the position until 1831. In connection with his Professorship he was associated, for some years, with Rev. James Welsh, as colleague pastor of the church in Lexington. About the time that he resigned the Presidency of the College he established a Seminary for young ladies, in which his instructions were exceedingly thorough and his influence in this department was widely and deeply felt.

In 1816 Dr. Blythe was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. In 1831 he was chosen Moderator of the convention of delegates from the Presbyteries which met at Cincinnati, at the suggestion of the Genral Assembly, on the subject of Domestic Missions. In 1832 he was elected president of Hanover College, Indiana, and for several years fulfilled the duties of the office with great acceptance, at the same time giving more or less gratuitous instruction in the Theological Seminary in the same place. In 1836 he resigned the Presidency of the College and from October 1837 preached to the New Lexington Church, ten miles from Hanover, until declining health obliged his to desist from labor. He died May 20th, 1842.

Hon. George Boal (b. 1796)

George Smith Boardman, D.D. (1796-1877)

Rev. William Boardman (1781-1818)

After Boardman’s arrival, Newtown underwent “a revival of religion in which a large number of persons became hopefully converted.” He caught an unknown disease and died on March 4, 1818.
Adapted from information by Robert Singleton on the Newtown Church's website at http://www.fpcn.org/history/pastors/boardman.html
 

Rev. John Boggs (ca. 1780-aft. 1851)

John Boggs, M.D. (1787-1847)

Rev. David Bostwick (1721-1763)

On April 14th, 1756, Mr. Bostwick accepted a call to the First Presbyterian Church in New York, and was installed shortly after. In the Winter of this year the prevalence of smallpox put him to study what was present duty and the mind of Providence in regard to himself and his family. "I had rather die in the way of duty," said he, "than purchase life by running out of it. I have, therefore, concluded to stay; but I have thought it prudent to send my family to Newark." He died November 12th, 1763, aged forty-three years.

Mr. Bostwich published a sermon, preached in 1758, at Philadelphia, before the Reverend Synod of New York, entitled, "Self Disclaimed and Christ Exalted," which was reprinted in London, 1776; also, "An Account of the Life, Character and Death of President Davies," prefixed to Davies' Sermon on the death of George II, 1761. After his death, there was published, from his manuscripts, "A Fair and Rational Vindication of the Right of Infants to the Ordinance of Baptism, being the substance of several discourses from Acts ii, 39." This tract was reprinted in London, and a second American edition of it was printed in 1737. The degree of Master of Arts was conferred on Mr. Bostwick, by the College of New Jersey, in 1756, and he was one of the overseers of the same institution from 1761 till his death.

The Rev. Joseph Treat, was called to be Mr. Bostwick's colleague in October, 1762.

Elias Boudinot (1740-1821)

After the establishment in 1816, of the American Bible Society, which he assisted in creating, Dr. Boudinot was elected its first president, and he made it a donation of ten thousand dollars. He afterwards contributed liberally towards the erection of its depository. In 1812 he was elected a member of the  American  Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, to which he presented the next year, a donation of one hundred pounds, sterling. He was deeply interested in every attempt to meliorate the condition of the American  Indians. He was a trustee of Princeton College, in which he founded, in 1805, the cabinet of natural history. By his last will, Dr. Boudinot bequeathed his large estate principally to charitable uses.

Rev. George Bourne (1780-1845)

No record remains of how and when Bourne became an opponent of slavery. But as a commissioner (for the third successive year) at the General Assembly of 1815 he attempted to introduce an antislavery overture. He was opposed at once by another commissioner from his own presbytery. A debate ensued in which Bourne severaly criticized the Presbyterian ministers, elders and church members of Virginia for the cruel and inhuman treatment of their slaves. Upon his return to Virginia the presbytery deposed him from the ministry and Bourne moved to Germantown, Pennsylvania where in 1816 he published the book, The Book and Slavery Irreconcilable (Republished as George Bourne and The Book and Slavery Irreconcilable. Edited and with an Introduction by John W. Christie and Dwight L. Dumond (Wilmington: The Historical Society of Delaware and Philadelphia: The Presbyterian Historical Society, 1969) For three successive General Assemblies, 1816, 1817 and 1818 Bourne's case was before the Assembly on appeal. Eventually, he lost. Bourne was unique in his role as an anti-slavery activist because 1) he was installed in slave territory 2) He asserted the slave-holding was "man stealing" according to the Bible and therefore a "soul-damning sin in the sight of God," and 3) he discovered in the "proof texts" then recently added to the Larger Catechism, verses which proved his point. He was also known as an anti-Catholic agitator. (Source for this sketch: A review of the above noted book by Leonard J. Trinterud in the Journal of Presbyterian History, Spring, 1970 at p.72.

Francis Bowman, D.D. (1795-1875)

Rev. John Bowman (d. aft 1802)

Hon. James Bowne (1798-1883)

He was an earnest friend of the Temperance cause. His history in this respect is somewhat peculiar. In 1829, when merchants sold and the multitude drank intoxicating liquors, he was in New York for the purchase of goods, liquors among the rest. Being induced to attend the anniversary of the National Temperance Society, he was deeply interested in the addresses. As the result, he resolved to make a smaller purchase of liquors than he intended, and subsequently determined to put his liquors in the cellar, and by this suppress, in a measure, their free use by customers and others. Finally, one Sabbath evening, on his return from church service, he descended into the cellar, turned open the faucets of the several liquor casks, and allowed the contents to flow out and waste upon the cellar floor. This action was followed by the formation of the first Temperence Society of Poughkeepsie.

Rev. Abraham Boyd (1770-aft 1833)

Rev. Adam Boyd (1692-1768)

Rev. James Boyd (1774-1813)

Rev. John Boyd (abt 1769-1816)

Rev. David Brainerd (1718-1747)

Having now undertaken the missionary work, and thinking he should have no need among the Indians for the estate left him by his father, Mr. Brainerd assumed the expense of educating "a dear friend," Nehemiah Greenman, of Stratford, for the ministry. He was soon put to learning and was supported by Mr. Brainerd till his death, Mr. Greenman having gone through his third year. He was, for many years, the pastor of Pittsgrove, in West Jersey.

The first scene of Mr. Brainerd's missionary labors was at an Indian village called Kaunaumeck, about half-way between Stockbridge and Albany. Here he lived in the woods nearly a year, lodging, during a part of the time, in a wigwam with the Indians, and subsisting altogether upon Indian fare. Having been ordained by the Presbytery of New York, at Newark, New Jersey, in June, 1744, he immediately stationed himself near the Forks of the Delaware, in Pennsylvania, where he labored, with comparatively little apparent effect, for about a year. At the end of this period he visited the Indians at a village called Crosweeksung in the neighborhood of Freehold--the residence of the celebrated William Tennent. Here was the scene of his greatest success. A wonderful divine influence accompanied his labors, and in less than a year he baptized seventy-seven persons, thirty-eight of whom were adults, whose subsequent life furnished satisfactory evidence of a true conversion.

In the Summer of 1746, Mr. Brainerd visited the Indians on the Susquehanna, and on his return, in September, found himself worn out by the hardships of his journey. His health was so much impaired that he was able to preach but little more. Being advised, in the Spring of 1747, to travel in New England, he went as far as Boston, and returned in July to Northampton, where, in the family of Jonathan Edwards, he passed the remainder of his days.

Mr. Brainerd entered into rest October 9th, 1747, aged twenty-nine years. [Note that this article was copied from a text printed in 1884 and does not reflect my own feelings about missionary work among Native Americans.]

Rev. John Brainerd (d.1781)

Mr. Brainerd traveled to the Forks of Delaware and to Wyoming several times, to induce the Indians to leave their unsettled life and dwell near him. Numbers came, from time to time, but he succeeded in doing little more than civilizing them. In 1751 he had some special success, and in October, 1752, he had forty families near him, and thirty-seven communicants. There were fifty children in the school. In the same year, with only one attendant, he spent a fortnight on the Susquehanna. Their horses were stolen, the guide was too lame to go on foot, and they remained three days where there was no house. That year, also, the General Court of Connecticut, on the petition of the Correspondents, granted a brief for a general collection to aid him in his school.

In 1755, Mr. Brainerd retired from the Society's service as a missionary, and in 1757 took charge of the congregation in Newark. Here he remained but a short while, for, in 1750, he resumed his mission among the poor Indinas. "As to the success that has attended my labors," he wrote, "I can say but little. It is a time wherein the influences of the Diving Spirit are mournfully withheld. I think, however, I have ground to hope that some good has been done among both Indians and white people, and the prospects of further usefulness are very considerable, if proper means could be used."

Mr. Brainerd resided for some time at Mount Holly. He had a meeting house there which was burned by the British in the Revolutionary War. Seven other places were regularly and frequently visited by him. The Synod, in 1767, granted him twenty pounds, besides his salary, for "his extraordinary services in forming societies and laboring among the white people in that large and uncultivated country." The grant was renewed the next year, for his extensive services and labor in those parts. From 1760 to 1770 he received from the congregations between Egg Harbor and Manahawkin fifty-nine pounds, nineteen shillings. He continued to supply these numerous vacancies and the annual allowance of twenty pounds was promised by the Synod for that service. In 1773 it was increased to twenty-five pounds. The next year he gave an account of his labors and prospects of success, and the interest of the Indian Fund was reserved for him. In 1777 he removed to Deerfield, and preached there till his death, March 18th, 1781. His remains repose beneath the floor of the Deerfield Church. The Rev. Dr. Field, who was for many years minister of the congregation in which Mr. Brainerd's parents resided says, "The tradition in Haddam is that he was as pious a man as his brother David, but not equal to him in ability." Note that this article was copied from a text printed in 1884 and does not reflect my own feelings about missionary work among Native Americans.]

John Breckinridge, D.D. (1797-1841)

Dr. Breckinridge's active and busy life left him little leisure for labor as a writer or author. During his first pastorate, in Lexington, Kentucky, he was Editor of the Western Luminary, a religious periodical. He published a number of occasional sermons, and contributed at times to various religious publications. While Secretary of the Board of Education he published an Annual, devoted to the interests of that Board. These, with his debates in the Catholic controversy, comprise all of his published writings now recalled.

Robert Jefferson Breckinridge, D.D., LL.D. (1800-1871)

He was practically the leader of the Old School party through all the troubles which accompanied and followed the division, in 1837. He was the author of the "Act and Testimony," and of its defense as put forth by the Philadelphia Convention of 1837. He participated in all the great discussion which agitated the Church for forty years, from 1831. He first appeared in the Assembly, as an Elder, in 1831, but after that was a very frequent member, and was made Moderator in 1841. A collection of his debates would fill volumes, and would comprise thorough discussions of nearly the whole range of great ecclesiastical questions. The exigencies of his position at Baltimore, where he was publicly assaulted by Romanist controversialists, and denied the columns of the public press for reply, forced the establishment in January, 1835, of "The Baltimore Literary and Religious Magazine, which under the care of Mr. Cross and himself, did a good work under that name, and subsequently under the name of The Spirit of the XIX Century, until 1842. His share was also very large in the management of The Danville Quarterly Review (1861-65).

Prominent among Dr. Breckinridge's publications were "Papism in the XIX Century," "Memoranda of Foreign Travels," "The Knowledge of God, Objectively Considered" (first part of his System of Theology), "The Knowledge of God, Subjectively Considered" (second part of his System of Theology). Besides these were numerous pamphlets on ecclesiological subjects, numerous printed sermons, a lecture on "The Internal Evidences of Christianity," delivered at the University of Virginia, a series of Kentucky School Reports, from 1848-53, and political articles and addresses, mostly printed in the Danville Review.

William Lewis Breckinridge, D.D., LL.D. (1803-1876)

Rev. John Brice (d. 1811)

Rev. John Brick

Rev. Thomas Bridge (b. pre-1675)

Horatio Nelson Brinsmade, D.D. (1798-1879)

He was licensed by the North Congregational Association of Hartford, in June, 1824; ordained by the same body as an evangelist, June 1st, 1828; supplied the North Congregational Church in Hartford a part of the years 1827 and 1828; in December, 1831, began to preach at Collinsville, Connecticut and served a Congregational Church which was organized there in August, 1832, until November, 1834. At the latter date he began to preach at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he was installed pastor of the Fist Congregational Church, February 11th, 1835. Here he labored with great popularity and success for six and a half years and was released September 9th, 1841, having a call to the Third Presbyterian Church of Newark, New Jersey. Over this new charge he was installed September 23d, 1841, and here he labored with large acceptance and usefulness for twelve years. On October 9th, 1853, he was released by the Presbytery of Passaic.

Dr. Brinsmade's next pastorate was over the First Congregational Church at Beloit, Wisconsin, where he was installed, February 10th, 1854, and closed seven highly successful years of labor, January 1st, 1861. During nearly the whole of this time he gave gratuitous instruction in Beloit College. From Beloit he returned to Newark, New Jersey, where he commenced labors with a mission of the Third Presbyterian Chruch, as a result of which the Wickliffe Presbyterian Church was organized by the Presbytery of Passaic, May 14th, 1865. He continued to serve this young church, as stated supply until April 15th, 1867, at which date he was duly installed as its pastor, from which pastoral relation he was released by Newark Presbytery, April 17th, 1872. He continued, however, to reside in Newark, preaching often, useful in many ways in the church and the community, honored and beloved by all around him until his death, which occurred January 18th, 1879. He had traveled extensively in Europe and the East, he had broad and intelligent views. )

Rev. Andrew Brown (d.1823)

In January, 1822, he removed to Mesopotamia, still preaching at most of the churches he had already organized, and here, in the Fall of 1823, he had called on the Rev. James Hillhouse, and the Rev. Joseph P. Cunningham, to assist in organizing the church in Mesopotamia. The day for that purpose being set, he went to Marion, Perry county, to attend a meeting of the Presbytery, where he died, after five days' sickness. This event was a severe bereavement to his brethren of the Presbytery, who, being mostly young men, looked up to him as their guide in ecclesiastical matters.

Duncan Brown, D.D. (1771-1861)

Isaac V. Brown, D.D. (1784-1861)

Rev. James Moore Brown (1799-1862)

In April, 1837, he received a call to the Church of Kanawha, then embracing the present churches of Charlestown and Kanawha Salines, Virginia, where, for twenty-five years, he labored with success, beloved more and more by all who knew him. He died June 7th, 1862 at Lewisburg, West Virginia and was buried at Frankford. He married Mary Ann Bell at Winchester, September 26, 1826, the daughter of elder John Bell and Elizabeth Sherrard. They had six children. His brother, Rev. Henry Brown, was stated supply at Woodstock 1832-33, but did not join the presbytery of Winchester.

Rev. John Brown (1728?-1803)

He married Margaret, the second daughter of William Preston, of the Tinkling Springs congregation, Augusta Co., Virginia.  From them descended John Brown of Kentucky, and James Brown, of Louisiana, both of them United States Senators, and the latter, minister to France.

John A. Brown (1788-1872)

Mr. Brown was always active in religious and benevolent enterprises. He acted for many years as President of the American Sunday school Union, and of the Philadelphia Sabbath Association; served as a manager of the Blind Asylum; was chiefly instrumental, in connection with Henry Baldwin, in founding the Cavalry Presbyterian Church (of which he was a member), one of the largest and most useful in the city, contributing also, the ground and a large share of the money for the chapel, and, finally, crowned a long career of usefulness and benevolence by donating three hundred thousand dollars to the Presbyterian Hospital, which was founded in West Philadelphia, in 1871. Mr. Brown died in Philadelphia, December 31st, 1872, leaving an only son, Alexander Brown, of that city.

Col. Joseph C. Brown (1784-aft 1842)

Matthew Brown, D.D., LL.D. (1776-1853)

Matthew, his youngest son, was born in the year 1776, two years before his father's death. He was adopted in his infancy by his uncle, William Brown, who for many years was well known, and exerted an extensive influence on both the political and religious world. This uncle resided in Dauphin county, near Harrisburg, and it was at a school in that neighborhood that young Matthew was fitted to enter college. In due time he became a member of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in May, 1794, during the Presidency of Dr. Nisbet, for whom he always entertained the highest regard. After his graduation he taught, for some time, a classical school, in Northumberland county, where he became intimately acquainted with Dr. James Priestly, and other distinguished men of that region. He commenced his theological studies about the year 1796, and was licensed to preach by Carlisle Presbytery, October 3d, 1799.

Two years after he was licensed he accepted a call from the united congregations of Mifflin and Lost Creek, within the bounds of Huntingdon Presbytery, and, October 6th, 1801, he transferred his relation to that Presbytery, and in due time was ordained and installed as pastor of these churches. here he labored a few years, but receiving an invitation from the Church in Washington, Pennsylvania to become their pastor, and by the Board of Trustees of Washington Academy to become its Principal, he accepted these invitations, and removed there in the Spring of 1805. During the Spring of 1806 the Academy of which he was Principal became merged in Washington College, a charter for that purpose having been procured, and very much through his influence, from the Legislature of Pennsylvania. Of the new college, Mr. Brown was elected the first President, December 13th, 1806, still retaining his pastoral connection with the congregation. For the discharge of his double duties as pastor and president, his time was most diligently employed, and his faculties tasked to the utmost. In 1816, however, he resigned the Presidency of the College, preferring to give his whole time to the pastoral charge of his church.

He was offered the Presidency of Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, but declined it. He, however, in 1822 accepted the Presidency of Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and continued to hold the office twenty-three years, and during his whole administration the college was eminently prosperous. For several years after his removal to Canonsburg, he preached a part of each Sabbath, in conjunction with Rev. Dr. J. McMillan, at Chartiers. After time a separate organization was effected in the town of Canonsburg in connection with the college, and Dr. Brown became their regular pastor, and continued to served them in that capacity until he resigned the Presidency of the college, when the pastoral relation ceased.

In view of the incipient decay of his physical energies, from overtasking his constitution with too much labor, Dr. Brown in the year, 1845, tendered his resignation, as President of the College, to the Board of Trustees, and in accepting it, they passed resolutions testifying their high regard for his character and services, and at the same time conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws, the College of New Jersey, having in 1823, conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity upon him. After his release from the college, he gladly availed himself of every opportunity for preaching the gospel. He died at the residence of his son-in-law, Rev. Dr. Riddle, at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, July 29th, 1853, and was buried at Washington, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Brown published a Memoir of Rev. Obadiah Jennings, D.D.; also numerous sermons and addresses.

Rev. Samuel Brown (1766-1818)

Rev. James Browne (b. pre 1728)

Rev. Abner Brush (b  pre 1738)

President James Buchanan (1791-1868)

In the same year, 1831, in which Mr. Buchanan ceased to be a member of the House he was sent by President Jackson, as Minister Plenipotentiary, to the Court of St. Petersburg, where he negotiated the first commercial treaty which our Government ever had with that of Russia. After his return from Russia (1833), he was a member of the United States Senate for ten years, where he took a similarly high rank to that which he had occupied in the House. In 1845 he accepted the position of Secretary of State, in President Polk's Cabinet, holding the position until the expiration of Mr. Polk's Presidential term, 1849. In 1853 he accepted from President Pierce the Mission to the Court of St. James, the duties of which he discharged in such a manner as to reflect honor on his country. Returning from England in 1856, he was elected in that year to the Presidency of the United States.

At the expiration of his Presidential term, in March, 1861, Mr. Buchanan returned to his home at Wheatland, near Lancaster, where he spent the remainder of his days, enjoying the society of his neighbors and of his friends, and employing himself with his books and pen. One of the books most frequently perused by him was the Bible, but he never made a profession of being a disciple of Christ until within the last few years of his life, when he became a communicant of the Presbyterian Church. He died on Monday, June 1st, 1868.

Rev. James Buchanan (b. abt 1783-1843)

Samuel Buell, D.D. (1716-1798)

After having spent a year in visiting different parts of New England, he was ordained in 1743, by an ecclesiastical council, as an evangelist. Carrying with him testimonials from respectable ministers, he was admitted into many pulpits from which other itinerants were excluded. He was led to East Hampton, on Long Island, and was installed pastor of the church in that place, September 19th, 1746. For a number of the first years of his ministry he seemed to labor without effect. His people paid but little attention to the concerns of religion. But in 1764, he witnessed an astonishing change. Almost every individual in the town was deeply impressed, and the interests of eternity received that attention which their transcendent importance demands. He had the happiness at one time of admitting into his church ninety-nine persons who, he believed, had become subjects of saving grace. In the years 1785 and 1791, also he was favored with great success. He died, July 19th, 1798, aged eighty-one.

He was the father and patron of Clinton Academy, in East Hampton. His house was the mansion of hospitality. He published a narrative of the revival of religion among his people, in 1764, and fourteen occasional discourses.  He was a charter member of the self-organized Presbytery of Suffolk, Long Island, New York in 1747.

George Buist, D.D. (1770-1808)

Rev. Artemas Bullard

Rev. Joseph Bullen (abt 1753-1825)

Mr. Bullen's efforts to elevate and Christianize the Indians were pursued faithfully for three years and were attended with good results. In 1803 he left the Mission and moved into Jefferson county, in the southern part of the Territory, establishing himself in a neighborhood about twenty miles northeast of Natchez, into which a considerable tide of emigration from North Carolina and the seaboard had been flowing. Supporting himself here by this farm, and by occasionally teaching a school, he became the evangelist of the region. In 1804 he organized the first Presbyterian Church in the Mississippi Territory. it was called the "Bethel" Church, and in the branches into which it was subsequently divided, it still maintains its existence. Mr. Bullen was assiduous in gathering up the Presbyterian element wherever it could be found and was successful in organizing several other churches before he died. "Father Bullen" was what he generally came to be called. He died March 26th, 1825. [This is copied from an 1884 text, and obviously does not reflect current attitudes about missionary work among Native Americans.]

Rev. Dyer Burgess (1784-aft 1840)

Hon. Isaac G. Burnet (1784-1856)

In 1834 Judge Burnet was elected a ruling elder in the Second Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, and held that office for nearly twenty years. Two years before his death he removed to Walnut Hills, and joined the Lane Seminary Church, and was immediately elected an elder. He died March 11th, 1856. For years, sickness had invaded his constitution, and he stood with his loins girt about him and his lamp burning, awaiting the coming of the Lord.

Aaron Burr D.D. (1715-1757)

On the death of the Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, first President of the College of New Jersey, at Elizabethtown, in the Autumn of 1747, the Institution was removed to Newark, and Mr. Burr was placed at its head. In 1754Whitefield, who was then paying a visit to Governor Belcher, at Elizabethtown, attended the Commencement at Newark, on which occasion President Burr had the pleasure of conferring upon him the degree of Master of Arts. His devotion to the college was most constant and exemplary, and the agency which he undertook in its behalf, by request of the Trustees, was remarkably successful. He discharged the duties of both President of the college and pastor of the church until the Autumn of 1755, when his pastoral relation was dissolved, and he gave his whole time to the service of the college. The village of Princeton having been fixed upon as the most convenient situation for the college, the new edifice was erected there, under the superintendence of Mr. Burr. In the Autumn of 1756, the building being so far completed as to be ready for the reception of the students, they removed thither, about seventy in number, and commenced the occupancy of it.

In the Summer of 1757 Mr. Burr, being in a low state of health, made a rapid and exhausting visit, in a very hot, sultry season, to his father-in-law, at Stockbridge. He soon returned to Princeton, and went immediately to Elizabethtown, and, on the 19th of August, made an attempt to procure the legal exemption of the students from military duty. Thence he went to Newark, and on the 21st, being much indisposed, he preached an extemporaneous sermon at a funeral in his successor's (Rev. John Brainerd's) family. Returning to Princeton, he immediately went to Philadelphia, on business of the college, and on his return home, learned that Governor Belcher had died on the 31st. He prepared the sermon for his funeral, under a high fever, and at night was delirious. He rode to Elizabethtown, and on the 4th preached, being in a state of extreme languor and exhaustion. Returning home the next day, he sank under a nervous fever, and died September 24th, 1757. The Rev. Caleb Smith preached his funeral sermon. William Livingston, afterwards Governor of New Jersey, pronounced his eulogium. It was printed in New York, and speedily reprinted in Boston.

Mr. Burr printed a Latin grammar, a pamphlet entitled, "The Supreme Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ Maintained, in a Letter to the Dedication of Mr. Emlyn's Inquiry into the Scriptural Account of Jesus Christ," reprinted in Boston, 1791; a Fast sermon, on account of the encroachments of the French, 1755; a sermon, preached before the Synod of New York, 1756; and a sermon on the death of Governor Belcher, 1757.

Rev. John Burtt (1789-1866)