Background
John Brainerd was born on February 28, 1720 in Haddam, Connecticut, the son of Hezekiah and Mrs. Dorothy (Hobart) Mason Brainerd, and brother of David Brainerd, whose work he continued.
John Brainerd was born on February 28, 1720 in Haddam, Connecticut, the son of Hezekiah and Mrs. Dorothy (Hobart) Mason Brainerd, and brother of David Brainerd, whose work he continued.
Brainerd graduated from Yale in 1746 where he studied theology.
In 1747, when failing health compelled his brother David to leave the Indian settlement, known as Bethel, at Cranberry, New Jersey, the Correspondents of the Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge asked the younger Brainerd to take his place. He was licensed by the New York Presbytery, April 11, 1747.
The following October his brother David died, and John was ordained in February 1748, and soon received his missionary commission from Edinburgh. Although he labored with devotion and apparently with good judgment for years, the Bethel enterprise ultimately failed. A pestilence carried off a considerable number of the Indian converts; their title to the land they occupied was questioned, and it was taken from them.
Dissatisfied with conditions, the Correspondents dismissed him May 7, 1755, and he took charge of the church at Newark, New Jersey, lately served by President Aaron Burr of the College of New Jersey. Plans were made to buy land for the Indians near New Brunswick, New Jersey, and in June 1756 Brainerd was again put in charge of the undertaking, but the plan failed and in September 1757 he returned to the church in Newark.
In 1754 he had been made a trustee of the College of New Jersey, and in January 1758 he journeyed to Stockbridge, Massachussets, with Rev. Caleb Smith to secure sanction for the removal of Jonathan Edwards from the pastorate there to the presidency of the college.
In May, the government having provided land for the Indians in Burlington County, he again took charge of the mission. That summer he served as chaplain of the expedition to Crown Point, and on his return settled at the Indian town, Brotherton, New Jersey, with supervision over several Indian and white settlements.
In 1768 he removed to Bridgetown (Mount Holly), where he built up a congregation and erected a church. His activities were now chiefly among the whites. The Revolutionary War broke up his work at Bridgetown, and he took charge of the Presbyterian church at Deerfield, New Jersey. Here he died, and was buried under the church.
John Brainerd was a Presbyterian.
Brainerd was a member of the Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge.
Brainerd's health sometimes interfered with his missionary activities, for like his brother he seems to have suffered from tuberculosis.
Quotes from others about the person
After John Brainerd received his licensed from the New York Presbytery, in his diary under date of April 14, David wrote: "This day my brother went to my people. "
Brainerd was twice married, first, in November 1752, to Experience Lyon, who died in 1757; and second, to Mrs. Experience Price.