Brainerd, Thomas

BRAINERD, THOMAS: American Presbyterian; b. at Leyden, Lewis County, N. Y., June 17, 1804; d. at Scranton, Penn., Aug. 22, 1866. He gave up the study of law for theology, and was graduated at Andover in 1831; was pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, 1831–33; of the Pine Street (Third) Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, 1837 till his death. He was a leader of the New School branch of the Presbyterian Church, a personal friend of Lyman Beecher and Albert Barnes; was distinguished for patriotic ardor and services during the Civil War. Ha wrote much for religious periodicals, edited the Cincinnati Journal, a Presbyterian religious paper (1833–36), and a young people's paper, and wrote the Life of John Brainerd (Philadelphia, 1865). His great-great-grandfather was an uncle of David and John Brainerd, the missionaries.

Bibliography: Mary Brainerd, Life of Rev. Thomas Brainerd, Philadelphia, 1870.