View source for David Brainerd

{{short description|Missionary in colonial North America}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Priest
| honorific_prefix = [[The Reverend]]
| name = David Brainerd
| image = DavidBrainerd.jpg
| caption = 
| birth_date = April 20, 1718
| birth_place = [[Haddam, Connecticut|Haddam]], Connecticut Colony
| death_date = {{death date and age|1747|10|9|1718|4|20}}
| death_place = [[Northampton, Massachusetts|Northampton]], Province of Massachusetts Bay
| nationality = American
| education =
| occupation = [[Minister (Christianity)|Minister]], [[missionary]]
| religion = [[Presbyterian]]
| ordination = 1744
}}

'''David Brainerd''' (April 20, 1718{{spaced ndash}}October 9, 1747) was an American [[Presbyterian]] minister and [[missionary]] to the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] among the [[Lenape|Delaware Indians]] of [[New Jersey]]. Missionaries such as [[William Carey (missionary)|William Carey]] and [[Jim Elliot]], and Brainerd's cousin, the [[Second Great Awakening]] evangelist [[James Brainerd Taylor]] (1801–1829) cite Brainerd as inspiration.

==Biography==

===Early life===
[[File:David Brainerd on horseback.jpg|thumb|David Brainerd on horseback. He travelled over 3000 miles on horseback as a missionary.<ref>'Jonathan Edwards: A gallery of friends, foes & followers', ''Christian History & Biography'', 8 (1985).</ref>]]
[[File:David Brainerd preaching.jpg|thumb|Brainerd [[Open-air preaching|preaching in the open-air]] to Native Americans.]]

David Brainerd was born on April 20, 1718, in Haddam, Connecticut, the son of Hezekiah Brainerd, a Connecticut legislator, and Dorothy Hobart. He had nine siblings, one of whom was Dorothy's from a previous marriage. He was orphaned a month before his fourteenth birthday. His father died in 1727 at the age of 46 and his mother died five years later.<ref>Piper, pp. 123–124.</ref>

After his mother's death, Brainerd moved to [[East Haddam]] to live with one of his older sisters, Jerusha. At the age of nineteen, he inherited a farm near [[Durham, Connecticut|Durham]], but returned to East Haddam a year later to prepare to enter [[Yale University|Yale]]. On July 12, 1739, he recorded having an experience of "unspeakable glory" that prompted in him a "hearty desire to exalt [God], to set him on the throne and to 'seek first his Kingdom'".<ref>Piper, pp. 124–127.</ref> This has been interpreted by [[evangelical]] scholars as a [[religious conversion|conversion]] experience.<ref>E.g. Piper, pp. 126, 131.</ref>

===Preparing for ministry===
Two months later, he enrolled at [[Yale University|Yale]]. In his second year at Yale, he was sent home because he was suffering from a serious illness, [[tuberculosis]], that caused him to spit blood. When he returned in November 1740, tensions were beginning to emerge at Yale between the faculty staff and the students as the staff considered the spiritual enthusiasm of the students, which had been prompted by visiting preachers such as [[George Whitefield]], [[Gilbert Tennent]], [[Ebenezer Pemberton]] and [[James Davenport (clergyman)|James Davenport]], to be excessive. Brainerd was [[expulsion (academia)|expelled]] because of comments about the impious staff.<ref>Piper, pp. 127–128.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Edwards|first=Jonathan|title=The Life and Diary of the rev'd. David Brainerd|pages=Thursday, September 14, 1743}}</ref>

A recent law forbade the appointment of ministers in Connecticut unless they had graduated from [[Harvard University|Harvard]], Yale, or a European institution, so Brainerd had to reconsider his plans.<ref>Piper, pp. 128–129.</ref> In 1742, Brainerd was licensed to preach by a group of [[evangelicals]] known as [[Old and New Lights|New Lights]]. As a result, he gained the attention of [[Jonathan Dickinson (New Jersey minister)|Jonathan Dickinson]], the leading [[Presbyterian]] in New Jersey, who unsuccessfully attempted to reinstate Brainerd at Yale. Instead, Dickinson suggested that Brainerd devote himself to missionary work among the Native Americans, supported by the [[Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge]]. He was approved for this missionary work on November 25, 1742.<ref>Piper, pp. 129–130.</ref>

===Entering mission===
On April 1, 1743, after a brief period serving a church on [[Long Island]], Brainerd began working as a missionary to Native Americans, which he would continue until late 1746 when he became too ill. In his late life, he also experienced [[depression (mood)|depression]], loneliness, and lack of food{{why?|date=December 2024}}.<ref>Piper, pp. 133–145.</ref>

His first missionary assignment was working at [[Kaunameek]], a [[Mohicans|Mohican]] settlement near present-day [[Nassau (town), New York|Nassau, New York]]. Brainerd remained there for one year.<ref name="Piper">Piper, p. 130.</ref>

In 1743, he was reassigned to work among the [[Lenape|Delaware Indians]] along the [[Delaware River]] northeast of [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]], where he remained for another year, during which he was ordained by the [[Newark Presbytery]].<ref name="Piper" /> After this, he moved to [[Crossweeksung, New Jersey|Crossweeksung]] in New Jersey. Within a year, the Native American church at Crossweeksung had 130 members, who moved in 1746 to [[Cranbury, New Jersey|Cranbury]] where they established a Christian community.<ref name="Piperpp">Piper, pp. 130–131.</ref>

In these years, he refused several offers of leaving the mission field to become a church minister. He continued his work converting Native Americans, writing in his diary:

<blockquote>
'[I] could have no freedom in the thought of any other circumstances or business in life: All my desire was the conversion of the heathen, and all my hope was in God: God does not suffer me to please or comfort myself with hopes of seeing friends, returning to my dear acquaintance, and enjoying worldly comforts'.<ref>Quoted in Piper, p. 145.</ref>
</blockquote>

===Death===
In November 1746, he became too ill to continue ministering, and so moved to Jonathan Dickinson's house in [[Elizabeth, New Jersey|Elizabethtown]] and later to Jonathan Edwards' house in [[Northampton, Massachusetts]]. Apart from a trip to Boston in the summer of that year, he remained at Edwards's house until his death the following year.<ref name="Piperpp" /> In May 1747, he was diagnosed with incurable consumption. In his diary entry for September 24, Brainerd wrote:

<blockquote>
'In the greatest distress that ever I endured having an uncommon kind of hiccough; which either strangled me or threw me into a straining to vomit'.<ref>Quoted in Piper, p. 133.</ref>
</blockquote>
During this time, he was nursed by Jerusha Edwards, Jonathan's seventeen-year-old daughter. The friendship grew between them and "many speculate that there was deep (even romantic) love between them".<ref>Piper, p. 138.</ref> He died from tuberculosis on October 9, 1747, at the age of 29. Jerusha died in February 1748 as a result of contracting tuberculosis from nursing Brainerd.<ref>Piper, p. 154.</ref>

After his death, his younger brother John Brainerd continued his work.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Verstraete |first1=Susan |title=David And John Brainerd: Missionaries to Native Americans |url=https://bulletininserts.org/david-and-john-brainerd-missionaries-to-native-americans/}}</ref>

==Legacy==

===Impact on the church and mission===
[[File:Tomb of David Brainerd.jpg|thumb|Brainerd's tomb in [[Northampton, Massachusetts]].]]

He made a handful of converts, but became widely known in the 1800s due to books about him.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Did You Know? | journal=Christian History & Biography | date=Spring 2006 | volume=90 | page=2 }}</ref> His ''Journal'' was published in two parts in 1746 by the Scottish Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.{{cn|date=April 2021}}

Much of Brainerd's influence on future generations can be attributed to the biography compiled by Jonathan Edwards and first published in 1749 under the title of ''[[The Life of David Brainerd|An Account of the Life of the Late Reverend Mr. David Brainerd]]''.<ref>Pettit, p. 28.</ref><ref name="NollJonathan">Noll, 'Jonathan Edwards'.</ref> It gained immediate recognition, with eighteenth-century theologian [[John Wesley]] urging: 'Let every preacher read carefully over the ''Life of David Brainerd''{{'}}.<ref>Quoted in Piper, p. 131.</ref> From the eighteenth century, missionaries also found inspiration and encouragement from the biography. [[Gideon Hawley]] wrote in the midst of struggles:

<blockquote>'I need, greatly need, something more than humane [human or natural] to support me. I read my Bible and Mr. Brainerd's ''Life'', the only books I brought with me, and from them have a little support'.<ref>Quoted in Piper, p. 132.</ref></blockquote>

Other missionaries who have asserted the influence of Jonathan Edwards's biography of Brainerd on their lives include [[Henry Martyn]], [[William Carey (missionary)|William Carey]], [[Jim Elliot]],<ref>Piper, pp. 131–132.</ref> and [[Adoniram Judson]].<ref name="NollJonathan" />

===Impact on higher education===
Brainerd's life also played a role in the establishment of [[Princeton College]] and [[Dartmouth College]]. The 'College of New Jersey' (later Princeton) was founded due to the dissatisfaction of the New York and New Jersey Presbyterian Synods with Yale; their expulsion of Brainerd and subsequent refusal to readmit him was an important factor in driving individuals such as [[Jonathan Dickinson (New Jersey minister)|Jonathan Dickinson]] and [[Aaron Burr Sr.|Aaron Burr]] to act on this dissatisfaction. Indeed, classes began in Dickinson's house in May 1747, while Brainerd was recovering there. [[Dartmouth College]] originated from a school founded by [[Eleazar Wheelock]] for [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] and colonists in 1748, and Wheelock had been inspired by Brainerd's example of Native American education.<ref>Piper, pp. 156–157.</ref>

Students at [[Lafayette College]] founded the Brainerd Evangelical Society based on Brainerd's teachings in order to "promote Christian Missions and the Evangelization of the World".<ref name="skillman">{{cite book|last1=Skillman|first1=David Bishop|title=The Biography of a College: Being the History of the First Century of the Life of Lafayette College|date=1932|publisher=Lafayette College|location=Easton, Pennsylvania}}</ref> In 1902, they constructed a building known as Brainerd Hall (now [[Hogg Hall]]) to house their religious meetings, and serve as a recreational facility on campus.<ref name="gendebien">{{cite book |last1=Gendebien |first1=Albert W. |title=The Biography of a College: A History of Lafayette College 1927 – 1978 |date=1986 |publisher=Lafayette College |location=Easton, PA}}</ref>

==Archival collections==
The [[Presbyterian Historical Society]] in [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, has papers for David Brainerd<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.pcusa.org/collections/findingaids/fa.cfm?record_id=350|title=Guide to the David Brainerd Papers – Presbyterian Historical Society|website=www.history.pcusa.org|date=May 5, 2014 }}</ref> that consist of a letter by Brainerd (c. 1743) to Rev. [[Joseph Bellamy]] and notes concerning Brainerd's published works by Rev. Arthur Bennett, an Anglican clergyman.

==See also==
*[[Moses Tunda Tatamy]] (ca. 1690–1760), the first Native American baptized by Brainerd.
*[[Brainerd Mission]] to the [[Cherokee]] Indians (1817–1838)
<!-- *[[James Brainerd Taylor]] (1801–1829), maternal cousin of Brainerd; born Middle Haddam, Connecticut; buried in [[Hampden–Sydney College]] Church cemetery, Virginia; [[obelisk]] in Union Hill Cemetery, Middle Haddam, Connecticut, and [[Princeton Cemetery]] of [[Nassau Presbyterian Church]], [[Princeton, New Jersey]]; [[Lawrenceville School]] (N.J), [[Princeton University]] and [[Yale Divinity School]]-educated [[Second Great Awakening]] evangelist; primary founder of [[Princeton University]]'s Philadelphian Society of [[Nassau Hall]] (1825–1930, now called Princeton Evangelical Fellowship); one of some 20,000 Americans listed in ''[[Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography]]'' (6 vol., 1887–89). See John Holt Rice and Benjamin Holt Rice, ''Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor, Second Edition'' ([[American Tract Society]], 1833, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_eMVAAAAYAAJ&dq=james+brainerd+taylor&source=gbs_navlinks_s online edition]) and Fitch W. Taylor, ''A New Tribute to the Memory of James Brainerd Taylor'' (John S. Taylor [no relation], 1838, [https://archive.org/details/newtributetomemo00tayl online edition]). And I. Francis Kyle III, ''An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist in America's Second Great Awakening'' ([[University Press of America]], 2008, Foreword by John F. Thornbury, contains the appendix "David Brainerd and James Brainerd Taylor: A Comparative Chart"), ''Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor'' ([[University Press of America]], 2008, Foreword by [[James M Houston]], Epilogue by Peter Adam), ''God's Co-worker: 21st-century Evangelism with Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor'' (forthcoming, published doctoral dissertation), ''Uncommon Christian Devotional: Living the Uncommon Christian Life with James Brainerd Taylor'' (forthcoming) and Uncommon Christian Ministries' online biographical sketch and timeline on Taylor (http://www.UncommonChristian.com or http://www.JamesBrainerdTaylor.com ). -->

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*Grigg, John A., ''The Lives of David Brainerd: The Making of an American Evangelical Icon'' (Oxford, OUP, 2009).
*Kilby, Clyde, 'David Brainerd: Knight of the Grail', in Russell T. Hitt (ed.), ''Heroic Colonial Christians'' (Philadelphia, 1966)
*Nichols, Heidi L., 'Those exceptional Edwards women', ''Christian History & Biography'', 77 (2003)
*[[Mark Noll|Noll, Mark]], 'Jonathan Edwards: Christian history timeline – Passing the torch', ''Christian History & Biography'', 77 (2003)
*Pettit, Norman, 'Prelude to mission: Brainerd's expulsion from Yale', ''[[The New England Quarterly]]'', 59 (1986), pp.&nbsp;28–50
*Piper, John, ''Tested By Fire: The Fruit of Suffering in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper and David Brainerd'' ([[Inter-Varsity Press]], 2001)

==Further reading==
{{AmCyc Poster|Brainerd, David|David Brainerd}}
{{EB1911 poster|Brainerd, David}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070401135722/http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/ibrainerd.html David Brainerd biographies]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brainerd, David}}
[[Category:1718 births]]
[[Category:1747 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Haddam, Connecticut]]
[[Category:American Protestant missionaries]]
[[Category:American evangelicals]]
[[Category:People from colonial Connecticut]]
[[Category:18th-century deaths from tuberculosis]]
[[Category:Presbyterian missionaries in the United States]]
[[Category:Tuberculosis deaths in Massachusetts]]