BRAXTON.
BRAY.
BRAXTON, Carter, statesman, was born at
Newington. Va., Sept. 10, 1736. His father was
wealthy. His mother was the daughter of one
of the presidents of tlie Royal council of Virginia.
He graduated at WiUiam and Mary college,
and at the age of nineteen married Judith Robin-
son. He was one of the richest men in the county
of King and Queen. He lost his wife within two
years of his marriage, and went to England,
where he remained until 1760. The year follow-
ing he married the daughter of Richard Corbin
of Lanneville, royal receiver-general of the cus-
toms of Virginia. In 1765 he took his seat in the
house of burgesses. He was present when
Patrick Henry presented his resolutions on the
stamp act, and, stirred by the fiery eloquence of
that impetuous orator, unhesitatingly supported
them. He was a member of the Virginia conven-
tion in 1769, and when it was suddenly dissolved
by Lord Botetourt, signed the non-importation
agreement. Lord Botetourt died in 1770, and
until the arrival of his successor, Braxton acted
as high sheriff of the country, but refused to
serve under Lord Dunmore. In 1774 Dunmore
dissolved the assembly, and Braxton was one of
the eighty-nine protesting members who recom-
mended the general convention at Williamsburg,
which was held in August, 1774, at which dele-
gates were elected to the Continental Congress.
Mr. Braxton was chosen, Dec. 15, 1775, delegate
to Congress, to fill the vacancy caused by the
death of Peyton Randolph, and as such voted for
and signed the Declaration of Independence. He
was in Congress only one session, leaving Aug.
11, 1776, Virginia having voted to reduce the
number of delegates from seven to five. He re-
sumed his seat in the Virginia legislature and
held it until 1786, when he was appointed as
member of the council of state, and continued as
such until 1791. After an interval of two years,
he was again elected to the executive council,
and served until his death. He became largely
engaged in commerce, and during the revolution
his ships were captured, and his last years were
embittered by financial troubles. He died in
Richmond, Va., Oct. 10, 1797.
BRAY, Thomas, missionary, was born in Mar- ton, Shropshire, England, in 1656. He was grad- iiated at All Souls, Oxford, in 1678, and after receiving holy orders served for several years as curate and vicar in various small livings. In 1690 he delivered a course of " Cateclietical Lec- tures," which were published by the " authorita- tive injimctions " of Dr. Lloyd, bishop of Litchfield and Coventry, to whom the volume was dedicated. This work brought Bray into prominence and se- <!ured for him the notice of Dr. Compton, bishop of London, who in 1695 selected him to act as his suffragan in the territory of Maryland, which had
been divided into thirty-one pari-shes with a i^ro-
posed clergyman in each parish, and a suffragan
or commissary to be appointed by the bi.shop of
London, to act as general supervi-sor. Complica-
tions having arisen in regard to the law establish-
ing the Church of England in the colonies, Mr.
Bray was called upon to assist in the adjustment
of the diflSculty, and as a result of investigations
and inquiries he addressed the following com-
munication to the bishops : ' ' Since none but the
poorer sort of clergy, who cannot sufficiently
svipply themselves with books, can be persuaded
to leave their friends and change their country
for one so remote ; and since without a compe-
tent provision of books they cannot an.swer the
ends of their mission ; if your lordships think fit
to assist me in providing parochial libraries for
the ministers that may be sent, I shall be
content to accept the commissary's office in Mary-
land." His plans at once received the counte-
nance and hearty support of the bishops, and he
procured a generous supply of books for his Mary-
land undertaking. Queen Anne having donated
four hundred pounds for the establishment of a
library at Annapolis, and he had also succeeded
in urging a number of yoimg curates to accom-
pany him to the new world as missionaries, the
prospect of a helpful supply of books acting as
an inducement to some who would not otherwise
have consented to face the hardships and sacri-
fices involved. Arriving in America in March,
1700, Dr. Bray at once set about the work of or-
ganizing the church, and providing for the settle-
ment and maintenance of the clergy. Some
thirty-nine libraries, some of them containing as
many as a thousand volmnes, were established by
him in the texTitory extending from Massachu-
setts to the Carolinas. In 1706 he accepted the
offer of the living of St. Bartolph, Aldgate With-
out, which he had refused in 1696, on account of
his Maryland appointment. " The Society for
the Promotion of Christian Knowledge," and
" The Society for the propagating of the Gospel
in Foreign Parts ' ' were the outgrowth of his
library schemes, and to the latter of these asso-
ciations, which was chartered by the king in 1701,
the Protestant Episcopal chm-ch in America owes
its early growth and prosperity. Dr. Bray's
exertions in the cause of Christianity were untir-
ing, and the amount of good he accomplished is
inestimable, since its effects have proved peren-
nial. He was the author of " An essay toward
promoting aU Necessary and Useful KJnowledge,
both Human and Divine, in all Parts of his
Majesty's Dominions" (1687); " Bibliotheca
Parochialis, or a Scheme of such Theological
Heads as are Requisite to be studied by every
Pastor of a Parish " (1697); two circular letters
to the clergy of Maryland, " A Memorial on the
