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BRODHEAD, John Romeyn, liistuiiau, was
Lorn in riiila(U'li>liia. Pa., Jan. 2, 1814; son of Kl'v. Dr. Jai'ol) Hnullieail. He received a liberal tnlucation. ami was ^'raihuitovl from Rutgers in 1831. In 18;}.> lie was ailmitteil to the bar of New York. The i)rofession was not to his liking, and in 18;i7 he settled in Saugerties, N. Y., where he engaged in literary pursuits. In 1839 he was attached to the American legation in HoUand, where liis puriM.)se of writing a history of New York was greatly facilitated by Ills being commissioned by Governor Seward, in 1841, to make investigations in regard to land-grants and other colonial records in Eun)i>e. He was for three years pursuing his researches in the archives of England, France, and Holland and obtained a large mass of impor- tant historical material. These documents, at the instance of the New Y'ork historical society were translated and published in eleven quarto volumes, by order of the state legislature. In 1846 he went to England as secretary of legation, George Bancroft being U. S. minister. He was ^ommissioned by President Pierce as naval officer of the port of New York. He gave much time to his investigations regarding the Dutch rule in New York for his " History of the State of New York," of which he published two vol- umes, one in 1858 and the other in 1871. A third volume concluding the narrative would have been added had not his health failed. He also pub- lisJied an " Oration on the Conquest of New Netherland," and " Government of Sir Edinimd Andros over New England." He died in New York city. May 6. 1873.
BRODHEAD, Richard, senator, was born in Leiiinan towiisliip, Pike county, Pa., Jan. 5, 1811. He was a student at Lafaj-ette college, and was admitted to practise at the bar in 1836. The year following he took his seat in the state legislature. He acted as treasurer of Northami)- ton county in 1841, and in 1842 was elected a representative to Congress, serving bj' re-election from 1843 to 1849. In 1849 he was elected to the United States senate as a Democrat, serving through the 32d, 33d and 34th congresses as a semitor. Ho died in Easton, Pa., Sept. 16, 1863.
BROQDEN, Curtis Hooks, governor of North Carolina, was lx)rn in Goldsboro. Wayne county, N. C, Dec. 6. 1816. In early life lie followed the occupation of farming, and attained to the rank of major-general in the .state militia, at the same time becoming prominent in political life. From 1838 to 18.j6 he sat in the state legislature, successively in the lower and upper houses, and from ia57 to 1867 filled the office of comptroller of the state; and in 1868 was again elected to the state senate, and also served as presidential elector. In 1870 he was re-elected to the state
.senate, and in 1869 was appointed collector of
internal revenue. In 1872 he was elected lieu-
tenant-governor, becoming governor, July 14,
1874, upon the death of Governor Caldwell. He
was elected a representative to the 45th Con-
gress in 1876 on the Republican ticket, and in
1886 was again elected to the .state legislature.
He was a trustee of the State university, a state
director of the "VVibnington and Weldon railroad,
and represented his state at the centennial cele-
bration at Philadelphia in 1876. He died in CJold-s-
borough. N.C., Jan. 5, 1901.
BROMBERQ, Frederick George, representa- tive, was l)orn in New York city, June 19, 1837. He was graduated at Harvard college in 1858, and engaged in teaching at Mobile, Ala. "When the civil war began he went north and studied in the Lawrence scientific school; and during 1 864-' 65 was employed as a tutor in mathematics at Harvard college. He returned to Mobile in 1865, where in 1867 he was elected a delegate to the first Republican state convention held in Alabama. In the same year he was appointed city treasurer of Mobile by General Pope, com- manding the district, and in 1868 was elected to the Alabama state senate, where he served until 1872, as a member of the judiciarj^ committee, when he was elected, as a liberal Republican, a representative to the 43d Congress. He there introduced the resolution instructing the com- mittee on banking to inquire into the manage- ment of the Freedman's saving bank, which led to the closing up of that institution. In the election of 1874 he was defeated by a colored man, and in that of 1876 he was '" counted out." In 1876 he. was admitted to the bar, and in the following year he retired from public life to devote himself to his profession. He w^as chair- man of the committee on correspondence of the Alabama state bar association, and the author of the reports of that committee. He was elected a vice-president of the National bar association, and was a commissioner from Alabama of the "World's Columbian commission, and member of the com- mittees on mining, science and world's con- gresses of that body. He is the author of " Law of National Quarantine," " A Report on Legal Ed- ucation," " Admission to the Bar," and various articles for the Aial)ama Laic Journal.
BROMFIELD, John, merchant, was born at Newburyi)ort, Mass., April 11, 1779. His first American ancestor, Edward Bromfield, came from England in 1675, and was a member of the council; his son Edward (1695-1756) was a mem- ber of the general court, and his grandson Edward (1723-"46) was an inventor, and constructed an organ and improved the microscope. John Bromfield, having made a fortune in Europe as agent for American houses and in the China
