Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/398

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BREWER
BREWERTON

house of Jolin Hancock, is one of the finest private dwellings in the city. The "great fire" in Boston (November, 1872) destroyed the old warehouse of the firm; but before the end of 1873 a new building, one of the costliest in Boston, was erected on its site. Mr. Brewer died at his seaside villa.


BREWER, Josiah, missionary, b. in Berkshire co., Mass., in 1796; d. in Stockbridge, Mass., 19 Nov.. 1872. He was graduated at Yale in 1821, and became a tutor in the college after post-graduate study. He was one of the first to volunteer as a missionary to Turkey for the American board, and in 1830 sailed for the east, beginning his labors at Smyrna, only three years after the Greek revolution. The battle of Navarino had destroyed the Turkish navy, and had opened the door for influences from abroad. Mr. Brewer was the first to introduce schools and the printing-press. He established the first paper in Smyrna, where several journals are now published in different languages. The schools he founded have served as models for others, and have done much to introduce European education into the Turkish empire. After a few years he returned home. He published "Residence in Constantinople" (New Haven, 1827) and "Patinos and the Seven Churches of Asia " (1851).


BREWER, Leigh Richmond, P. E. bishop, b. in Berkshire, Vt., 29 .Jan., 1839. He entered Hobart college, Geneva, N. Y., and was graduated with honors in 1803, and at the general theological seminary. New York, in 1866. He was ordained deacon in New York city, 1 July, 1866, and priest in Oswego, N. Y., 16 June, 1867. Mr. Brewer was rector of Grace church, Carthage, N. Y., for six years, when he became rector of Trinity church, Watertown. N. Y, While in this place he was elected missionary bishop of Montana, and consecrated in Watertown, 8 Dec, 1880. In his triennial report made to the board of missions in 1883, Bishop Brewer gives an interesting and encouraging account of his missionary labors in Montana.


BREWER, Thomas Mayo, naturalist, b. in Boston, Mass., 21 Nov., 1814; d. there, 24 Jan., 1880. After graduation at Harvard in 1835, and at the Massachusetts medical school in 1838. he became editor of the Boston "Atlas" (1840). This engagement lasted until 1857, when he joined the publishing-house of Brewer & Tileston. He edited Wilson's "Birds of North America" (1839), adding a list of all the newly classified birds known at that date. Several years were devoted, in company with Messrs. Baird and Ridgeway, to the preparation of "A History of North American Birds" (Boston, 1874). This work, in three volumes, was the first attempt made on a large scale, for nearly thirty years subsequent to Audubon's great work, to complete the study of American ornithology. Abundant material existed in government reports and in the archives of the Sndthsonian institution, and this was edited with great skill and judgment, the accounts of the habits of the different species being from the pen of Dr. Brewer, while the technical descriptions were furnished by his associates. There was also published by the Smithsonian institution in 1859 a volume on the "Oology of North America." During 1875 and 1876 he visited nearly all the great oological collections of Europe and Great Britain. An account of this trip may he found in the "Popular Science Monthly," vol. xi.


BREWER, William Henry, chemist, b. in Poughkccpsie, N. Y., 14 Sept., 1828. He was graduated at Yale (now Sheffield) scientific school in 1852, and spent some time in Germany, study- ing at the universities of Heidelberg and Munich. In 1858 he became professor of chemistry and geology in Washington college. Pa. From 1860 till 1864 he was first assistant on the geological survey of California, and during 1863-4 professor of chemistry in the university of California. In 1864 he was called to the chair of agriculture at Yale. Prof. Brewer is a member of numerous scientific societies, and in 1880 was elected a member of the National academy of sciences. For some years he has been a member of the Connecticut state board of health, and has contributed papers to its reports. He has also contributed analyses of minerals to Dana's "Mineralogy"; but his scientific papers are devoted principally to chemical agriculture. He has edited the "Botany of California" (vol. i., 1886) and "Cereal Production in the United States" ("Reports of the Tenth Census," vol. iii.).


BREWERTON, Henry, soldier, b. in New York city, 25 Sept., 1801; d. in Wilmington, Del, 17 April, 1879. He was at the head of the 2d class in the U. S. military academy when the 1st class was to graduate. He obtained leave to essay the examination with the advanced class, and was graduated fifth from its head, thus completing the usual four years' course in three years. At the same time three of his classmates obtained similar permits and passed the ordeal successfully, though not with so high grade. But these irregularities of administration were found to be detrimental to the general good of the cadets, and were not permitted under the stricter discipline established soon after this time. Brewerton was at once commissioned second lieutenant of engineers, and, after a temporary detail to aid in determining the 45th parallel of latitude at Rouse's Point, N. Y., he was in September, 1819, assigned to duty as an instructor at the military academy. He was promoted first lieutenant of engineers, 1 Jan., 1825 ; captain, 21 Sept., 1826; major, 23 Aug., 1856; and lieutenant-colonel, 6 Aug., 1861. During these years he was continuously engaged on important engineering works, such as Fort Adams, Newport, Fort Jackson, La., the defences of Charleston harbor, on the light-house board, and as a member of various boards and commissions appointed to improve the defences of the United States. In 1847 he received the degree of LL. D. from Dickinson college. During the early years of the civil war, from 1861 till 5 Nov., 1864, he was superintending engineer of the fortifications and improvements of Baltimore harbor, Md. On 22 April, 1864, he was promoted colonel of engineers. The winter of 1864-'5 he passed in the neighborhood of Hampton Roads, superintending the construction of defensive works, and thence he was transferred to the defences of New York. He was brevetted brigadier-general, "for long, faithful, and meritorious services," 13 March, 1865, and retired 7 March, 1867, in compliance with the law. " having been borne on the army register more than forty-five years."—His son, George Douglas, soldier, b. about 1820. He joined Stephenson's regiment of "California volunteers," in 1846, as second lieutenant, became second lieutenant, 1st U. S. infantry, 22 May, 1817, and first lieutenant in June, 1850. He is the author of "The War in Kansas: A Rough Trip to the Border among New Homes and a Strange People" (New York, 1856); "Fitzpoodle at Newport"; and "Ida Lewis, the Heroine of Lime Rock" (Newport. 1869). He has published also, through a New York firm, "The Automaton Regiment" (1862), "The Automaton Company," and "The Automaton Battery" (1863). These devices for the instruction of military recruits were brought out when hundreds of thousands of untrained soldiers were eagerly study-