Bleecker, was charge d'affaires. There he conceived the intention of writing the history of New York. The New York legislature, on 3 May, 1839, passed an act, at the suggestion of the New York historical society, to appoint an agent to procure or transcribe documents in Europe relating to the history of New York, and in the spring of 1841 he was commissioned by Gov. Seward to investigate the colonial records and land-grants. Pursuant to this act he spent three years in the archives of Holland, England, and France, and procured many valuable documents relating to the early history of the state. Among them were sixteen volumes of manuscript from Holland, mainly the records of the colonial secretaries under the Dutch supremacy, 1609-'74, with se])arate records also of New Amsterdam (New York) and Hcaverwyck (Albany) ; forty-seven volumes from England and seventeen from France, comprising in all more than 5,000 important papers. These documents were translated and edited by E. B. O'Callaghan, and published in eleven quarto volumes by act of the legislature. In 1840 Mr. Brodhead was appointed secretary of legation in England, where Mr. Bancroft was then minister. He returned to this country in 1849, and was naval officer of the port of New York during Pierce's administration. In the spring of 1855 he was appointed consul-general to Japan, but declined. For many years he continued his researches relating to the rule of the Dutch, and the knowledge thus acquired was embodied in his "History of "the State of New York" (3 vols.. New York, 1853-'71). He intended to add a third volume and to bring the narrative down to the present day, but had to abandon the intention on account of declining health. He delivered an address before the New York historical society in 1844, and one, on the commercial history of New York, before the mercantile library association, at the opening of Clinton hall, 8 June, 1854. He published also an "Oration on the Conquest of New Netherland," delivered before the historical society, 13 Oct., 18(54, and "Government of Sir Edmund Andros over New England" (1867).
BRODHEAD, John, clergyman, b. in Monroe
CO., Pa., 33 Oct., 1770 ; d. in Newmarket, N. H., 7 April, 1888. In 1794-'6 he travelled as a Methodist preacher in New Jersey and Maryland, and
then went to New England, and became a founder of Methodism there and in Canada. In 1811 he settled in Newmarket, N. H. From 1839 till 1833
he was a representative from New Hampshire in congress.—His son, John M., b. in Canaan, N. H., was educated as a physician at Dartmouth, was
appointed second comptroller of the treasury, held
the office until 1856, in 1863 was reappointed, and
retained it until he resigned in January, 1876.—Another son, Thornton F., soldier, b. in New Hampshire in 1833 ; d. in Alexandria, Va., 31 Aug., 1863.
He studied law at Harvard, and practised in Detroit, Mich. He served through the Mexican war as an officer in the 15th infantry, and was twice
brevetted for bravery. Resuming the practice of his profession after the war, he was elected to the state senate, and in 1853 appointed postmaster of
Detroit. At the beginning of the civil war he raised the 1st Michigan cavalry regiment, at the head of which he served under Gens. Banks, Fremont, and Pope. He died of wounds received at the second battle of Bull Run.
BRODHEAD, Richard, senator, b. in Lehman
township. Pike co.. Pa., 5 Jan., 1811: d. in Easton,
Pa., 16 Sept., 1863. He was educated at Lafayette
college, studied law with James M. Porter, was admitted to the bar in 1836, and was elected a member of the Pennsylvania legislature in 1837, in
which he sat during three sessions. In 1841 he
was treasurer of Northampton co., and in 1843 was
elected as a democrat to congress, and, being twice
re-elected, served from 4 Dec, 1843, till 3 March, 1849. In 1849 he was elected to the U. S. senate, serving from 1 Dec, 1851. till 3 March, 1857.
BROGDEN, Curtis Hooks, governor, b. in
Wayne county, N. C, 6 Dec, 1816. He was brought up as a farmer, became prominent in the militia, in which he attained the rank of general, was elected to the legislature in 1838, and was for nearly twenty years a member of one or the other house; was comptroller of the state from 1857 till 1867, a presidential elector in 1868, and in 1869 was appointed collector of internal
revenue. After serving four years longer in the state senate, he was elected lieutenant-governor in 1873, and, upon the death of Gov. Caldwell in 1874,
succeeded to the office of governor. In 1876 he was elected as a republican to congress, and served from 15 Oct., 1877. till 3 March, 1879.
BROGLIE, Claude Victor Marie, Prince
de, French soldier, b. in Paris ni 1757; executed 37 June, 1794. He was the son of the Marshal de Broglie, entered the French army, volunteered his
services in the cause of American independence, was transferred to the regiment Saintonge, commanded by Custine, and served until the surrender at Yorktown. After returning to France he was elected to the states-general, and espoused the cause of popular liberty. He was president of the
constituent assembly in 1791, but preferred military service, and was appointed a brigadier-general in the army of the Rhine. In 1793 he was re-
moved for refusing to recognize the decree of the national assembly suspending the prerogative of the king, was afterward arraigned before the revolutionarv tribunal, condenmed, and guillotined.
BROKE, Sir Philip Bowes Vere, British
naval officer, b. at Broke Hall, near Ipswich, England, 9 Sept., 1776; d. in London, 3 Jan., 1841. He was bred to the sea from the age of twelve,
promoted captain in 1801, placed in command of the frigate "Shannon " in 1806, and sailed for Halifax in August, 1811. On 1 June, 1813, while
the " Shannon " was cruising off Boston, the American frigate "Chesapeake," ranging alongside at a distance of fifty yards, received a broadside which struck down Capt. Lawrence and more than
a hundred men. The Americans returned the tire, but their execution fell far short of that of the British seamen, trained in Broke's novel system of
gunnery drill. A second broadside from the "Shannon" was as effective as the first, and Broke, at the head of fifty or sixty men, boarded the American and succeeded in driving the survivors of the crew below, but was himself disabled for life by a blow on the head from a musket-stock. See Brighton's "Memoir of Admiral Sir P. B. V, Broke," and Roosevelt's "Naval War of 1813."
BROMFIELD, John, merchant, b. in Newburyport. Mass., 11 April, 1779; d. in Boston, 8 Dec., 1849. He acquired a fortune as an agent in Europe for American houses, and as a merchant in Canton, which he increased by investments in Boston. He was a benefactor of various charitable institutions and of the Boston athenæum. to which he made a gift of |35,000. A volume of "Reminiscences of John Bromfield" was published at Salem in 1853.—His ancestor, Edward, came from England in 1675 and was a member of the council.—Edward (b. in 1695; d. 10 April, 1756), son of the latter, was an eminent citizen and member of the general court; and Edward, his son (b.
