CHAPTER XLIV.

MR. BRAINERD'S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT-HIS DESCENDANTS—HIS

MR.

PERSON AND MANNERS.

R. BRAINERD'S last "will and testament,' which we have transcribed from the Clerk's Office at Trenton, N. J., was prepared at Deerfield in March, 1780, just one year before his death. As he seems to have written it himself, and as it throws light on his state of mind and health, his worldly circumstances, and his domestic relations, we insert it entire.

John Brainerd's Will and Testament.

In the fear of the Lord, and as one that must give an

account,

I, John Brainerd, Minister of the Gospel of Christ, at present laboring under some bodily indisposition, but, through the grace of God, blest with the fullest use of reason, for which I bless and praise God, think it my indispensable duty to Christ and my family to signify my will in writing.

And, first of all, I give and recommend my soul into the hands of God in and through Jesus Christ, firmly relying on his name, merits, and righteousness for pardon, justification, and eternal life.

The body I commit to the ground, to be decently interred only at the discretion of my executor hereinafter

named, fully expecting to receive the same in the morning of the resurrection, glorified only through the rich grace of Jesus Christ.

As to what worldly substance God has seen fit to intrust me with, I think it my duty to dispose of it in the following manner :

Ist. I give and bequeath to my dear, well-beloved, and faithful wife, Elizabeth Brainerd, all that part of my estate that was hers before we were married, and that she brought with her in consequence of our marriage, as also my silver watch.

2d. I put all the rest of my estate into her hands, as money or cash, bills, bonds, certificates, cattle, horses, and every other part and parcel of my estate, except what will by-and-by be mentioned, not to be aliened or given away, but which may be sold for her comfortable support during her state of widowhood; then to become the property of my dear, well-beloved, and dutiful daughter Mary Ross, wife of Maj. John Ross.

3d. I do now give and bequeath unto this my only daughter and child all and every individual thing that came to me by her mother, as also the bed I had before I was married, all the plate marked E. L., together with a mustard-pot and pepper-box not marked at all, as also a three-year-old heifer and yearling heifer. My books I leave with my wife and daughter, to be disposed of as they shall agree and think proper; and they have free liberty to sell any number of them as they shall choose. My annuity in the Widows' Fund at Philadelphia I desire may be paid only to my wife, that she may enjoy the whole benefit of the same.

4th. I denominate and ordain my well-beloved son-inlaw, Maj. John Ross, to be my sole executor of this my last will and testament; and do hereby empower him to

sell any part of my estate at vendue, or otherwise, with the advice and full consent of my above-mentioned dear wife, who will then be my widow; but not without.

This I ratify and confirm as my last will and testament, disannulling all others by me at any time made or done.

In testimony whereof, I set my hand and affix my seal, this 21st day of March, 1780.

In presence of

EZEKIEL FOSTER,

EPHRAIM FOSTER,

JEREMIAH FOSTER.

JOHN BRAINERD.

From this "will" we draw the inference that Mr. Brainerd, while he had been willing to labor hard for little compensation in his Master's service, and while his charities to his Indians had drawn heavily on his resources, had, nevertheless, managed his pecuniary affairs with care and skill, so that he had always been able, with his own patrimony and what he received by his marriage connections, to live genteelly and comfortably. All received by his first marriage he leaves to his only daughter and child by his first wife; he leaves to the second wife all he had received by her; and to both he makes such addition as his own personal estate would allow. According to the standard of the day, he seems to have been neither rich nor poor, the allotment for which Agur prayed, and which best befits a minister of the gospel.

His wife, Elizabeth (Price) Brainerd, survived

him several years, residing alternately with her step-daughter at Mount Holly and with her own relatives in Philadelphia. Between her and her step-daughter Mary, the only surviving child of John Brainerd, there seems to have subsisted a most tender, delicate, and permanent affection, which found expression in constant intimacy and correspondence. The letters of the daughter to her step-mother are marked by so much filial love, piety, taste, and refinement of feeling as to indicate on the part of her father great care in her training and an excellent parental example: they do credit alike to the father, mother, and daughter.*

Major John Ross, who married the only daughter of John Brainerd, was born in Mount Holly, N. J., 1752, and died there in 1796. March 13, 1776, he was commissioned a captain in the Third Regiment of New Jersey troops of the Revolutionary Army. He received a major's commission April 7, 1779, and the same year was united in marriage to Mary Brainerd, two years before the death of her father. He was one of the original members of the Society of Cincinnati, and, under Washington, Collector of the Revenue for Burlington county. His wife died at Mount Holly in 1792, leaving three children. Only one of these -the eldest, Sophia Marion-left descendants.

*We give a few of these familiar epistles as a specimen. See Appendix F.

Sophia Marion Ross, granddaughter of John Brainerd, married John Lardner Clark, Esq., August 1, 1797. He was the youngest son of Hon. Elijah Clark, of Egg Harbor, the warm personal friend of the Rev. John Brainerd, and elder in one of Brainerd's churches. He was also a member of the Provincial Congress, and a colonel in the militia of New Jersey during the Revolutionary War.*

Mrs. Clark, granddaughter of John Brainerd, had six children, only two of whom survive. These are Mrs. Louisa Vanuxem Peacock, widow of James Peacock, Esq., late of Harrisburg, and Mrs. Emeline Marion Sims, wife of John Clark Sims, an original proprietor of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, and now Actuary of the American Insurance Company. The only brother of these ladies, Brainerd Clark, Esq., of Mount Holly, N. J., died several years since, leaving a family. These three families comprehend the entire descendants of the subject of this memoir. We have named them

* During the war, Elijah Clark and Richard Westcott, Esq., built at their own expense a small fort at the Fox Burrows, on Chestnut Neck, near the port of Little Egg Harbor, and bought a number of cannon for the defence of said fort. While the Revolutionary Legislature was in session at Haddonfield, in September, 1777, the two branches passed a resolution for paying Clark and Westcott four hundred and thirty pounds one shilling and three pence for this fort, which, we are told, was at one time defended by fifteen hundred of the Shore-men, who, upon the enemy ascending the river in great force in barges, evacuated it. The good people of Chestnut Neck ought to mark the site of this old redoubt, that future ages may know it.-Mickle's History of Gloucester County, New Jersey, p. 80.