Josiah Brewer (June 1, 1796 – November 19, 1872) was an American minister and author. He was the father of U.S. Supreme Court justice

David Josiah Brewer David Josiah Brewer (June 20, 1837 – March 28, 1910) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1890 to 1910. An appointee of President Benjamin Harrison, he supported states' righ ...

Biography

Brewer was born June 1, 1796, in

Monterey Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census. The city was fou ...

, then a part of Tyringham, Mass. He graduated from

Phillips Academy Phillips Academy (also known as PA, Phillips Academy Andover, or simply Andover) is a Private school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational college-preparatory school for Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day students located in ...

in 1817 and

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

in 1821. He began the study of theology at Andover Seminary in 1822, but in 1824 transferred himself to

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

and finished his studies with the first class which received instruction in the Theological Department of Yale College. He was also for nearly two years, from 1824 to 1826, a tutor in the college. He was ordained at Springfield, Mass, May 10, 1826, as a missionary, and in the following September embarked for the East, under the direction of the Boston Female Society for the promotion of Christianity among the Jews. He spent about two years in laboring in

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...

and

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, and then returned to the U. S. While here he published a volume descriptive of his residence in Turkey, ''A Residence at Constantinople in the Year 1827'' (1830), and was married, December 1, 1829, to Emilia Ann, daughter of Rev. D. D. Field, of Stockbridge, Mass and sister of future US Supreme Court justice

Stephen Johnson Field Stephen Johnson Field (November 4, 1816 – April 9, 1899) was an American jurist. He was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from May 20, 1863, to December 1, 1897, the second longest tenure of any justice. Prior to this ap ...

. In 1830 he went back to Smyrna, where he remained for eight years as a missionary of the Ladies Greek Association of New Haven, Conn. After his final return to this country, in 1838, he was for three years chaplain of the Connecticut State Prison, at Wethersfield, and for a short time afterwards agent of the

American Anti-Slavery Society The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) was an Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist society in the United States. AASS formed in 1833 in response to the nullification crisis and the failures of existing anti-slavery organizations, ...

, and editor of an anti-slavery paper in Hartford, Conn. In 1844 he opened a Young Ladies' Seminary in New Haven, Conn, which was afterwards removed to Middletown, Conn., and which occupied him until 1857. He then took up his residence in Stockbridge, Mass., and after serving for nine years as stated supply of the Congregational Church in the neighboring town of Housatonic, lived in retirement until his decease (preceded by a few months of severe suffering), November 19, 1872. Emilia Brewer died December 16, 1861, and he was married in May 1863, to Lucy Treadwell Jerome, of New Hartford, Conn., daughter of the late Rev. Amasa Jerome. Two sons graduated Yale; the elder in 1852 and David Josiah Brewer in 1856. His sons and four daughters, by his first wife, survived him, except for his youngest son, who died of typhoid fever contracted in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. He was the namesake of Brewer Normal Institute (1872–1970), a segregated school for African American students in Greenwood, South Carolina.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brewer, Josiah 1796 births 1872 deaths American Congregationalist ministers American male writers American Congregationalist missionaries Andover Newton Theological School alumni Yale Divinity School alumni People from Berkshire County, Massachusetts American expatriates in the Ottoman Empire Congregationalist missionaries in the Ottoman Empire American abolitionists Yale College alumni Congregationalist abolitionists 19th-century American clergy