Benjamin Brewster (November 25, 1860 – February 2, 1941) was the Episcopal

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

and Missionary Bishop of Western Colorado.

Early life

He was born in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

, the son of the Rev. Joseph BrewsterJones, 781Jones, 782Wright, 34 and Sarah Jane Bunce. He was a direct descendant of both Love Brewster, a passenger with his father, mother and brother, Wrestling, aboard the Mayflower and a founder of the town of

Bridgewater, Massachusetts Bridgewater is a town located in Plymouth County, in the state of Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the town's population was 28,633. Bridgewater is located approximately south of Boston and approximately 35 miles east ...

; and of Elder William Brewster, the Pilgrim colonist leader and spiritual elder of the

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the passengers on the ...

, and passenger aboard the

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...

and one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact. His brother was the Right Rev. Dr.

Chauncey Bunce Brewster The Rt. Rev. Dr. Chauncey Bunce Brewster (September 5, 1848 – April 9, 1941) was the fifth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut. Early life and education Brewster was born in Windham, Connecticut, to the Rev. Joseph Brewster and S ...

, the fifth American Episcopal

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

of the

Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut The Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut (also known as The Episcopal Church in Connecticut) is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, encompassing the entire state of Connecticut. It is one of the nine original dioceses ...

.Osborn, pp. 388-391Jones, 779Jones, 780

Education

After preparation in the

Hopkins Grammar School Hopkins School is a private, college-preparatory, coeducational, day school for grades 7–12 located in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1660, Edward Hopkins, seven-time governor of the Connecticut Colony, bequeathed a portion of his estate to found s ...

, he graduated with a B.A. in 1882 from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, where he was a member of

Skull and Bones Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior class society at the university, Skull and Bone ...

, and then he received his B.D. in 1886 from the

General Theological Seminary The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church (GTS) is an Episcopal seminary in New York City. Founded in 1817, GTS is the oldest seminary of the Episcopal Church and the longest continuously operating Seminary in the Anglican Communi ...

, New York City.Wright, 34 Meanwhile, he taught school in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, during 1882–1883.

Ordination

He was ordained

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

in the Episcopal Church in 1886 and

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

in 1887. His first charge was as assistant to

Henry Yates Satterlee Henry Yates Satterlee (January 11, 1843 – February 22, 1908) was the first Episcopal Bishop of Washington,Calvary Church, New York City, from 1886 to 1891, and he also served as

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of Calvary Church during 1887–1891. In the next four years he was pastor at that Church of the Holy Communion, South Orange, New Jersey, and during 1895–1906 was pastor at Grace Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. In addition he was a member of the standing committee of the Diocese of Colorado from 1897 to 1906 and examining chaplain from 1900 to 1906. During the next three years he was

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of St. Mark's Cathedral,

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, and president of the council of advice for the District of Salt Lake.

Consecration

On June 17, 1909, he was consecrated Missionary Bishop of Western Colorado. He was translated to be Bishop of the Diocese of Maine on June 7, 1916. Benjamin Brewster was the 242nd

consecrated in the Episcopal Church. Brewster announced in May 1940, that he would retire at the end of the year as Bishop because of his age, but his successor had not been named and he was serving in the capacity of Bishop emeritus at the time of his death. The church in Maine had a steady growth during his bishopric and reached into more communities. Prominent in church affairs outside his diocese, Brewster served as president of the Synod of New England during 1933–1939 and as vice-president of the Church League for Industrial Democracy from 1916 to 1941. He was chairman of the joint committee of Bishops and clerical and lay deputies on nominations at the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church,

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, in 1937, and was a commissioner of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...

. In his first year in Maine he was a delegate to the neutral conference committee that met with

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

to discuss the possibility of calling a conference of neutral nations to halt

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1936 he presented a resolution to the House of Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church requesting

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

to call an international conference of nations which had signed the

Kellogg–Briand Pact The Kellogg–Briand Pact or Pact of Paris – officially the General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy – is a 1928 international agreement on peace in which signatory states promised not to use war to ...

. In 1921 and again in 1930 he attended the

Lambeth Conference The Lambeth Conference is a decennial assembly of bishops of the Anglican Communion convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The first such conference took place at Lambeth in 1867. As the Anglican Communion is an international association ...

, London, England. He was known as a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

in economics and politics as well as religion. In 1934 he worked in favor of a measure endorsing efforts to obtain for physicians and medical clinics the legal right to disseminate birth control information and the measure passed the House of Bishops by a vote of 44 to 38.

Personal life

Brewster married on June 10, 1891, in New York City, as his first wife Stella Yates (November 23, 1866 – February 2, 1929), the daughter of Brigadier-General Charles Yates and Josephine Bosworth the daughter of New York Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph Sollace BosworthHamilton, 40 and Frances Pumpelly. Frances was the first cousin of

Raphael Pumpelly Raphael Pumpelly (September 8, 1837 – August 10, 1923) was an American geologist and explorer. Biography Early life and ancestors He was born on September 8, 1837, in Owego, New York, into a family with deep New England roots that trace back ...

, an American

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althoug ...

and

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

. Benjamin and Stella had five children together. He married on August 25, 1937, in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

, as his second wife Mary Phillips (February 11, 1884 – 1941), widow of George Guillifer Hay, and daughter of

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Charles Leonard Phillips, by whom he had no children. Benjamin Brewster died in Portland, Maine on February 2, 1941.Obituary: "Bishop Benjamin Brewster"
''New York Times.'' February 3, 1941.

Notes

References

*Hamilton College. ''Obituary: New York Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph Sollace Bosworth'; New York: Hamilton literary magazine, Volume 19 1885. *Jones, Emma C. Brewster. ''The Brewster Genealogy, 1566-1907: a Record of the Descendants of William Brewster of the "Mayflower," ruling elder of the Pilgrim church which founded Plymouth Colony in 1620.'' New York: Grafton Press. 1908 *Osborn, Norris Galpin. ''Men of mark in Connecticut: ideals of American life told in biographies and autobiographies of eminent living Americans, Volume 4''; New York: W.R. Goodspeed, 1908. *Wright, R.W.''Biographical record: Yale University. Class of 1842 '' R.W. Wright, compiler, Published by Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, Printers, 1878 *The National Cyclopædia of American Biography, Volume 44. New York: James T. White & Company (1962) 478–479.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brewster, Benjamin Hopkins School alumni Yale University alumni 1860 births 1941 deaths American Civil Liberties Union people American Episcopalians Religious leaders from New Haven, Connecticut American Episcopal priests Episcopal bishops of Maine Episcopal bishops of Western Colorado