Isaac Van Arsdale Brown (November 4, 1784 – April 19, 1861) was an American educator and

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

clergyman who founded the

Lawrenceville School The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Lawrenceville section of Lawrence Township, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. Lawrenceville is a member of the Eight Schoo ...

near

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

Biography

He was born in

Somerset County, New Jersey Somerset County is a county located in the north-central part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States Census, the county's population was 345,361, an increase of 21,917 (6.8%) from the 323,444 counted at the 2010 U.S Cen ...

, November 4, 1784 and graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1802. He studied theology under Dr. John Woodhull, of

Freehold Township, New Jersey Freehold Township is a township in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is both a regional commercial hub for Central New Jersey (home to the Freehold Raceway and Freehold Raceway Mall) and a bedroom community of New ...

. Later, he was ordained by the New Brunswick presbytery, and in 1807 was made pastor at

Lawrenceville, New Jersey Lawrenceville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Lawrence Township in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States.

, where in 1810 he established a classical and commercial boarding-school. In 1842 he moved to

Mount Holly, New Jersey Mount Holly is a township that is the county seat of Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an eastern suburb of Philadelphia, the nation's sixth largest city as of 2020, As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population w ...

, and subsequently to

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America until 1837, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the migration of freebor ...

, and worked for its advancement, and was one of the original members of the

American Bible Society American Bible Society is a U.S.-based Christian nonprofit headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the American member organization of United Bible Societies, it supports global Bible translation, production, distribution, literacy, engage ...

. He died on April 19, 1861, in Trenton, NJ.

References

* Mulford, Ronald J (1935). History of the Lawrenceville School 1810–1935. Princeton University Press 1784 births 1861 deaths American Presbyterians Founders of schools in the United States People from Mount Holly, New Jersey People from Somerset County, New Jersey People from Trenton, New Jersey Educators from New Jersey 19th-century American educators 19th-century American philanthropists {{US-reli-bio-stub