William Craig Brownlee (1784 – February 10, 1860) was an American

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

man, professor of languages and author. He was born in

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and was the fourth son of the Laird of Torfoot. President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

was a distant cousin. Brownlee founded the Philoclean Society at

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

in 1825. Basking Ridge, NJ named a street, Brownlee Place, in his hono

Career

Brownlee studied at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, receiving a Master's degree with honors. He was licensed as a minister by the Church of Scotland in 1808, before coming to the United States

Brownlee held several Associate Presbyterian pastorates in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and was master of a classical academy in Basking Ridge, N

He received an honorary degree from

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of ...

in 182

then the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

gave him an honorary Doctor of Divinity in 1824 for his critical work on the Quaker

Brownlee's parishioners described him as an independent thinker and engaging speaker who often criticized the Roman Catholic Church, Universalism and other group

He became

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Rutgers College Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

in 1825. The next year, Brownlee was installed as a minister at the Collegiate Reformed Dutch church in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He served on a rotating basis among several Dutch Reformed Churches in Manhattan until 186

In 1836, he helped found a group called The American Society to Promote the Principles of the Protestant Reformation. It was an anti-Catholic society, which was eventually absorbed into the American and Foreign Christian Union. It exists today as an ecumenical, mainline Protestant organizatio

Brownlee's career was cut short by a paralyzing stroke in 1843, from which he never fully recovered, even though his mind remained clear. He and his wife had nine childre

Works

Brownlee wrote the 1833 novel ''The Whigs of Scotland,'' a two-volume historical romance about

The Killing Time The Killing Time was a period of conflict in Scottish history between the Presbyterian Covenanter movement, based largely in the south west of the country, and the government forces of Kings Charles II and James VII. The period, roughl ...

. In the book's introduction, he argued that the Scottish resistance lit the fires of liberty against "the gigantic efforts of a civil and religious fanaticism" from England. Walter Scott, whose portrayal of the

Covenanters Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from ''Covenan ...

Brownleee called an injustice, was the epic's inspiration. Brownlee also edited the ''Dutch Church Magazine'' (four volumes), founded ''The Protestant Vindicator'' newspaper in 1834, and published several books, including: * ''Inquiry into the Principles of the Quakers'' (1824) * ''The Whigs of Scotland: or, the Last of the Stuarts. An Historical Romance of the Scottish Persecution'' (1833) * ''Letters in the Roman Catholic Controversy'' (1834) * ''The Christian Youth's Book'' (1844) * ''Treatise on Popery'' (1847) * ''Lights and Shadows of Christian Life'' (1847) * ''Narrative of the Battles of Drumclog and Bothwell Bridge'' (1850) * ''Saint Patrick and the Western Apostolic Churches'' (1857) * ''Secret instructions of the Jesuits'' (1857) * ''Popery: An enemy to civil and religious liberty, and dangerous to our republic'' (1836)Amazon.com *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brownlee, William Craig Religious leaders from New York City Scottish emigrants to the United States American Presbyterian ministers 19th-century Presbyterian ministers Alumni of the University of Glasgow Rutgers University faculty 1784 births 1860 deaths 19th-century American clergy