David Brainerd

Born in 1718 in Connecticut, David Brainerd became a Christian missionary during the years of the Great Awakening. He is best known for preaching to Native American communities in the Northeast, especially in parts of present-day New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, often while enduring illness, isolation, and rough travel.

Brainerd studied at Yale but did not complete his degree after being expelled during a period of religious controversy. Even so, he went on to serve under the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge and devoted himself to missionary work. His life was marked by physical weakness, especially tuberculosis, which eventually cut his work short.

He died in 1747 at just 29 years old in the home of Jonathan Edwards, who later edited and published his diary and papers. Those writings gave later generations a vivid picture of Brainerd's inner life, struggles, and faith, and helped make him an enduring influence on Protestant missions and devotional writing.