Brayton, Rev. Jonathan, son of Lodowick and Betsey (Knight) Brayton, was born in Cranston, R. 1., June 12, 1811.

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Admin  · 3/24/23  · Daily Baptist Encyclopedia – Post by Jim Curran(NOTE: wow what an illustration this would be- it took falling off a steeple as a carpenter to realize that he was lost)

Brayton, Rev. Jonathan, son of Lodowick and Betsey (Knight) Brayton, was born in Cranston, R. 1., June 12, 1811. The first eighteen years of his life were spent on his father’s farm. He then worked at the trade of a carpenter four years. At the end of this period he came very near losing his life in consequence of a fall of sixty feet from the steeple of a church upon which he was at work in Providence. Previous to this his thoughts had been directed to his personal spiritual state, and after his conversion, to the work of the ministry. In the event which laid him aside from his trade he seemed to hear the call of God to prepare him- self to become a minister of the gospel. Although he was now twenty-two years of age, he entered upon a course of preparatory study, and in the fall of 1839 entered the Hamilton Theological Institu- tion, where he remained two years, completing his course of study in 184]. Peculiar circumstances led him to decide to be ordained at Hamilton, and he was publicly set apart to the work of the Chris- tian ministry by the faculty of the institution per- forming the services of his ordination. At once he returned to Rhode Island, and commenced his ministry at Phenix, where a powerful revival fol- lowed his labors and a prosperous church was es- tablished. The other settlements of Mr. Brayton have all been in his native State, in two villages in Warwick, in one village in Coventry, and in Paw- tucket. Such has been the state of his health that he has been unable always to perform the duties of a pastor, but in all matters affecting the welfare and prosperity of his denomination he has ever taken the most substantial interest. He has held many important local offices, and his name has been mentioned in connection with the governorship of Rhode Island. From the Baptist Encyclopedia by William Cathcart