Brandmiller, John

Brandmiller, John a minister of the German and Dutch Reformed Churches, was born in Basle, Switzerland, November 24, 1706. At thirteen years of age he was taken into the Reformed religion, and soon after placed with his uncle to learn the printing business, but becoming restless he went to sea. He soon returned to his home, and enlisted as a soldier. While in the army he had a severe attack of fever, and, when convalescent, became anxious to know more of religion. In 1738 he was spiritually blessed. After much travelling and many wondrous adventures he came to America in 1741, and was finally ordained, May 13, 1745, in Philadelphia, and took charge of several congregations in Pennsylvania. He remained four years, and then removed to Friedensthal, where he labored as a teacher for eight years. During the year 1768 he went to Bethlehem, at which place he was found dead in the mill-race, August 16, 1777. "It is a singular fact that, after having narrowly escaped death three times in his youth by drowning, at last, in the seventy- fourth year of his age, he should die in the water." See Harbaugh, Fathers of the Germ. Ref. Church, 1:375; Corwin, Manual of the Ref. Church (3d ed.), page 194.