Bristed, John

Bristed, John a minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was born in Dorset, England, in 1779. He studied medicine and practiced it before he came to America. In 1806 he arrived in New York, began the study of law, and was admitted to practice in the courts of that state. He married the daughter of the late John Jacob Astor of New York city, in 1820, and continued in the legal profession until 1824, when he removed to Bristol, R.I., and began the study of divinity under bishop Griswold, and was admitted to orders. Subsequently he went to Vermont and completed his studies under bishop Smith. For some time he was in charge of a Church at Vincennes, and in 1828 returned to Bristol as an assistant to bishop Griswold. In the following year he was rector of St. Michael's Church in that town, which position he held until April 1843, when he resigned it on account of failing health. He died at Bristol, February 23, 1855. See Amer. Quar. Church Review, 1855, page 161.