Dr. William Brisbane, became a Baptist through a different channel than most to which I have referred. He was born into an aristocratic family near Charleston, South Carolina, but none of my reference books could give me the year. His early education was entrusted to the Roman Catholic church. After college he attended a military school in Connecticut, from which he graduated with honors. Despite his Catholic upbringing. he was born again during his nineteenth year. Despite his military education, he felt the call of the Lord to preach the gospel. With the connections of his family, Brother Brisbane knew some of the most powerful men in the South – Andrew Jackson, John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay, but these men couldn’t entice William into politics. Despite living in the South and earning great wealth through agriculture, he came to believe that slavery was morally reprehensible, so he gave his slaves their liberty. At that point, Brother Brisbane took his dwindling resources and moved to Ohio where he purchased land. He even paid for some of his former slaves to move with him, if they chose to do so. Brisbane became a resident of Cincinnati where he labored in the gospel for several years. Finally he moved to Wisconsin where he preached the gospel for more than twenty-five years. He died on this day in 1878.
