BROD'HEAD, Jon ROMEYN (1814-73). An American historian, born in Philadelphia, Pa. He removed with his parents to New York City in 1826, graduated at. Rutgers College in 1831, and in 1835 was admitted to the bar, but soon abandoned the practice of law and devoted his attention almost entirely to the study of the history of New York. For several years after 1839 he was connected with the United States legation in Holland. and while there was ap pointed (1841),in pursuance of an act of the New York Legislators, to proeure and transeribedoeu ments in European a rehives relating to the history of the State. He devoted himself to this task with great energy, and succeeded in collecting more than 5000 documents, many of which had been previously unknown to historians. "The ship in which he came back," says Bancroft, "was more richly freighled with new material for American history than any that ever crossed the Atlantic."
The documents were printed by the State, tinder the editorship of O'Callaghan and Fernow, as Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York (14 vols., Albany, 1856 SC). From 1846 to 1849 Brodhead was secretary of legation in London, George Baneroft then being the United States -Minister to England, and from 1853 to 1857 he was naval officer of the port of New York. His reputation rests chiefly on his History of the Slate of New York ('2 vols., 1853-71), which is notable for its thorough schol arship. its candor, and its painstaking accuracy, and which, though left incomplete, remains the standard work for the period covered—] 609 to 1691. Brodhead also published An Oration on the Conquest of New Netherland (1864), and an address entitled Government of Sir Edmund An dros Over New England (1867).