John Bracken (1747–1818) immigrated to Virginia from his native England by the summer of 1769 and was ordained a minister of the Church of England in 1772. The following year he was elected rector of Bruton Parish in Williamsburg, a position he held until his death. In 1775 Bracken became the master of the grammar school at the College of William and Mary and, two years later, he attained the associated position of professor of humanity. He lost this post with the abolition of the grammar school in 1779, taught privately for more than a decade, and was reinstated by William and Mary at his former rank in 1792. Bracken served as Williamsburg’s mayor on several occasions and was president of the board of the Public Hospital. He succeeded James Madison as bishop of Virginia and president of William and Mary at the latter’s death in 1812. In poor health and lacking the vigor to revive either struggling institution, Bracken gave up his diocese in May 1813 without being consecrated, and he resigned the college’s presidency at the request of its board of visitors in June of the following year (DVB description begins John T. Kneebone and others, eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography, 1998– , 3 vols. description ends ; Rutherfoord Goodwin, “The Reverend John Bracken [1745–1818], Rector of Bruton Parish and President of William and Mary College in Virginia,” Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church 10 [1941]: 354–89; Bracken to TJ, 6 Aug. 1805 [DLC]; Richmond Enquirer, 24 July 1818).

Bracken sent TJ a bill of exchange for the Bellini sisters on 6 Feb. 1807 but asked him to return it on 3 Mar. of that year (both letters in DLC).