Mary Bragg (Nee Furnas)
Mary Bragg (Nee Furnas) [1]
Bragg (Nee Furnas), Mary
an English minister of the Society of Friends, was born in Liverpool in 1762, and became a Christian when she was about eighteen years of age. In 1785 she was married to Henry Bragg of Parton, Cumberland, and in 1794 was recorded as a minister by the Pardshaw meeting. In company with another minister she was engaged in ministerial work in Scotland during a part of the year 1801, and for several years performed much evangelical labor within the bounds of her own quarterly meeting. In 1817 her husband and herself were appointed to the superintendence of the provincial Friends' school at Prospect Hill, near Lisburn, Ireland. This position they held until 1820, when they removed to Belfast, and a few years after to Cotton Mount, a few miles from Belfast, which was her residence during the remainder of her life. During the years which followed, she, from time to time, visited the families of Friends in several meetings within the bounds of her quarterly meeting, and travelled through some parts of Lancashire. "Her communications," it is said, "were generally plain and simple, and many cherished a lively recollection of the comfort and instruction which they derived from her ministry." Her death took place April 7, 1849. See Testimonies at Yearly Meeting, 1851, pages 28-32. (J.C.S.)
