Henry Caner, the minister of King's Chapel but at time it was owned by a family friend from Newburyport, Judge John Lowell.
John began his career “without patronage and without prospects” but by wit, sweet-temper and hard work he advanced from a seafaring life to become a successful East India Merchant.
In the subsequent years he served as the foreign agent for William Sturgis, Henry Lee, Daniel Bacon, and Augustine Heard among other Boston merchants trading with China.
But, when it was urged that its origin could not long be concealed in an inquisitive community, that he might be subjected to inquiries, which his strict regard to veracity would render it impossible to evade, and also that it was as much a man's duty to be true to himself, as to be just to others, he finally acceded; and reluctantly consented, that if the proposal of his gift and its terms were accepted by the Proprietors of the Athenæum, his name should not be withheld.
This vote was duly communicated to Mr. Bromfield by the President, who received a courteous answer, containing the following characteristic sentence: “Deeply impressed with the kindness of the motives of the gentlemen who have made this proposition, and fully appreciating the honor intended to be conferred upon me thereby (for which I beg you to tender them my most grateful and unfeigned thanks), I nevertheless beg leave, most decidedly and explicitly, to decline their very friendly and polite proposition.”[5] Three-fourths of the annual income of the Bromfield Fund is allocated to expanding Athenæum's book collection while the other one-fourth is added back into the principal.