Stephen Elliott (bishop)

Stephen Elliott (August 31, 1806 – December 21, 1866) was the 37th bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He was the first Bishop of Georgia and Provisional Bishop of Florida. He was also the first and only Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America.

The Right Reverend

Stephen Elliott

D.D.
Bishop of Georgia
ChurchEpiscopal Church
DioceseGeorgia
Elected1840
In office1841-1866
SuccessorJohn W. Beckwith
Orders
OrdinationMay 1836
ConsecrationFebruary 28, 1841
by William Meade
Personal details
Born(1806-08-31)August 31, 1806
Beaufort, South Carolina, United States
DiedDecember 21, 1866(1866-12-21) (aged 60)
Savannah, Georgia, United States
BuriedLaurel Grove Cemetery
NationalityAmerican
DenominationAnglican
ParentsStephen Elliott & Esther Habersham
SpouseMary Gibbes Barnwell
Charlotte Bull Barnwell
Children8

Early life and career

He was born on August 31, 1806 in Beaufort, South Carolina, the son of Stephen Elliott the botanist. He attended Harvard and graduated in 1825 from South Carolina College, where he was president of the Clariosophic Society. He studied law and practiced in Charleston (where he was one of the founders of the Forensic Club) and Beaufort, South Carolina from 1827 until 1833.

Elliott had a conversion experience during a sermon by Presbyterian evangelist Daniel Baker (1791–1857) at the Episcopal Church in Beaufort, South Carolina.[1] He became a candidate for holy orders in the Episcopal Church in 1833, was ordained a deacon on February 15, 1835 by Bishop Nathaniel Bowen of South Carolina, and a priest the following year. A professor of sacred literature and revealed religion, Elliot taught at South Carolina College from 1835 to 1841.[2]

Family life

Elliott married his cousin, Mary Gibbes Barnwell, daughter of a colonel Robert W. Barnwell, on Nov. 18, 1828. After her death, he married another cousin, Charlotte Bull Barnwell, daughter of John G. Barnwell and granddaughter of Gen. John Barnwell and of Gen. Stephen Bull, of the Revolutionary army.[2] Among their children were Robert W. B. Elliott (1840–1887), missionary bishop to West Texas;[3] John Gibbes Barnwell Elliott, M. D.; R. Habersham Elliott; and their youngest, the novelist Sarah Barnwell Elliott (1848–1928).[4] (Note: a common misconception, frequently published, especially online, is that Confederate Brigadier-General Stephen Elliott Jr. (1832–1866) was the son of Elliott. The General was the son of Elliott's first cousin, another Stephen Elliott (1804–1866).)

Episcopacy

In 1840 he was chosen first bishop of the Diocese of Georgia, and after his consecration, February 28, 1841, became rector of St. John's Church, Savannah. In 1844 he became provisional bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida, to be succeeded in 1851 by Francis Huger Rutledge, the first bishop of that diocese.

Elliott was committed to education. In 1845 he resigned the rectorship of St. John's to take charge of the Female Institute at Montpelier, Georgia, which he had founded several years earlier. He assumed the management and with it a large debt, and resided in Montpelier, 1845-53. He was also instrumental, with Bishops Leonidas Polk and Otey, founding of The University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee.

After Georgia and other southern states seceded, many of the Christian denominations in the U.S. split into Northern and Southern branches, a division that sometimes persists today. The Episcopal Church was no different. When the Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America split off, Stephen Elliott became its Presiding Bishop. He later became known for his funerary oration for the "Fighting Bishop" Leonidas Polk at Saint Paul's Church during the Atlanta Campaign. Elliott, who held enslaved people, supported the Southern cause in the American Civil War.[5]

Largely through the efforts of Elliott and his friend John Henry Hopkins, Bishop of Vermont, who was the Presiding Bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church, the Northern and Southern branches reunited after the Civil War. Both men considered this crucial to the survival of the Church and the nation.

Death and legacy

Elliott died on December 21, 1866 in Savannah, Georgia. He was buried at Laurel Grove Cemetery (north) in Savannah.[6] John W. Beckwith succeeded him as bishop of Georgia.

References
Notes
  1. Baker, W.M. (1859). The Life and Labours of the Rev. Daniel Baker, D. D... W.S. & A. Martien. Retrieved 2015-08-06.
  2. Brown, J.H. (1900). Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States: Chubb-Erich. James H. Lamb Company. p. 637. Retrieved 2015-08-06.
  3. "| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)". tshaonline.org. Retrieved 2015-08-06.
  4. "Novelguide | Search Result | Novelguide". novelguide.com. Archived from the original on 2011-10-12. Retrieved 2015-08-06.
  5. Hanckel, Thomas M. (1867). Sermons by The Right Reverend Stephen Elliott, D.D., Late Bishop of Georgia with a Memoir by Thomas M. Hanckel, Esq. New York: Pott and Amery – via Archives of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia.
  6. "Stephen Elliott, Sr (1806 - 1866) - Find A Grave Memorial". findagrave.com. Retrieved 2015-08-06.
Sources
  • Barnwell, Stephen B. (1969). The Story of an American Family. Marquette. pp. 156–159.
  • Northen (Ed.), William J. (1910). Men of Mark in Georgia. Atlanta: A. B. Caldwell. pp. 349–351.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  • Perry, William Stevens (1895). The Episcopate in America. New York: The Christian Literature Co. pp. 82–83. ISBN 0-524-01662-3.
  • "Death of Bishop Stephen Elliott". The Daily News and Herald (Savannah, Georgia). Savannah, Georgia. 1866-12-22. p. 2.
  • "Georgia: Death of Bishop Stephen Elliott". New York Times. New York, New York. 1866-12-31. p. 2.
  • Brown, John Howard (1900). Lamb's biographical dictionary of the United States, Volume 2. James H. Lamb Co. p. 638.
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