The Right Reverend Thomas Atkinson | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of North Carolina | |
 | |
| Church | Episcopal Church |
| Diocese | North Carolina |
| Elected | May 28, 1853 |
| In office | 1853–1881 |
| Predecessor | Levi Silliman Ives |
| Successor | Theodore B. Lyman |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | May 7, 1837 by Richard Channing Moore |
| Consecration | October 17, 1853 by |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 6, 1807 |
| Died | January 4, 1881 (aged 73) Wilmington, North Carolina, United States |
| Buried | St. James Episcopal Church (Wilmington, North Carolina) |
| Nationality | American |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Parents | Robert Atkinson & Mary Tabb Mayo Atkinson |
| Spouse | Josepha Gwinn Wilder |
| Children |
|
| Alma mater | Hampden-Sydney College |
Thomas Atkinson (August 6, 1807 – January 4, 1881) was the third Episcopal Bishop of North Carolina.
Early life
Atkinson was born in Dinwiddie County, Virginia,[1] the son of Robert Atkinson and Mary Tabb Mayo Atkinson.[2] He attended Yale University and Hampden-Sydney College, graduating from the latter in 1825.[1] Upon graduation, he studied law under Judge Henry St. George Tucker at Winchester Law School and practiced law for eight years before turning to theology.[3] In January 1828, he married Josepha Gwinn Wilder, with whom he had three children.[4]
Parish ministry
Atkinson was ordained deacon by the Rt. Rev. William Meade on November 18, 1836, and ordained priest the following year.[1] As deacon, Atkinson served as assistant minister at Christ Church in Norfolk, Virginia.[1] After his ordination to the priesthood, he became rector of St. Paul's Church in Norfolk.[1] In 1839, he moved to Lynchburg to become rector of St. Paul's Church in that town, remaining there for five years.[1]
In 1843, Atkinson moved again, to Maryland, where he became the rector of St. Peter's Church in Baltimore.[5] In 1843 and 1846, he was elected bishop of Indiana, declining the honor both times.[6] In 1852, he became rector of Grace Church in the same city,[5] a new parish organized, in part, by members of St. Peter's.[7]
Bishop of North Carolina
Atkinson was elected Bishop of North Carolina on May 28, 1853, following the resignation of Bishop Ives in December the previous year.[8] He was consecrated on October 17, 1853, by Bishops Thomas Church Brownell, Charles Pettit McIlvaine, George Washington Doane, James Hervey Otey, George Trevor Spencer, and John Medley.[5] Atkinson became the 58th bishop in the Episcopal Church.[9] As bishop, Atkinson founded a church school for boys in Raleigh and the Ravenscroft School in Asheville.[10] He urged the religious instruction of slaves.[11] Initially opposing secession, after the American Civil War began, Bishop Atkinson affiliated with the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America.[12]
After the war, in 1866, Atkinson recommended placing the operation of black Episcopal churches fully in the hands of black clergymen, and the Diocesan Convention passed a series of resolutions doing so.[13] Two years later, he opened the Episcopal school for blacks near Raleigh that eventually became St. Augustine's College.[14] In 1867, he attended the first Lambeth Conference at Lambeth Palace.[15] As his health declined, Atkinson requested the election of an assistant bishop, and Theodore Benedict Lyman was elected to that position in 1873.[16] Atkinson died on January 4, 1881, at his home in Wilmington; he was buried on January 7 within St. James Episcopal Church in Wilmington, North Carolina.[17]
The Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter in Charlotte is the memorial church of Bishop Thomas Atkinson.
Notes
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Batterson 1878, p. 174.
- ↑ Haywood 1910, pp. 143–144.
- ↑ Haywood 1910, pp. 145–146.
- ↑ Haywood 1910, p. 149.
- 1 2 3 Batterson 1878, p. 175.
- ↑ Haywood 1910, p. 146.
- ↑ Haywood 1910, p. 148.
- ↑ Haywood 1910, pp. 149–150.
- ↑ Haywood 1910, p. 145.
- ↑ Haywood 1910, pp. 155–157.
- ↑ Haywood 1910, pp. 157–159.
- ↑ Haywood 1910, pp. 160–161.
- ↑ Haywood 1910, pp. 184–186.
- ↑ Haywood 1910, p. 186.
- ↑ Haywood 1910, pp. 188–189.
- ↑ Haywood 1910, pp. 189–190.
- ↑ Haywood 1910, pp. 199–201.
References
- Batterson, Hermon Griswold (1878). "The Right Reverend Thomas Atkinson, S.T.D., LL.D.". A Sketch-book of the American Episcopate. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippencott & Co. pp. 174–175. Retrieved July 29, 2009 – via Google Books.
- Haywood, Marshall DeLancey (1910). "Thomas Atkinson". Lives of the Bishops of North Carolina: From the Establishment of the Episcopate in that State Down to the Division of the Diocese. Raleigh, NC: Alfred Williams & Company. pp. 143-204 – via Internet Archive.