Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright I
Encyclopedia
Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright I (1792 – September 21, 1854) was an Episcopal bishop.
Biography
He was born in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1792 to Peter Wainwright and Elizabeth Mayhew. His father Peter, was a tobacconist who emigrated from England to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
before the American Revolution.
His mother was the daughter of Rev. Jonathan Mayhew of Boston.
Peter and Elizabeth returned to England for the birth of their first son in 1791. They didn't return to Massachusetts until eleven years later. Jonathan's siblings include: Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright (1791-?); and Eliza Wainwright (1794-?) who married Walter Channing.
Jonathan graduated from Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
in 1812 where he was afterward tutor. He was ordered deacon in the Episcopal Church in Trinity Church, Boston, 13 April 1817, ordained priest in Christ Church, Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
, 29 May 1818, and became rector of the latter. In November 1819, he moved to New York and became assistant minister in Trinity Church. He was made rector of Grace Church in 1821, and remained in that charge until 1834, when he became rector of Trinity Church
Trinity Church, Boston (Summer Street)
Trinity Church was an Episcopal church in Boston, Massachusetts, located on Summer Street. It housed Boston's third Anglican congregation...
, Boston. In 1837 he returned to Trinity Parish, New York, as assistant in charge of St. John's Chapel, which post he retained until he was elevated to the episcopate. He received the degree of D.D. from Union College in 1823, and from Harvard in 1835. The degree of D.C.L. was conferred upon him by Oxford University in 1852.
He was for many years secretary of the house of bishops, and was instrumental in the founding of New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. He was considered one of the first pulpit orators of his day. He wielded great social influence, was a ripe scholar, and was a devoted lover of music, contributing toward its improvement in the churches of his denomination. He was secretary of the board of trustees of the General Theological Seminary in 1828-34, and a trustee or officer of many other institutions and societies.
In 1844 he engaged in a controversy with his friend George Potts, which grew out of an assertion that Rufus Choate
Rufus Choate
Rufus Choate , American lawyer and orator, was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, a descendant of an English family which settled in Massachusetts in 1643. His first cousin, physician George Choate, was the father of George C. S. Choate and Joseph Hodges Choate...
made at a celebration of the New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
society. The orator said that the Pilgrim fathers had founded a “state without a king and a church without a bishop.” At the dinner that followed, Wainwright, in responding to a sentiment, said in reply that “there is no church without a bishop.” The subsequent discussion with Potts, which was carried on in nineteen letters in the New York Commercial Advertiser, was published in pamphlet form in 1844.
He was consecrated as a provisional Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
for the Dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America
Dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America
The Episcopal Church is governed by a General Convention and consists of 100 dioceses in the United States proper, plus ten dioceses in other countries or outlying U.S. territories and the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, which is similar to a diocese....
in 1852.
Works
Besides the pamphlet mentioned above, he wrote:- Four Sermons on Religious Education (New York, 1829)
- Lessons on the Church (1835)
- Order of Family Prayer (1845)
- Short Family Prayers (1850)
- The Pathway and Abiding-Places of our Lord, illustrated in the Journal of a Tour through the Land of Promise (1851)
- The Land of Bondage: being the Journal of a Tour in Egypt (1852)
- Single sermons and papers in periodicals.
- Book of Chants, adapted to services of the Episcopal church (1819)
- Music of the Church (1828)
- The Choir and Family Psalter, with William A. Muhlenberg (1851)
- John Stark Ravenscroft, Sermons, edited with a memoir (2 vols., 1830)
- Life of Bishop Heber, edited biography by Heber's widow (2 vols., 1830)
Consecrators
- The Most Reverend Thomas C. BrownellThomas Church BrownellThomas Church Brownell was founder of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church from 1852 until his death....
, Presiding BishopPresiding BishopThe Presiding Bishop is an ecclesiastical position in some denominations of Christianity.- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America :The Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is the chief ecumenical officer of the church, and the leader and caretaker for the bishops of the... - The Right Reverend George W. DoaneGeorge Washington DoaneGeorge Washington Doane was a United States churchman, educator, and bishop in the Episcopal Church for the Diocese of New Jersey.-Biography:Doane was born in Trenton, New Jersey...
, BishopBishopA bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of New JerseyEpiscopal Diocese of New JerseyThe Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey forms part of Province II of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. It is made up of the southern and central New Jersey counties of Union, Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon, Mercer, Monmouth, Ocean, Burlington, Camden, Atlantic, Gloucester, Salem,... - The Right Reverend Jackson KemperJackson KemperBishop Jackson Kemper was the first missionary bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.Baptized David Jackson Kemper by Dr...
, Bishop missioner
External links
- Documents by and about Wainwright from Project Canterbury