 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this articlebyadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Thomas Atkinson" bishop – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
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 | (1807-08-06)August 6, 1807 |
| Died | January 4, 1881(1881-01-04) (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.
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 TuckeratWinchester 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]
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 ChurchinNorfolk, 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 ChurchinBaltimore.[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]
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 SchoolinAsheville.[10] He urged the religious instruction of slaves.[11] Initially opposing secession,[citation needed] 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 ConferenceatLambeth 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 ChurchinWilmington, North Carolina.[17]
The Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter in Charlotte is the memorial church of Bishop Thomas Atkinson.
| Episcopal Church (USA) titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | 3rd Bishop of North Carolina 1853–1881 |
Succeeded by |
| International |
|
|---|---|
| National |
|
| Other |
|
