Clergyman, born in Groton, Connecticut, USA. He graduated at Yale in 1748, studied medicine at Edinburgh, and received orders in the Church of England in 1753. In 1757 he became rector of Jamaica, Long Island, and in 1767 of Westchester, NY. Despite imprisonment for his loyalty to Britain through the War of American Independence as a royalist army chaplain, he was elected the first Episcopal Bishop of Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1785.
The Right Reverend Samuel Seabury (November 30, 1729 – February 25, 1796), was the first American Episcopal bishop, the second Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, USA, and the first Bishop of Connecticut.
History
Samuel Seabury was born in Ledyard, Groton, Connecticut in 1729. His father, also Samuel Seabury (1706-1764), originally a Congregationalist minister in Groton, was ordained deacon and priest in the Church of England in 1731, and was a rector in New London, Connecticut, from 1732 to 1743, and in Hempstead, Long Island, from 1743 until his death.
Samuel Seabury (the son) graduated from Yale in 1748; was missionary in New Brunswick, New Jersey from 1754 to 1757, rector in Jamaica, New York from 1757 to 1766, and of St Peter's, Westchester (now annexed to The Bronx) from 1766 to 1775.
Revolutionary times
He was one of the signers of the White Plains protest of April 1775 against all unlawful congresses and committees, in many other ways proved himself a devoted loyalist, and wrote the Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continental Congress (1774) by A.
These three "Farmer's Letters" — a fourth was advertised but apparently was never published — were forceful presentations of the pro-British claim, written in a plain, hard-headed style;
Seabury was arrested in November 1775 by a mob of Whigs, and was kept in prison in Connecticut for six weeks.
The episcopacy
On March 25, 1783, a meeting of ten Episcopal clergy in Woodbury, Connecticut, elected Seabury bishop.
He returned to Connecticut in 1785 and made New London, Connecticut his home, becoming rector of St James Church there.
Seabury played a decisive role in the evolution of Anglican liturgy in North America after the Revolution.
He died in New London on 25 February 1796, where his remains lie in a small chapel at St. James.
He was a superior organizer and a strict churchman.
Consecrators
The Right Reverend Robert Kilgour, 39th Bishop of Aberdeen The Right Reverend Arthur Petrie, 37th Bishop of Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness The Right Reverend John Skinner, Bishop Coadjutor of AberdeenSamuel Seabury was the 1st bishop consecrated for the Episcopal Church.
Family
His son Charles (1770-1844) was rector in various Long Island churches;
Popular Society
Samuel Seabury has a park named in his honor on the corner of 96th street and Lexington Avenue on the island of Manhattan in New York City.
Publications
Letters of a Westchester Farmer (1774-5) The Communion-Office, or Order for the Administration of the Holy Eucharist or Supper of the Lord with Private Devotions (1786) An Earnest Persuasive to Frequen Communion (1789) Hamilton's View of the Controversy between Great Britain and her Colonies as "A. 1766 ST2A View of the Controversy between Great-Britain and Her Colonies. New York 1774
Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continental Congress New York 1774
The Congress Canvassed. New York 1774
An Alarm to the Legislature of the Province of New-York, Occasioned by the Present Political Disturbances. New York 1775
A Discourse on Brotherly Love, Preached before the Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons, of Zion Lodge, at St. Paul’s Chapel, in
New York, on the Festival of St. John the Baptist, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-Seven. New York 1777 SUI
A Discourse on II Tim. New York 1777 SUI
St. Peter’s Exhortation to Fear God and Honor the King, Explained and Inculcated: in a Discourse Addressed to His Majesty’s Provincial Troops, in Camp at King’s Bridge, on Sunday the 28th Sept. SUI
A Sermon Preached before the Grand Lodge, and the Other Lodges of Ancient Freemasons, in New-York, at St. Paul’s Chapel, on the Anniversary of St. John the Evangelist, 1782. New York 1783 SUI
Samuel, by Divine Permission, Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the State of Connecticut [injunction regarding political prayers] n.p. 1785 Broad-side SUI, ST2
Bishop Seabury’s Second Charge, to the Clergy of His Diocess [sic], Delivered at Derby, in the State of Connecticut, on the 22d of September, 1786. New Haven 1786 SUI
Forms of prayer for the United States in Congress Assembled 1786 Only a fragment survives
The Address of the Episcopal Clergy of Connecticut, to the Right Reverend Bishop Seabury, with the Bishop’s Answer and, a Sermon, Before the Convention at Middletown, August 3d, 1785...Also Bishop Seabury’s first Charge, to the Clergy of his Diocess [sic], Delivered at Middletown, August 4th, 1785.
The Communion-Office, or Order for the Administration of the Holy Eucharist or Supper of the Lord. New London 1786
A Sermon Delivered before the Boston Episcopal Charitable Society in Trinity Church; Boston 1788 SUI
A Sermon Preached in Christ Church, Philadelphia, Before the Corporation for the Relief of the Widows and Children of Clergymen at their Anniversary Meeting, October 7th, 1789. Philadelphia 1789 SUI
An Earnest Persuasive to Frequent Communion; New Haven 1789 SUI
The Duty of Considering our Ways. New London 1789
An Address to the Ministers and Congregations of the Presbyterian and Independent Persuasions in the United States of America, by a Member of the Episcopal Church New Haven 1790 SUI A Discourse, Delivered in St. John’s Church, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, at the Conferring the Order of Priesthood on the Rev. 1791 SUI A Discourse Delivered before the Triennial Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church at Trinity Church, New York, on the Twelfth Day of September, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-Two. 1793 Broad-side SUI
A Discourse Delivered in St. James’ Church, in New-London, on Tuesday the 23d of December, 1794, Before an Assembly of Free and Accepted Masons, Convened for the Purpose of Installing a Lodge in that City New London 1794
A Burial Office for Infants Who Depart this Life before they have Polluted their Baptism by Actual Sin n.p. 1795 SUI
A Discourse Delivered Before an Assembly of Free and Accepted Masons, Convened for the Purpose of Installing a Lodge in the City of Norwich, in Connecticut, on the Festival of St. John the Baptist, 1795. Norwich 1795
Samuel, By Divine Permission, Bishop of Connecticut and Rhode-Island… [charitable fund] New London 1795 SUI
Samuel, By Divine Permission, Bishop of Connecticut and Rhode-Island…[Algerian Captives] New London 1795 ST2
The Psalter or Psalms of David, Pointed as They are to be Sung or Said in Churches. With the Order for Morning and Evening Prayer Daily
Throughout the Year. [Also containing the Athanasian Creed, the Litany, Prayers for special occasions, Thanksgivings, and a Catechism] New London 1795
Discourses on Several Important Subjects. New York 1798
Bishop Seabury’s Communion Office…with an Historical Sketch and Notes (Samuel Hart) New York 1883
Letters of a Westchester Farmer.
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