Phelps Family History in America
Rev. Thomas John Claggett, first Episcopal Bishop consecrated in America
The Rev. Thomas John Claggett, the author's 4th great grand uncle, was the first bishop of the newly-formed American Episcopal Church to be consecrated on American soil and the first bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. The Rev. Claggett is the author's 4th Great Grand Uncle.) He graduated from Princeton University in 1764. In 1792, at Trinity Church in New York City, he became the first Episcopal bishop of Maryland and was the first bishop of that faith consecrated in America.
Family life
 |
||
| Thomas John Claggett, first Episcopal Bishop of Maryland and the first consecrated in the United States. | ||
|
He was born October 2, 1743, the son of the Reverend Samuel Clagett of Charles Co., Maryland, and Elizabeth Gantt. He was the great-grandson of Captain Thomas Clagett who emigrated from England and settled on St. Leonard's Creek, Calvert County, Maryland, in 1671. (Capt. Claggett was a Justice and Coroner of Calvert County and an opponent of John Coode's second rebellion of 1689. Captain Clagget owned several estates: Godlington Manor (1000 acres) on the Eastern shore of Maryland; Weston (800 acres) near Upper Marlboro, Maryland; Greenland in Prince Georges County and large tracts near St. Leonard Township. Seven Thomas Clagetts inherited "Weston" in line. The last known owner was Henry Conte Bowie Clagett.) Thomas John Claggett was the first to use the double "g" in spelling his family's name.
Education
After Claggett's father died in 1756, he was placed in the care of his uncle, the Rev. Dr. John Eversfield, the rector of St. Paul's, St. George's County. Three years later he began public school and attended the Lower Marlboro Academy. In 1762, at age 17, he entered the College of New Jersey, Princeton University. On 25 September 1764, he graduated and for three years he received theological training from his maternal uncle, the Rev. Dr. John Eversfield. In recognition of his studies, in 1787 his alma mater Princeton conferred on him an M.A. degree, and in 1792 he received the degree of Doctor in Divinity from Washington College.
Ministry
In 1750, the Maryland Assembly voted funds to enlarge and repair Christ Episcopal Church of Wayside, Maryland, under the direction of its rector, The Rev. Samuel Clagett. Forty years later this name was to make ecclesiastical history when his son, Thomas John Clagett, became the first bishop of Maryland.
On 20 September 1767, he was made a deacon in the chapel of Fulham Palace, by the bishop of London, Dr. Richard Terrick, Lord Bishop of Peterborough. Less than a month later, at the same place and by the same prelate, Thomas was made a priest on 11 October 1767. He remained in England for about three more months, studying and visiting family. In the spring of 1768, he returned home, and was appointed as the Rector of All Saints' Church, Calvert County, Maryland.
Formation of American Episcopal Church
The American Revolutionary War created tremendous conflicts within the Episcopal Church in the colonies. The clergy, who had been ordained in England, had taken an oath of allegiance to the king. This conflicted with their Oath of Fidelity required by the local assembly. Some clergy returned to England, but Claggett avoided the conflict, retiring as rector and living on his estate in Prince George County for two years. Following the war, the Rev. William Smith was elected bishop of the Maryland diocese, but the Bishop of London refused to consecrate Smith. Unable to obtain consecration of their clergy from the Church of England, representatives from nine dioceses met in Philadelphia in 1789 to form an independent Episcopal church in America and ratify a constitution. The Anglican congregations in nine states adopted The Protestant Episcopal Church as their name in 1783 and was formally separated from the Church of England. The church was incorporated as "the first Anglican Province outside the British Isles."
Consecration as Bishop
In 1792 at Trinity Church in New York City, Claggett was consecrated by the American congregation as the bishop of Maryland, making him the first bishop of the Episocopal Church consecrated in America. "Being a man of excellent fitness for the office, as well as possessed of large private means, he was elected the first bishop of Maryland, and was consecrated" at the triennial convention of the Episcopal Church at Trinity Church in New York City on 17 September 1792, "Bishop Seabury joining in the consecration." Thomas J. Claggett was the fifth bishop consecrated for the Episcopal Church in the United States.
Consecrators
Claggett was consecrated by four men who had been the presiding bishops consecrated by the Bishop of London. They were:
- William White, first and fourth presiding bishop and first bishop of Pennsylvania
- Samuel Seabury, second presiding bishop and first bishop of Connecticut
- Samuel Provoost, third Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and first bishop of New York
- Bishop James Madison of Virginia also assisted with the consecration. Traditionally only three bishops are required, but Provoost objected to Seabury's consecration by Scottish non-jurors, so no consecrations took place in the United States until Madison went to England and was consecrated by the Church of England as a bishop.
United States Chaplain
At the first session of the United States Congress held in the new Capital, Washington, D.C. on 27 November 1800, Bishop Claggett was appointed the third Chaplain of the United States Senate and gave the opening prayer.
Trinity Episcopal Church
In 1810, local members of the Anglican church in the town of Upper Marlborough founded Trinity Episcopal Church so they could worship near their homes. The nearest existing Anglican churches were St. Thomas and St. Barnabas, a long carriage ride in that day away over rough and often impassible roads. On August 13, 1810, the newly formed vestry elected the Right Rev. Thomas John Claggett as the first rector of Trinity Church.
He organized the congregation in an abandoned wooden Presbyterian building built 106 years earlier in 1704. During the War of 1812, notes from the vestry minutes of May, 1814, describe British troops camping in the church and preventing the vestry from meeting. Rev. Clagget served as rector of the congregation until his death on August 3, 1816.
Other congreations
On October 16, 1811, he consecrated Christ Church, also known as Old Brick Church, in Queen Caroline Parish, Anne Arundel (now Howard) County, Maryland. On January 9, 1814, he consecrated Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia. An assistant bishop was appointed in 1814. He published a few sermons, pastoral letters, and addresses to his convention.
He was among the first to envision the need for an Episcopal Church in the nation's new capital Washington D.C., in 1793. While presiding over his Diocesan convention that year, he appointed a committee to study the idea. He had an ally in Joseph Nourse, the country's First Registrar of the Treasury. However, Nourse did not want the cathedral in downtown Washington, but on Mt. Alban overlooking the city. After years of controversy about its location, construction of the Washington National Cathedral on Mt. Alban was begun in 1897.
According to Richard Feller and Marshall Fishwic, the Right Reverend Thomas J. Claggett, who became Maryland’s first bishop in 1792, saw the need for an Episcopal church in Washington. While presiding over his diocesan convention in 1793, Bishop Claggett appointed a committee to study the idea.
Another strong advocate for a cathedral was Joseph Nourse, Washington’s First Registrar of the Treasury. Nourse did not want the cathedral in downtown Washington, but on the hill overlooking the city – Mt. Alban.
Death and burial
He died at his home near Croom in August 1816. In 1898, Bishop Claggett was re-intered at the National Cathedral. A memorial marker was erected on the grounds of his home church, St. Thomas, Croom, in 1932. A wood carving of the consecration of Bishop Clagett may be seen on the Bishop's Stall in the Washington Cathedral.
His epitaph, in Latin, was penned by his very dear friend and fellow churchman, Francis Scott Key, the author of the "Star Spangled Banner."
|
Thomas Joannes Claggett, D. D. Ordinatus Diaconus et Presbyter Et Episcopus Consecratus Decessit in place Christi |
Thomas John Claggett, D.D. Ordained Deacon of the Episopal Church And Consecrated Bishop He died in the place of Christ |
When the Civil War came, Bishop Clagget’s grandson, the Reverend John H. Chew, became rector of Saint Alban’s. Most of the congregation was made up of uniformed soldiers, and tents surrounded the church, given that many army units would stop there when passing through Washington. In 1865, when President Abraham Lincoln was killed, Saint Alban’s, like all other churches in Washington, held a memorial service.
