Christopher Edwards Gadsden

Christopher Edwards Gadsden (November 25, 1785 – June 24, 1852) was the fourth Episcopal Bishop of South Carolina.

The Right Reverend

Christopher Edwards Gadsden

D.D.
Bishop of South Carolina
Portrait of Rev. Christopher Edwards Gadsden by Charles Fraser (1819)
ChurchEpiscopal Church
DioceseSouth Carolina
ElectedJanuary 1840
In office1840–1852
PredecessorNathaniel Bowen
SuccessorThomas F. Davis
Orders
OrdinationApril 14, 1810
by James Madison
ConsecrationJune 21, 1840
by Alexander Viets Griswold
Personal details
Born(1785-11-17)November 17, 1785
Charleston, South Carolina, United States
DiedJune 24, 1852(1852-06-24) (aged 66)
Charleston, South Carolina, United States
BuriedSt. Philip's Episcopal Church (Charleston, South Carolina)
NationalityAmerican
DenominationAnglican
ParentsPhilip Gadsden & Catherine Edwards
SpouseEliza Allston Bowman (m. 1816; d. 1826)
Jane Dewes (m. 1830)
Children8

Early life

Gadsden was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1785, the son of Phillip Gadsden and his wife, Catherine Edwards.[1] He was a grandson of Christopher Gadsden, the South Carolina Revolutionary leader.[1] As a youth, he attended both the Episcopal Church of his father and his mother's Congregational Church.[1]

Beginning in his junior year, Gadsden attended Yale University, graduating in 1804.[2] He was ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church in 1807 by Bishop Moore, and in 1810 was ordained priest by Bishop Madison.[2]

Career

The Rt. Rev. Christopher Edwards Gadsden

Soon thereafter, he became rector of St. John's Church in Berkeley County, South Carolina.[3] In 1814, Gadsden became rector of St. Philip's Church in Charleston, the oldest congregation in the diocese.[2] He received a doctorate of divinity the following year from South Carolina College.[2]

In 1840, after the death of Bishop Bowen, a dispute arose in the diocese over who would succeed him. Gadsden was elected, and was consecrated bishop in Trinity Church in Boston.[4] Gadsden was the 35th bishop in the ECUSA, and was consecrated by Alexander Viets Griswold, George Washington Doane, and Samuel Allen McCoskry. Gadsden was active in expanding the membership of the Episcopal Church in South Carolina, usually visiting each congregation once a year. In 1852, at the diocese convention, he announced that ill health would prevent him from continuing his ministry, and he died shortly thereafter, in June of that year.[4]

Personal life

He married Eliza Bowman in 1816.[5] She died in 1826, and Gadsden remarried in 1830 to Jane Dewees, the youngest daughter of William Dewees.[5] He had no children by his first marriage, but had eight with his second wife.[5]

Notes

  1. Sprague, 510
  2. Sprague, 511
  3. Dexter, 656
  4. Sprague, 512
  5. Sprague, 513

References

  • Dexter, Franklin Bowditch (1911). Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of the College History: With Annals of the College History. H. Holt and Company.
  • Sprague, William B. (2006). Annals of the American Pulpit Or Commemorative Notices of Distinguished American Clergymen of Various Denominations (Vol. 5: Episcopalian, Part Two). Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1-4286-4505-5.
Episcopal Church (USA) titles
Preceded by
Nathaniel Bowen
4th Bishop of South Carolina
June 21, 1840 June 24, 1852
Succeeded by
Thomas F. Davis
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