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The Colonial Church
| 1565 |
In July, the first Anglican services
in America were conducted at Fort Caroline, St. John's River, Florida. |
| 1587 |
Baptism of Virginia Dare at Roanoke Island.
The first English language baptism in America |
| 1638 |
William
Laud,
Archbishop of Canterbury (and a High Churchman), plans to send a bishop
to New England. This was never done. In 1661, Virginia requested a
bishop. Again, this was not done. Although Alexander Moray was
nominated as Bishop of Virginia in 1672, he was never confirmed. |
| 1697 |
Founding of Trinity Church, New York
City, opening of College of William and Mary |
| 1702 |
Samuel Thomas arrives in Charleston,
SC as a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts (SPG). In 1706, the Church of England was
legally established in the colony of South Carolina. |
| 1722 |
The "defection" of the Yale
Congregationalists to the Church of England. |
| 1732 |
Founding of the Colony of Georgia. In
1738, George Whitefield comes to
Savannah as an SPG missionary. |
| 1735 |
Founding of the town of Augusta. |
The Church of England was strong in many of
the colonies. It was
established in the 5 southern colonies (Virginia, North and South
Carolina, Maryland, and Georgia). Other religions were tolerated. In
Virginia the governor installed a church's rector, since there was no
bishop. The Congregationalists, descendants of the Puritans, were the
established church in New England.
| 1749 |
Lay Readers conduct services in Fort
Augusta for the soldiers stationed at the fort. The original church, "a
handsome and convenient church", a plan of which has been preserved, is
erected adjoining to the fort. At its dedication, the church was named
for London's historic St. Paul's Cathedral. |
| 1750 |
The "Principal inhabitants" hold a
meeting
and petition the Trustees of Georgia to provide a clergyman for the
Church in Augusta. |
| 1751 |
Construction of a Rectory is started.
Jonathan Copp, ordained in Dcember, 1750 by Thomas Sherlock, the Bishop
of London, is assigned by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
to Augusta in the Province of Georgia. He brings a baptismal font from
England as a gift from the SPG. Copp, a graduate of Yale, is a native
of New London, Connecticut, coming from a family of Presbyterians, who
disapprove of Jonathan's Anglican orders. There were 100 in the
congregation, and eight communicants. |
Things didn't go well. On arrival, he found
no parsonage, and an uncultivated glebe land. He lived in poverty. Copp
wrote, "We live in Augusta in fear of our lives. The merciless savages
whose tender mercies are cruelty, have threatened us of late; they have
in cold blood murdered and scalped sundry of the English, so that the
whole space of my continuance here we have been under continued
apprehensions of being murdered." He also wrote that he was "separated
from any brother clergyman by one hundred and thirty miles of
wilderness...with but little to cheer and much to discourage, with
small emolument and arduous labor."
| 1756 |
Copp resigns the Augusta charge to
accept a call to Saint John's Parish in South Carolina. |
| 1758 |
The Church of England is established
in
Georgia, and the Colony is divided into eight Parishes for
administrative purposes. On March 17, the Parish of Saint Paul is
created in Augusta and the surrounding countryside. |
| 1761 |
The Rev. William Duncanson is
rejected as a clergyman in both Savannah and Augusta for misconduct.
"As for my part, I know nothing I am guilty of except its I love to
drink somewhat after night." He was also prone to swearing and brawling. |
| 1762 |
The original church in Augusta had
been
used by refugees from the French and Indian War, and suffered such
damage that a replacement building was needed. A plan of the new church
was considered by the Vestry and Churchwardens. |
| 1764 |
Mr. Teale arrives in Augusta and
officiates
at the church for four months. He was accused of violent conduct and
the leadership of the church questioned his credentials. |
| 1765 |
Samuel Frink (Trink; Prink) arrives
in Augusta (either in 1764 or 1765) to become Rector of the church. He
finds that the new church has been erected. He moves to Savannah in
1766 (or 1767) and officiates at Christ Church there. |
| 1767 |
Edward Ellington (According to
Armentrout:
a patriot in the Revolutionary War) becomes the Rector of Saint Paul's
until removing to Savannah in 1770, where he remains until his death
after the Revolution. At the time he left Saint Paul's, there were 40
communicants, he had baptized 428 persons, and had married 62 couples.
His salary was 15 pounds a year. |
| 1771 |
James Seymour (Armentrout: a loyalist
in the Revolutionary War) becomes Rector. |
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