Archives of The Diocese of Georgia

From its founding in 1823 until 1841, the Diocese of Georgia was without its own bishop. There was some oversight provided by the Bishop of South Carolina, the Rt. Rev. Robert Smith. From 1798 until his death in the fall of 1801, Bishop Smith kept in touch with the churches in Georgia by correspondence.

Connection with the larger church had already led to changes in Georgia as it kept up with changes elsewhere. For example, the Vestry of Christ Church, Savannah, at its December, 1793, meeting resolved “That the ‘Book of Common Prayer’ of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, ratified by a convention of the said Church and made of force on the 1st October, 1790, be adopted for the present by this Church…”

In 1811, the Rev. John V. Bartow, rector of Christ Church, Savannah, went to the General Convention meeting at Trinity Church in New Haven, Connecticut. He offered a certificate of his appointment to attend the Convention signed by the wardens and vestry. The Convention passed a resolution stating that the “Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of Georgia, not being organized, and not having, in Convention, acceded to the constitution of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, the Rev. Mr. Bartow cannot be admitted a member of this House, but he be allowed the privilege of an honorary seat.”

On April 26, 1815, Georgia finally received its first episcopal visit when the second Bishop of South Carolina, the Rt. Rev. Theodore Dehon, consecrated Christ Church, Savannah’s second building and confirmed a class of about fifty. The growth in each of the existing congregations created an optimism for how the Episcopal church would prosper in other towns where other Christian denominations were already thriving. In his sermon for the 7th convention meeting in Macon in 1829, the Rev. Hugh Smith, Rector of Saint Paul’s in Augusta, said, “Let us not miss the golden season of opportunity: Let us not be outdone, by so many, who, at least in our estimation, cannot boast so ancient an origin—so sublime a worship—so well ordered a polity.”

The third bishop of South Carolina, the Rt. Rev. Nathaniel Bowen, also assisted the Diocese of Georgia until the year before his death in 1838. Bishop Bowen confirmed hundreds, chaired diocesan conventions when possible, and ordained Georgia’s candidates to holy orders. The Missionary Bishop Jackson Kemper visited Georgia in 1838, to consecrate Christ Church in Macon and Trinity Church in Columbus.

Several efforts were made to solve the episcopal problem of the diocese including uniting with the Dioceses of Florida and Alabama to call one bishop for the three states. The plans all failed until the Diocese of Georgia elected its first bishop in 1840. Georgia’s bishop then took the Episcopal churches in Florida under his wing in the same way that South Carolina had cared for Georgia. The Bishop of Georgia made Episcopal visits in that state until they elected their own bishop.

Pictured above: the Rev. John V. Bartow and the Rt. Rev. Nathaniel Bowen