Philander Chase

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Most Reverend

Philander Chase
6th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
ChurchEpiscopal Church
In office1843–1852
PredecessorAlexander Viets Griswold
SuccessorThomas Church Brownell
Other post(s)Bishop of Illinois (1835-1852)
Orders
OrdinationNovember 10, 1799
by Samuel Provoost
ConsecrationFebruary 11, 1819
by William White
Personal details
BornDecember 14, 1775
Cornish, Province of New Hampshire, British America
DiedSeptember 20, 1852(1852-09-20) (aged 76)
Brimfield, Illinois, United States
BuriedJubilee College
ParentsDudley Chase & Alice Corbett
SpouseMary Fay (m. 1796; d. 1818)
Sophia May Ingraham (m. 1819)
Children6
Previous post(s)Bishop of Ohio (1819-1832)
SignaturePhilander Chase's signature
Sainthood
Feast daySeptember 22
Venerated inEpiscopal Church

Philander Chase (December 14, 1775 – September 20, 1852) was an

western frontier, especially in Ohio and Illinois
.

Early life and family

See also: Chase family

Born in

Congregational church, wanted one of his five sons to become a minister. As had three of his brothers (who however, had no inclinations toward ministry), Philander enrolled at Dartmouth College.[2] As a student, Chase became acquainted with the Book of Common Prayer and became a lay reader in the Episcopal Church.[3] After graduating in 1795, he worked as a lay reader in various New England towns while studying for ordination. Thus, he helped establish Trinity Church in his hometown.[4] He studied with Rev. Thomas Ellison, rector of St. Peter's Church in Albany, New York
, while supporting himself teaching at the newly organized city school.

He married Mary Fay, of Hardwick, Massachusetts. They had three sons: Dudley, George (1797–?), and Philander (1800–1824) before her death (after many years of health problems) in May, 1818. Chase remarried to Sophia May Ingraham (1783–1864) the following summer and had three children, Henry (1820–1896), Mary (1822–1894) and Philander (1824–1872).

While Philander Chase was bishop of Ohio (as discussed below), his 12-year-old nephew,

Cincinnati College and went on to become a statesman and jurist of note, including Chief Justice of the United States.[5] His brother Dudley Chase also achieved distinction (as U.S. Senator from Vermont), as did his nephew Dudley Chase Denison
(U.S. Representative from Vermont).

Ministry

On May 10, 1798, Bishop

Long Island, New York, and also ordained Robert Wetmore to the priesthood. Both were assigned missionary duties in the state's northern and western parts Chase became one of only three Episcopal clergymen above the Highlands. Wetmore found himself unsuited to the rigorous travels, and settled at Schenectady, while Chase continued evangelizing on horseback, as well as baptizing, preaching and otherwise meeting the needs of widely scattered Episcopalians and other Protestants in the more rural areas—from Troy to Lake George to Auburn and Bloomfield. In 1798, he helped to organize the first congregation of Trinity Church in Utica, New York and the following year what would become St. John's Episcopal Church, Canandaigua, as well as preached to the Mohawk in Canajoharie
(where a church had been established by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel).

In 1799, the Rev. Chase accepted a position to serve congregations in

Samuel Seabury had founded as a mission more than three decades earlier (but whose Loyalist rector had left during the American Revolution).[6]

In 1805 the Rev. Chase accepted a challenge to establish the first Episcopal congregation in Louisiana, becoming the founding

Christ Church Cathedral, New Orleans. He and Mary had moved south hoping to cure her tuberculosis. They left their children with relatives in New England. Despite the successful parish organization and profitability of his school, they missed their children. With a bank loan, Chase had purchased a 19-year-old slave named Jack for $500 to become their house servant.[7] After three months, Jack escaped, boarding a steamer bound for Liverpool, "a hard blow and humiliating as well" for Chase.[8] In 1819, Jack returned to New Orleans and was captured; Chase, by then long gone from Louisiana, emancipated him rather than have him sold.[8]

When Mary's health seemed to improve, and wanting to oversee the further education of their sons George and Philander (accepted at the Cheshire Academy), the Rev. Chase accepted a position as rector of Christ Church, Hartford, Connecticut in 1811, where he would serve six years (his autobiography called them the "Sunshine Years").[9]

However, Chase continued to feel a call to evangelize and remained deeply interested in the religious condition and prospects of the westward pioneers. He also disagreed on educational and other matters with Bishop Provoost's successor, the Rt. Rev.

Cincinnati in May, and helping to form what later became Christ Church Cathedral. Chase bought a farm in the relatively new town of Worthington (founded 1803), agreed to serve five parishes nearby, and became principal of Worthington Academy. He then called his family to join him in Cleveland. The Rev. Chase chaired the first Episcopal convention in Ohio, which began on January 5, 1818. In May his wife died. In June, Ohio clergy (six) and laymen met again in Worthington and elected him as their bishop (an unfunded position).[11]

Episcopacy

Chase traveled east for ordination that winter, but was initially forced to defend his character before the Standing Committee would give its assent. Elderly Presiding Bishop

18th
bishop consecrated in The Episcopal Church.

Bishop Chase returned on horseback to his diocese, conducting a service at Zanesville on the National Road on February 28 and reaching his home in early March. Between June 1820 and June 1821, he preached 200 times, baptised fifty people, and confirmed another 175 while traveling 1,279 miles on horseback.[13] The following year, he accepted the presidency of Cincinnati Academy, hoping to ease his fiscal crunch. Chase continued to build up the church in that state, lobbying for a seminary in his state (contrary to Bishop Hobart's belief that the General Theological Seminary in New York sufficed) and requesting missionaries from coastal states (The Rev. Ethan Allen was among those answering the call).[9]

In October 1823, Chase even sailed to England (armed only with a letter of introduction from

Thomas Burgess,[14] who was Bishop of St Davids and the founder of St David's College. The largest donation came from Jane, Dowager Countess of Rosse,[15] while a collection of books was donated by Bishop Thomas Burgess. By the following July, they had raised nearly $30,000, and Chase started home. In November 1824 the Ohio convention authorized the seminary and the purchase of 8,000 acres in Knox County. In December, 1824 the Ohio Legislature chartered Kenyon College and Bexley Hall
seminary (named after major donors Lord Kenyon and Baron Bexley). The foundation was somewhat bittersweet, for Philander Chase Jr., who had become an Episcopal priest like his father and accepted a position in South Carolina, died.

Though Chase had initially donated his Worthington farm for the school, realizing it needed more land, he purchased 8000 acres in Knox County northeast of Worthington, naming the location Gambier after another major donor, Lord Gambier. Chase hoped to establish a self-sufficient community free of urban vices (such as drinking and dancing), which would help students focus on their studies. The new institution included a grammar school as well as a college, post office, grist and sawmill, farm and printing press. His wife Sophia not only cooked for the students, did their laundry and nursed them, but kept the school running during her husband's many fundraising trips. However, his management style proved controversial with the trustees (among others). Some did not believe a bishop should hold so many positions, so the Ohio Convention of 1831 asked him to relinquish some control. Instead, on September 9, 1831, Chase resigned his bishopric, as well as positions at the school and college.[16] He was succeeded as Bishop and college president by Charles McIlvaine.[17]

Chase then moved his family about twenty miles away, to a new farm he had purchased near

Gilead, Michigan
and began evangelizing again.

Meanwhile, in 1835, Episcopalians who had moved further west had decided that they needed a separate diocese, and established the Diocese of Illinois. Although Chase did not participate in that convention, he accepted their call to be their bishop (the first Episcopal bishop of Illinois), and soon moved to near Peoria, Illinois.

However, Chase still dreamed of establishing a self-sufficient rural college, and traveled to England first to raise funds for what became Jubilee College in Brimfield, Illinois. The cornerstone was laid in 1839.[18] Fundraising proved more difficult this time, so Chase undertook another tour, this time in the southern states while his cousin Samuel handled operations, his sons Henry, Philander and Dudley handled the farm and sheep, and his daughter Mary ran a small girls' boarding school. The chapel was finished in 1840–1. However, fire destroyed the saw and grist mill in 1849.[18]

Meanwhile, Chase grew in seniority. In 1843, he became the sixth

Presiding Bishop
of the national church.

Death and legacy

Jubilee College
in Peoria County, Illinois

Chase spent the final years of his life founding Jubilee College and the surrounding frontier community near present-day Peoria, Illinois. On September 14, 1852, while riding with his wife in a carriage near their home, it overturned. Chase was thrown and suffered a concussion. He told those carrying him home, "You may now order my coffin, --I am glad of it!"[19][1][3] He died in his sleep on the 20th, and was buried at Jubilee's cemetery.

The college faced financial difficulties after his death and closed within a decade. After service as a chaplain in the Civil War, Samuel Chase attempted to revive the college, but failed and sold off some land in 1871. However, the core of the college (other than the cemetery) was donated to State of Illinois, which restored some college buildings in the 1970s (after which it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places). Although the college buildings have generally remained closed since 2008 due to state budget cuts, the surrounding park remains open, including picnic and camping areas. His papers are held by Kenyon College.

The

liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) remembers Bishop Chase annually on September 22.[20]

Writings

See also

Notes

  1. ^
    JSTOR 40188260
    .
  2. ^ John N. Norton, Life of Bishop Chase pp. 13-14 (New York: General Protestant Episcopal Sunday School Union, 1857)
  3. ^
    JSTOR 42969616
    .
  4. ^ Trinity Church
  5. The American Cyclopædia
    .
  6. ^ "Christ Episcopal Church - History". Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  7. OCLC 1049070754
    .
  8. ^
    OCLC 215066265
    .
  9. ^
    The American Cyclopædia
    .
  10. S2CID 149943936
    .
  11. ^ Norton pp. 38, 43
  12. ^ Norton pp. 38-39
  13. ^ Norton p. 44
  14. ^ Kenyon College – Alumni Digest
  15. ^ Greenslade Jr., Thomas B. "The Earl of Rosse's Leviathan Telescope". Kenyon College. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013.
  16. ^ "A Biography of Philander Chase".
  17. ^ The Last Page Archived 2006-09-03 at the Wayback Machine – Kenyon alumni bulletin has a succession of early college presidents. Retrieved on November 21, 2006
  18. ^
    JSTOR 42969195
    .
  19. ^ Norton p. 97
  20. ISBN 978-1-64065-235-4
    .
  21. ^ "Bishop Chase's Reminiscences: An autobiography. 2d ed.; comprising a history of the principal events in the author's life to A.D. 1847". Boston J.B. Dow. 1848.

References

Further reading

  • Laura Chase Smith, The Life of Philander Chase (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1903)

External links

Episcopal Church (USA) titles
Preceded by
New Diocese
 1st Bishop of Ohio
1819 – 1832 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
New Diocese
 1st Bishop of Illinois
1835 – September 20, 1852 		Succeeded by
Henry J. Whitehouse
Preceded by
6th Presiding Bishop

February 15, 1843 – September 20, 1852 		Succeeded by
Academic offices
Preceded by President of
Cincinnati College

1822 – 1823 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
New
 President of Kenyon College
(and Bexley Hall)
1824 – 1831 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
New
 President of Jubilee College
1839 – 1852 		Succeeded by
Closed
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Philander_Chase&oldid=1229167860"