Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright (bishop)

This article is about the bishop. For other uses, seeJonathan Mayhew Wainwright.

The Right Reverend Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright I D.D., D.C.L.
5th Bishop of New York
Wainwright circa 1840-1850
Church	Episcopal Church
Diocese	New York
Elected	October 1, 1852
In office	1852–1854
Predecessor	Benjamin T. Onderdonk
Successor	Horatio Potter
Orders
Ordination	May 29, 1818 byJohn Henry Hobart
Consecration	November 10, 1852 byThomas Church Brownell
Personal details
Born	(1792-02-24)February 24, 1792 Liverpool, England
Died	September 21, 1854(1854-09-21)(aged 62) New York City,New York,United States
Buried	Trinity Church Cemetery
Nationality	English
Denomination	Anglican
Parents	Peter Wainwright Elizabeth Mayhew
Spouse	Amelia Maria Phelps ​ (m.1818)​
Children	14, includingJonathan Mayhew Wainwright II
Occupation	Episcopal bishop
Education	Harvard College
Signature

Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright I(February 24, 1792 – September 21, 1854) was aprovisional Episcopal bishopinManhattan,New York City.

Early life

Wainwright was born inLiverpool, Englandon February 24, 1792. He was the son of Peter Wainwright and Elizabeth (néeMayhew) Wainwright (1759–1829), who met on a trip to England from the United States and married in 1790.His father was a prosperous English tobacco merchant who emigrated from England toBostonand became a citizen after theAmerican Revolution.His mother was the daughter of ReverendJonathan Mayhewof Boston. His parents didn't return to Massachusetts until eleven years later, in 1802. Among his siblings was Eliza Wainwright (b. 1794), who married Dr. Walter Channing, a prominentobstetrician.His brother, Robert Dewar Wainwright, was the father ofRichard Wainwright,anAmerican Civil Warnaval officer.

Jonathan graduated fromHarvard Collegein 1812, where he was afterward a tutor. He received the degree ofD.D.fromUnion Collegein 1823, and from Harvard in 1835. The degree ofD.C.L.was conferred upon him byOxford Universityin 1852.

Career

On April 13, 1817, he was ordered deacon in the Episcopal Church inTrinity Church, Bostonand on May 29, 1818, he was ordained as a priest in Christ Church,Hartford, Connecticut,of which he later became rector.

In November 1819, he moved to New York and became assistant minister in Trinity Church. He was made rector of Grace Church in 1821, and remained in that charge until 1834, when he became rector ofTrinity Church,Boston. In 1837 he returned toTrinity Parish, New York,as assistant in charge ofSt. John's Chapel,which post he retained until he was elevated to the episcopate with the exception of six months' service in 1850 as rector-elect ofCalvary ChurchinGramercy Park.

He was for many years secretary of the house of bishops, and was instrumental in the founding ofNew York University.He was considered one of the first pulpit orators of his day. He wielded great social influence, was a ripe scholar, and was a devoted lover of music, contributing toward its improvement in the churches of his denomination. He was secretary of the board of trustees of the General Theological Seminary in 1828–34, and a trustee or officer of many other institutions and societies.

In 1844, he engaged in a controversy with his friend George Potts, which grew out of an assertion thatRufus Choatemade at a celebration of theNew Englandsociety. The orator said that the Pilgrim fathers had founded a "state without a king and a church without a bishop." At the dinner that followed, Wainwright, in responding to a sentiment, said in reply that "there is no church without a bishop." The subsequent discussion with Potts, which was carried on in nineteen letters in the New YorkCommercial Advertiser,was published as a bookNo Church Without a Bishop; or, the Controversy between the Rev. Drs. Potts and Wainwright. With a Preface by the Latter, and an Introduction and Notes by an Anti-Sectarian.

On October 1, 1852, Wainwright was elected provisional bishop of theEpiscopal Diocese of New York.

Personal life

In August 1818, Wainwright was married to Amelia Maria Phelps (1797–1885), the daughter of Timothy Phelps and Janet (née Broome) Phelps. Together, they were the parents of fourteen children:

• Elizabeth Mayhew Wainwright (1819–1822), who died in childhood.
• Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright II(1821–1863), who married Maria Page (1822–1854) in 1844. He was killed in action during theBattle of Galvestonduring the Civil War.
• Elizabeth Mayhew Wainwright (1824–1882), who married Simeon Henry Remsen in 1844 and William Holley Hudson in 1864.
• Henry Wainwright (1825–1825), who died in infancy.
• Henry Phelps Wainwright (1826–1827), who died in infancy.
• Henry Phelps Wainwright (1828–1846).
• John Howard Wainwright (1829–1871), who married MargaretLivingstonStuyvesant(1839–1928).
• Maria Trumball Wainwright (1831–1905), who married Theodore Bailey Bronson in 1851.
• Daniel Wadsworth Wainwright (1833–1863), a physician who died inNew Orleansduring the Civil War.
• Janet Phelps Wainwright (1837–1842), who died in childhood.
• Amelia Maria Wainwright (1838–1867), who married Col. Henry Cary Bankhead (1828–1894) in 1863.
• Francis Chetwood Wainwright (1839–1874), who married Frances Mary Davis.
• Edward Bibby Wainwright (1841–1841), who died in infancy.
• William Augustus Muhlenberg Wainwright (1844–1895), who married Helena Barker "Nellie" Talcott, the daughter of Sarah and Thomas Talcott.

He died at his residence at 5:00 pm on September 21, 1854, inManhattan, New York City.He was buried atTrinity Church Cemetery.

Descendants

Through his son John Howard, he was the grandfather ofJonathan Mayhew Wainwright(1864–1945), aU.S. RepresentativeandUnited States Assistant Secretary of War.Through his son Jonathan, he was the grandfather of Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright (1849–1870) and Robert Powell Page Wainwright (1852–1902).

Works

Besides the pamphlet mentioned above, he wrote:

• Four Sermons on Religious Education(New York, 1829)
• Lessons on the Church(1835)
• Order of Family Prayer(1845)
• Short Family Prayers(1850)
• The Pathways and Abiding-Places of our Lord, illustrated in the Journal of a Tour through the Land of Promise(1851)
• The Land of Bondage: being the Journal of a Tour in Egypt(1852)
• Single sermons and papers in periodicals.
• Book of Chants,adapted to services of the Episcopal church (1819)
• Music of the Church(1828)
• The Choir and Family Psalter,withWilliam A. Muhlenberg(1851)
• John Stark Ravenscroft,Sermons,edited with a memoir (2 vols., 1830)
• Life of Bishop Heber,edited biography by Heber's widow (2 vols., 1830)

He edited:

• Book of Common Prayer(1843 illustrated version)

Consecrators

• The Most Reverend Thomas C. Brownell,Presiding Bishop
• The Right Reverend George W. Doane,BishopofNew Jersey
• The Right Reverend Jackson Kemper,Provisional Bishop of Wisconsin
• William Heathcote DeLancey,I Western New York;
• William Rollinson Whittingham,IV Maryland;
• Carlton Chase,II New Hampshire;
• George Upfold;II Missionary Bishop to Indiana;
• John Williams,Coadjutor of Connecticut; and,
• Francis Fulfordof Montreal.

References

Notes;

Sources

• The Episcopal Church Annual.Morehouse Publishing: New York, NY (2005).
• Wilson, J. G.;Fiske, J.,eds. (1889)."Wainwright, Jonathan Mayhew".Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography.New York: D. Appleton.

External links

• Jonathan Mayhew WainwrightatFind a Grave
• Documents by and about Wainwrightfrom Project Canterbury
• Works by Jonathan Mayhew WainwrightatProject Gutenberg
• Works by or about Jonathan Mayhew Wainwrightat theInternet Archive
• "Wainwright, Jonathan Mayhew".The American Cyclopædia.1879.