Thomas John Claggett

Infobox Person
name = Thomas John Claggett


caption = Rev. Thomas John Claggett, first Episcopal Bishop of Maryland and the first Bishop consecrated in America.
birth_date = 2 Oct 1743
birth_place = White's Landing, Nottingham, Maryland
death_date = 2 August 1816
death_place = Croom, Upper Marlboro, Maryland
other_names =
known_for = First Episcopal Bishop consecrated on American soil
occupation = Bishop
nationality =

Thomas John Claggett (White's Landing, Nottingham, Maryland 2 Oct 1743 – Croom, Upper Marlboro, Maryland 2 August 1816) was the first bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America to be consecrated on American soil and the first bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.

Thomas Claggett, born October 2, 1743, was the son of the Reverend Samuel Clagett of Charles Co., Maryland, and Elizabeth Gantt. He was descended from Thomas Clagett who emigrated from England and settled on St. Leonard's Creek, Calvert County, Maryland, in 1671.Utley, George Burwell. " [http://books.google.com/books?id=qDo3AAAAMAAJ The Life and Times of Thomas John Claggett: First Bishop of Maryland and the First Bishop Consecrated in America.] " R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co., 1913. Original from the New York Public Library] After Claggett's father died in 1756, he was placed in the care of his uncle, the Rev. Dr. John Eversfield, the rector of St. Paul's, St. George's County. Three years later he began public school and attended the Lower Marlboro Academy.

In 1762, at age 17, he entered the College of New Jersey, Princeton University. On 25 September 1764, he graduated and for three years he received theological training from his maternal uncle, the Rev. Dr. John Eversfield. [cite book | title=The Episcopate in America: Sketches, Biographical and Bibliographical, of the Bishops of the American Church, with a Preliminary Essay on the Historic Episcopate and Documentary Annals of the Introduction of the Anglican Line of Succession Into America| author= William Stevens Perry| publisher=Published by The Christian Literature Co.,| date= 1895 Original from Harvard University.]

On 20 September 1767, he was made a deacon in the chapel of Fulham Palace, by the bishop of London, Dr. Richard Terrick, Lord Bishop of Peterorough. Less than a month later, at the same place and by the same prelate, he was priested on 11 October 1767. He remained in England for about three more months, studying and visiting family. In the spring of 1768, he returne home, andd was appointed as the Rector of All Saints Church, Calvert County, Maryland. [Epitaph, Thomas John Claggett] In recognition of his studies, in 1787 his alma mater Princeton conferred on him an M.A. degree, and in 1792 he received the degree of doctor in divinity from Washington College.

He continued to serve at All Saints Church until the beginning of the American Revolution, when he retired to his own estate in Prince George County for two years. In 1779 he began services in St. Paul's Parish, and the next year was chosen Rector. "Being a man of excellent fitness for the office, as well as possessed of large private means, he was elected the first bishop of Maryland, and was consecrated" at the triennial convention of the Episcopal Church at Trinity Church in New York City on 17 September, 1792, "Bishop Seabury joining in the consecration."cite book|title=Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography 6 Volumes (hardcover) |author=Wilson, James Grant and John Fiske |date=1901|publisher=D. Appleton and Company|location=New York] Thomas J. Claggett was the fifth bishop consecrated for the Episcopal Church.

At the first session of the United States Congress held in the new Capital, Washington, D.C. on 27 November 1800, Bishop Claggett was appointed the third Chaplain of the United States Senate and gave the opening prayer. In 1808 he became Rector of Trinity Church, Upper Marlboro, Maryland, and held that position for the rest of his life. In 1810, he founded Trinity Episcopal Church in Upper Marlboro. On January 9, 1814, he consecrated Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia.cite web| url=http://www.historicchristchurch.org/VisitUs/VisitorsHistory.aspx | title=A Brief History of Christ Church|accessdate=2009-09-16] An assistant bishop was appointed in 1814. He published a few sermons, pastoral letters, and addresses to his convention.

Thomas John Claggett was the first to use the double "g" in spelling his family's name. He saw the need for an Episcopal Church in Washington D.C., and while presiding over his Diocesan convention in 1793, appointed a committee to study the idea. He had an ally in Joseph Nourse, the country's First Registrar of the Treasury. Nourse did not want the cathedral in downtown Washington, but on Mt. Alban overlooking the city.

Claggett died August 4, 1816 at Croom; his remains were moved in 1898 to Washington National Cathedral, where a wood carving of his consecration was added to the bishop's stall. There is a marker at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Croom. [ [http://www.pghistory.org/PG/PG300/claggett.html Prince George's County: Over 300 years of History] ] Many of his papers are housed at the Diocese of Maryland's archives. [ [http://www.loc.gov/rr/main/religion/mddioces.html Library of Congress Religion Collections in Libraries and Archives: A Guide to Resources in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia] ]

The unincorporated area of Prince George's County known as 'Croom' was part of Thomas John Claggett's estate. "Croom, the name of Claggett's estate, comes from the Old English by way of Latin and means 'crooked.' Locals are quick to note that the name refers to the meandering, deep-cut roads, some of them built during colonial times, and not to their ethics." [cite web| url=http://johncroom.com/croopa15.htm|title=Croom Family Genealogy|accessdate=2009-09-16 Cites an article in the Washington Post, dated November 5, 1988. "Croom Fights to Stay a Country Haven"]

Claggett's epitaph, which gives the dates of his ordinations, was penned by his friend and fellow churchman, Francis Scott Key, the author of the "Star Spangled Banner".

Epitaph

Maryland Episcopus Primus
Natus Sexto Nonis Octobris
Anno Salutis
1743
Ordinatus Diaconus et Presbyter
Londini
1767
Et Episcopus Consecratus
1792
Decessit in place Christi
Quarto Nonis Agusti
1816
Fidelitate et Mansuetudine
Ecclesiam Rexit
Moribusque
Ornavit
Uxori, Liberis, Sociisque
memoriam Clarissimam
Et Patraiae et Ecclesiae
nomen Honoratum Dedit

Consecrators

* Samuel Provoost, third presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and first bishop of New York
* Samuel Seabury, second presiding bishop and first bishop of Connecticut
* William White, first and fourth presiding bishop and first bishop of Pennsylvania

ee also

* Succession of Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States
* Utley, George B [urwell] . (1876-1946). " [http://books.google.com/books?id=pQMFAAAAYAAJ The Life and Times of Thomas John Claggett, First Bishop of Maryland and the First Bishop Consecrated in America ] " (Chicago: R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co., 1913)

External links

* [http://www.ang-md.org/ Episcopal Diocese of Maryland]

References