Benjamin Bosworth Smith (June 13, 1794 – May 31, 1884) was an American Protestant Episcopal bishop, and the Presiding Bishop of his Church beginning in 1868.


Benjamin Bosworth Smith
9th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
ChurchEpiscopal Church
In office1868–1884
PredecessorJohn Henry Hopkins
SuccessorAlfred Lee
Other post(s)Bishop of Kentucky (1832-1884)
Orders
OrdinationJune 24, 1818
by Alexander Viets Griswold
ConsecrationOctober 31, 1832
by William White
Personal details
Born(1794-06-13)June 13, 1794
DiedMay 31, 1884(1884-05-31) (aged 89)
New York City, New York, United States
BuriedFrankfort Cemetery
DenominationAnglican
ParentsStephen Smith & Ruth Bosworth
SpouseElizabeth Bosworth (m. 1818, d. 1833)
Harriet L. Staples (m. 1835)
Alma materBrown University

Early life

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Smith was born in Bristol, Rhode Island, and lost his father when he was 5 years old. Nonetheless, he graduated at Brown University in 1816.[1]

Career

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The following year he was ordained, beginning his ministry at Marblehead, Mass. He held several pastoral charges and was for a time editor of the Episcopal Recorder at Philadelphia. His last rectorship, in Lexington, Kentucky, he held until 1837, though in 1832 he had become Bishop of the diocese. While he was presiding Bishop (from 1868), a separatist movement, which became the Reformed Episcopal Church, was organized under the leadership of Bishop Smith's own assistant bishop, George David Cummins. He published Saturday Evening (1876) and Apostolic Succession (1877).

In 1840, Smith was appointed by the Governor of Kentucky to serve as the third Kentucky Superintendent of Public Instruction.[2] In the late 1860s, he helped establish schools and hire teachers to work with former slaves throughout the south.[3]

In 1874, Presiding Bishop Smith led the consecration of James Theodore Holly, the first African-American to be consecrated a bishop in the Protestant Episcopal church, and who became the missionary bishop for Haiti.

Architecture

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Smith is not to be confused with Benjamin Bosworth Smith (architect) (1863–1926), a related but different architect based in Montgomery, Alabama.

Smith is listed as the architect of several buildings, including some listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places:

Memorials/legacies

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Smith's home at 2833 Tremont Ave. in Highlands, Kentucky or Highlands, Louisville, or Louisville, Kentucky was considered for landmarking but was approved for demolition in 2017.[6] A Gothic-style small study with a peaked roof that Smith used at his Louisville home is preserved on the grounds of the St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal Church ("near Prospect" in Louisville, Kentucky?).[7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ W. Robert Insko, Kentucky Bishop (Frankfort, Kentucky: Kentucky Historical Society 1952)pp. 1-2
  2. ^ A Century of Education in Kentucky, 1838-1938. Kentucky Department of Education. 1938.
  3. ^ Simmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. GM Rewell & Company, 1887. p744-751
  4. ^ a b c d "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  5. ^ "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Church of the Advent, Episcopal". National Park Service. Retrieved February 20, 2021. With accompanying pictures
  6. ^ Sheldon S Shafer. "Highlands home being demolished after fight". Courier-Journal.
  7. ^ Martha Elson (June 7, 2016). "Bishop's study tied to threatened Highlands home".

Sources

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Episcopal Church (USA) titles
Preceded by 9th Presiding Bishop
1868–1884
Succeeded by
Preceded by
New Diocese
1st Bishop of Kentucky
1832–1884
Succeeded by