Samuel Parker (bishop of Massachusetts)

For other uses, see Samuel Parker.

Samuel Parker (August 17, 1744 – December 6, 1804) was an American Episcopal Bishop. He was the second bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.

The Right Reverend Samuel Parker D.D.
Bishop of Massachusetts
Church	Episcopal Church
Diocese	Massachusetts
Elected	1804
In office	1804
Predecessor	Edward Bass
Successor	Alexander Viets Griswold
Orders
Ordination	February 27, 1774 by Richard Terrick
Consecration	September 14, 1804 by William White
Personal details
Born	(1744-08-17)August 17, 1744 Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Province of New Hampshire
Died	December 6, 1804(1804-12-06) (aged 60) Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Nationality	American
Denomination	Anglican
Parents	William Parker Elizabeth Parker
Spouse	Anne Parker
Children	15
Occupation	Episcopal bishop
Alma mater	Harvard

Education and Ordination

Parker was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the son of William Parker, a lawyer and judge during the American Revolution. He graduated from Harvard University in 1764, and taught for several years.

After being offered a job as assistant rector of Trinity Church, Boston, Parker was ordained deacon on February 24, 1774 and priest three days later on February 27, in London. He began as assistant rector at Trinity in November 1774, becoming rector in 1779. After the Revolution, he helped build churches with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

In 1803, Parker was unanimously elected second bishop of Massachusetts. He was consecrated September 14, 1804, in Trinity Church, New York, but developed gout and never served in the post. He died in Boston on December 6, 1804.

Consecrators

• William White, 1st bishop of Pennsylvania and 1st and 4th Presiding Bishop
• Thomas John Claggett, 1st bishop of Maryland
• Abraham Jarvis, 2nd bishop of Connecticut

Parker was the tenth bishop consecrated in the Episcopal Church.

Publications

• Annual Election Sermon before the Legislature of Massachusetts (1793)
• Sermon for the Benefit of the Boston Female Asylum (1803)

Family life

Parker's sons included Suffolk County district attorney Samuel Dunn Parker, acting Mayor of Boston William Parker, businessman John Rowe Parker, and educator Richard Green Parker.

Further reading

• Sprague, William Buell.: Annals of the American Pulpit: Or, Commemorative Notices of Distinguished American Clergymen of Various Denominations, from the Early Settlement of the Country to the Close of the Year Eighteen Hundred and Fifty-five Pages 296–298, (1859).
• The Episcopal Church Annual. Morehouse Publishing: New York, NY (2005).
• Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Parker, Samuel, P. E. bishop" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.