St. Mark's Episcopal Church 175 St Marks Church Road | |
---|---|
Denomination | Episcopal |
History | |
Dedication | St. Mark |
St. Mark's Episcopal Church is a historic Episcopal church located at 175 St. Marks Church Road in Perryville, Cecil County, Maryland, and the parish church for Susquehanna Parish in the Diocese of Maryland. There are several 19th century burials in its cemetery including that of Maryland congressman George Gale
“Aunt” Harriet Anderson had lived with her cousin Mrs. Samuel Chamberlaine in Oxford at “Bonfield” until she was able to purchase an estate near her Gale cousins, children of George Gale near Perryville. She purchased George Gale's former home of “Brookland”. [1] When she died in 1832, she was buried in the family cemetery on that property. She left the house and land to her maiden cousins. [2] Leah, Anna Maria, and Sally Hollyday Gale donated the Gale family burial plot to the Episcopal Church to erect a chapel. Bishop William Rollinson Whittingham laid the cornerstone on September 3, 1844. Construction was completed in 1845. [3] It was established as a Chapel of Ease for St. Mary Anne's Episcopal Church in North East.
The Rev. Richard Whittingham began his career as a minister at St. Mark's Chapel in Aiken, Cecil County, Maryland. He was the younger brother of the Bishop of Maryland, William Rollinson Whittingham and the son of Richard Whittingham and Mary Ann Rollinson Whittingham of New York City [1]
In 1845, Richard Whittingham Jr. was granted a license as a lay reader in Maryland by his brother the Bishop while still a candidate for orders in New York. [4] It was in this capacity that he came to St. Mark's. He served as an assistant minister for St. Mary Anne's in North East by presiding over service at St. Mark's Chapel until his resignation in 1847 [5] when he accepted a position in New York. He is listed as the Deacon in Sag Harbor in a document printed for the New York Convention in that year. [6] The Rt. Rev. Dr. Whittingham, Bishop of Maryland admitted Rev. Richard Whittingham Jr into the Holy Order of Priests on December 3 of 1848 at All Saints' Church in New York City. The Bishop Whittingham was filling in for the Rt. Rev. Dr. Doane, Bishop of New Jersey, who was very ill and unable to perform the duties. [7] He served as a minister for many years before finally returning to Cecil County. In 1892, Rev. Richard Whittingham is listed as a resident of Aiken, Maryland in the "Post Office List of the Clergy". [8]
He died c. 1908. On his headstone it reads “'Died St. Mathew's Day, 84 years old”. He was married to Sarah “Sally” Rebecca Chamberlaine in 1850 and they had five children. [9] Both are buried in St. Mark's cemetery. According to her headstone, she died on All Saints' Day and was the daughter of Henry Chamberlaine who was grandson to George Gale. Their children Anna Louisa, Helen Winifred, and Richard Alpert remained residents of the Aiken/Perryville area until their deaths and burial at St. Mark's.
According to documents on file with the Maryland Historical Trust, [10] the original chapel was a single room with two glass windows. There was a door that faced south at one end. In 1898, St.Mark's could seat 100 and had an active Ladies Guild. [11] Through the efforts of Rev. Whittingham and church members a pipe organ was installed in the chapel. [11] In this same year a chancel rail was donated by a lady of the church in memory of her husband. [11] The Ladies Guild organized the building of the Parish House on land donated for that purpose. [11] The Maryland Historical Trust documents state that the stained glass windows were added c. 1900. It also states that the present appearance was created by a renovation in 1957 that removed most of the original building, replacing it with more modern materials.
The Chapel became a Church when the Susquehanna Parish was created prior to 1911. [12] Most of the original furnishings were replaced when the church was renovated and enlarged in 1957.
The Episcopal Diocese of Washington is a diocese of the Episcopal Church covering Washington, D.C. and nearby counties of Maryland in the United States. With a membership of over 38,000, the diocese is led by the Bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde. It is home to Washington National Cathedral, which is the seat of both the diocesan bishop and the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.
William Meade was an American Episcopal bishop, the third Bishop of Virginia.
Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, located at 3737 Seminary Road in Alexandria, Virginia is the largest and second oldest accredited Episcopal seminary in the United States.
The Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina (EDUSC) is a diocese in the Episcopal Church.
The Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem covers fourteen counties in Pennsylvania to the north and west of Philadelphia. The current bishop, the Rt. Rev. Kevin D. Nichols, was elected as Bishop on April 28, 2018, and consecrated on September 15, 2018. The cathedral is the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The pro-Cathedral is St. Stephen's, Wilkes-Barre. Between the 1970s and the 2020s, the diocese has been a major epicenter for clerical sexual abuse claims regarding priests, youth leaders, and organists, with multiple thousands of criminal charges against clergy and lay employees.
The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland forms part of Province 3 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Having been divided twice, it no longer includes all of Maryland and now consists of the central, northern, and western Maryland counties of Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard, and Washington, as well as the independent city of Baltimore.
The Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (TEC). It encompasses all 55 counties of West Virginia. The diocese has 66 congregations, including 38 parishes, 26 missions, and 2 other churches. The diocese is headquartered in Charleston and led by the Rt. Rev. W. Michie Klusmeyer who was consecrated as its bishop diocesan in 2001.
Thomas John Claggett was the first bishop of the newly formed American Episcopal Church, U.S.A. to be consecrated on American soil and the first bishop of the recently established (1780) Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.
John Johns was the fourth Episcopal bishop of Virginia. He led his diocese into secession and during the American Civil War and later tried to heal it through the Reconstruction Era. Johns also served as President of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg before that war, and led and taught at the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria after the war.
John Prentiss Kewley Henshaw was the fourth Bishop of Rhode Island in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and the first to hold that position alone.
Frederick Focke Reese was the fourth Bishop of Georgia. Reese was the 238th bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA).
Richard Channing Moore was the second bishop of the Diocese of Virginia (1814–1841).
The parish of Trinity Church, Elmira, New York was founded in 1833. Trinity Church is a parish of the Chemung District of the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York, centered in Syracuse, New York. The present structure of Trinity Church is located at 304 North Main Street, Elmira, New York. Designed by architect Henry Dudley, the church was built from 1855 through 1858. It is significant for its Gothic Revival architecture. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
William Rollinson Whittingham was the fourth Episcopal Bishop of Maryland.
Alfred Allen Paul Curtis was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington in Delaware (1886–1896) and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland (1897–1908). Curtis had previously served as an Episcopal priest before converting to Catholicism.
William Pinkney was fifth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.
Mount Calvary Church is a Roman Catholic parish located in the Seton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. The church was founded in 1842 as a mission congregation within the Episcopal Church and is now a community within the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter of the Catholic Church.
Joseph Richey was an Anglo-Irish priest of Episcopal Church in the United States. He was known for his work among the African-American community of Baltimore and for his high church Anglicanism. His feast day, September 23, is included in the Lesser Feasts and Fasts of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.
Ethan Allen was an Episcopal priest and author, the first historian of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.
Rebekah Dulaney Peterkin was an American philanthropist who founded the first circle of the International Order of the King's Daughters and Sons in Virginia, and then the Sheltering Arms Hospital in Richmond.