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Henry Onderdonk

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The Right Reverend

Henry Ustick Onderdonk

D.D.
Bishop of Pennsylvania
ChurchEpiscopal Church
DiocesePennsylvania
ElectedJuly 17, 1836
In office1836-1844
PredecessorWilliam White
SuccessorAlonzo Potter
Previous post(s)Assistant Bishop of Pennsylvania (1827-1836)
Orders
OrdinationApril 11, 1816
by John Henry Hobart
ConsecrationOctober 25, 1827
by William White
Personal details
Born(1789-03-16)March 16, 1789
New York City, New York, United States
DiedDecember 6, 1858(1858-12-06) (aged 69)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
BuriedChurch of St. James the Less
NationalityAmerican
DenominationAnglican
ParentsJohn Onderdonk & Deborah Ustick
SpouseElizabeth Carter
Children8

Henry Ustick Onderdonk (March 16, 1789 – December 6, 1858) was the second Episcopal bishop of Pennsylvania.

Early life

Onderdonk was born in New York City.[1] He studied at Columbia University, receiving his degree in 1805, and then traveled to Britain for further education, receiving his medical degree from the University of Edinburgh.[1] On returning to the United States, Onderdonk practiced medicine in New York before being ordained to the deaconate and priesthood by Bishop John Henry Hobart.[1] In 1816, he went to western New York as a missionary and then returned east to become rector of St. Ann's Church in Brooklyn, remaining there for seven years.[1]

Bishop of Pennsylvania

Onderdonk was elected assistant Bishop of Pennsylvania in 1827, serving initially as assistant to Bishop William White.[2] He was the 21st bishop of the ECUSA, and was consecrated by bishops William White, Alexander Viets Griswold, and James Kemp. However, bishop Kemp died of injuries received in a stage coach accident while returning from the consecration, so Onderdonk substituted in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland until a successor was elected.[3]

On Bishop White's death in 1836, Onderdonk succeeded him as bishop.[2] Onderdonk was a strong advocate of the pre-Tractarian High Church position, in company with his brother Benjamin Treadwell Onderdonk, who was also a bishop. When Rev. Alexander Crummell petitioned to be allowed to move to Pennsylvania to establish another church (besides the peripatetic St. Thomas congregation) to serve Philadelphia's African-American community, Bishop Onderdonk reportedly replied, "I will receive you into this diocese on one condition: No negro priest can sit in my church convention and no negro church must ask for representation there." Crummell reportedly paused for a moment before declining.[4][full citation needed]

In 1844, Onderdonk was suspended from the exercise of his episcopal office after rumors of alcoholism.[2] The suspension was lifted in 1856, two years before his death.[2]

He is buried in the churchyard of Church of St. James the Less in Philadelphia.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Batterson, 94
  2. ^ a b c d Batterson, 95
  3. ^ George Freeman Bragg, The First Negro Priest on Southern Soil (Baltimore: Church Advocate Press, 1909) p. 13, available at google books
  4. ^ Du Bois, W.E.B The Souls of Black Folk, p. 139.

References

  • Batterson, Hermon Griswold (1878). A Sketch-book of the American Episcopate. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippencott & Co. Retrieved 2009-07-30.
  • The Episcopate in America, by William Stevens Perry
Episcopal Church (USA) titles
Preceded by 2nd Bishop of Pennsylvania
coadjutor 1827-1836
1836-1844 		Succeeded by
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