295:. After three years, he was asked to become a leader of the community, but Ann died on August 5, 1815. About a year later, Ravenscroft decided to become a minister, but harbored doubts as to whether every Christian denomination (including the Republican Methodists) were valid and authorized by scriptures, and especially their fitness to perform sacraments. His great grandfather Capt. Samuel Ravenscroft had emigrated to Boston in 1679 and helped found the first Anglican Church in that city. His son (this Ravenscroft's father) Thomas had moved to James City County, and then Prince George County, Virginia where he represented his neighbors in the House of Burgesses as well as acquired land to the south along the
799:
383:(which adjoined both Lunenberg and Mecklenburg counties)(Charles Pettigrew had been elected its bishop in 1794 but had never been consecrated due to the cancellations of the General Conventions of 1795 and 1798 due to yellow fever and his subsequent infirmities making travel difficult). Although the annual salary offered was just $ 750, the offer also included the rectorship of
481:, but died at a friend's house in Raleigh en route. He was buried in the chancel of his former church in Raleigh, which was rebuilt several years later. By the time he died, the diocese (which had 3 clergy and 200 laity when organized in 1817 and 7 clergy and 480 communicants when Ravenscroft took office in 1823) had 11 clergymen and 650 lay members.
414:, but with evangelical spirit, Ravenscroft was known for his booming voice and strident promotion of the Episcopal Church, including his own story of knowing sin and being saved by God's grace. He attended several General Conventions, as well as every diocesan convention. His missionary journeys beginning in 1818 took him over the
46:
311:
was disestablished after the
Revolutionary War in both Virginia and North Carolina, and that denomination almost became extinct in the south. Rev. James Craig had retired or left the Meherrin River/Lunenburg County by 1795 and evangelical denominations predominated—Presbyterians led by the Caldwells,
492:
and named after
Ravenscroft. After the American Civil War, the Ravenscroft Institute (which by then had a high school for boys and a school for ministry) was reorganized by bishop Atkinson to concentrate on theological training and competed to become a seminary of the Episcopal Church, but lost the
371:
Meanwhile, Moore, who was also
Monumental Church's rector as well as supervised the Episcopal churches in both Virginia and North Carolina, asked Ravenscroft to become his assistant. Ravenscroft probably needed the additional income, for his plantation (which he had increased from 610 acres to over
279:
Returning again to
Virginia, Ravenscroft married well, to Ann Spottswood Burwell, in 1792, and gave up his passions for gambling and horse racing. His wife's father (Col. Lewis Burwell) helped finance construction of their estate near his using locally noteworthy craftsmen Jacob Shelor and John
727:
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
445:
of North
Carolina which caused much controversy because he asserted that the Bible could not be properly studied without a qualified teacher. Ravenscroft then engaged in a theological duel of sorts over the content of his sermon with
276:. However, the wealthy young man also had extracurricular activities which, with his hot temper, earned him the nickname "Mad Jack". Eventually, he returned to Scotland to finish settling his father's estate.
452:
The
Doctrines of the Church Vindicated from the Misrepresentations of Dr. John Rice, and the Integrity of Revealed Religion Defended against the "No Comment Principle" of Promiscuous Bible Societies.
441:
as Moore's assistant in
Virginia in 1829 on the grounds that Meade compromised too much with other Protestant denominations. In December 1824, Ravenscroft gave a sermon to the annual meeting of the
404:
264:
Upon his father's death in 1788, Ravenscroft returned to
Virginia to manage the family lands, as well as pursue their Loyalist indemnification claims. At age 27, he enrolled at the
312:
Baptists founding the multi-ethnic
Meherrin Baptist Church as well as the Cedar Creek Baptist Church, and Methodists visiting the area as part of their Brunswick Circuit included
599:
427:
261:. Because their Loyalist sympathies made the political situation unstable, when John was an infant his family moved to Scotland, where he received his earliest education.
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437:
Ravenscroft mentored several priests who later became pioneering southern bishops, including Green and Otey, although he also unsuccessfully opposed the consecration of
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theology professor John Rice. Not one to mince words, spoken or printed, Ravenscroft published a defense of his beliefs and character in 1826 as
422:, during his 1824 visitation. During his last such trip, on July 1, 1829, he chaired the organizational convention of what eventually became the
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Ravenscroft also criticized Lutheran theology, and Baptist theology, as well as the notion that a clean life alone assured salvation.
660:
Sketches of Church History in North Carolina: Addresses and Papers by Clergymen and Laymen of the Dioceses of North and East Carolina
610:
426:. Travel or other circumstances, however, took a toll, and in 1828 he gave up the rectorship in Raleigh in favor of the smaller
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123:
368:. He also remarried, to Sarah, who would also have no children and die on January 15, 1829, about a year before her husband.
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257:, to parents (physician John Ravenscroft and the former Lilias Miller) who were both descendants of the powerful Colonel
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56:
488:(also a high churchman) worked tirelessly to establish a school for boys in the diocese, which was established at
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288:. He later claimed that for eighteen years, he "never bent his knees in prayer, nor did he once open a Bible."
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501:, although the school for boys was reorganized as a private school with a headmaster in the 1880s.
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Around 1810 Ravenscroft experienced a religious conversion, and he and Ann joined a group known as
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817:
Lives of the Bishops of North Carolina from the Establishment of the Episcopate in that State
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391:. Thus, at the General Convention in Old St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, bishops
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699:"Review—Vindication of the Doctrines of the Church from the Misrepresentations of Dr. Rice"
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376:
365:
317:
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250:
8:
804:
458:
396:
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The Southern Historical Collection at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library
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731:. New York: Christian Literature Company. pp. 47–48 – via Google Books.
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informed Ravenscroft that he had been elected Bishop of the recently re-organized
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On April 25, 1817, Moore ordained the 45-year-old Ravenscroft as a deacon at the
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into Tennessee and Kentucky. He confirmed Tennessee's future first bishop,
269:
746:. History of North Carolina. Vol. 2 (reprint ed.). p. 197.
411:
190:
45:
536:. Vol. 4. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. 1982. p. 260.
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become its bishop and happily confirmed Ravenscroft as an Episcopalian.
361:
352:. Ravenscroft was assigned a parish near his home: St. James Parish in
820:. Raleigh, NC: Alfred Williams & Company – via Google Books.
663:. Wilmington, NC: Wm. L. De Rosset, Jr. 1892 – via Google Books.
477:
After his second wife's death in 1829, Ravenscroft decided to move to
360:(split off from Lunenburg County) and the terminus of an important
403:, among others, consecrated Ravenscroft as the 20th bishop in the
798:
676:"Remarks on Bible Societies, and Review of Ravenscroft's Sermon"
230:
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Three universities awarded him doctorate of divinity degrees:
570:. Lunenburg County Historical Society. pp. 51–56, 80–84.
249:
Ravenscroft was born in 1772 on his family plantation near
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2100 acres), was foreclosed upon in 1824. However, future
344:, and eleven days later advanced him to the priesthood in
794:
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to prepare for a legal career under the guidance of
890:19th-century Anglican bishops in the United States
324:began, Virginia's Episcopal Church was reviving.
181:Christ Episcopal Church (Raleigh, North Carolina)
866:
634:. Independence Hall Association. Archived from
588:. The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society.
229:(May 17, 1772 – March 5, 1830) was the first
703:The Christian Journal, and Literary Register
680:The Christian Journal, and Literary Register
280:Inge). Soon the Ravenscroft began living at
506:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
467:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
900:People from Prince George County, Virginia
758:"John Stark Ravenscroft Papers, 1819-1830"
673:
653:
651:
649:
647:
645:
582:"St. James' Episcopal Church, Boydton, VA"
44:
607:Virginia Department of Historic Resources
307:. However, its successor in America, the
905:People from Mecklenburg County, Virginia
813:
642:
867:
686:(5): 129–141 – via Google Books.
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200:John Ravenscroft & Lillias Miller
885:College of William & Mary alumni
814:Haywood, Marshall De Lancey (1910).
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696:
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434:where his protege Rev. Green lived.
303:family had been long members of the
299:and the North Carolina border. This
910:Episcopal bishops of North Carolina
504:His limited papers are held by the
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235:Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina
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895:Episcopal Church in North Carolina
790:
709:(1): 1–7 – via Google Books.
14:
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797:
534:Genealogies of Virginia Families
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750:
735:
720:Perry, William Stevens (1895).
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609:. April 9, 2007. Archived from
512:, and many published online by
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559:
540:
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424:Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee
255:Prince George County, Virginia
239:Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee
1:
830:Episcopal Church (USA) titles
628:"St. Paul's Episcopal Church"
547:Nash, Jaquelin Drane (1994).
519:
463:College of William & Mary
346:St. George's Episcopal Church
266:College of William & Mary
244:
744:The Federal Period 1783-1860
7:
764:. UNC University Libraries.
331:
10:
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742:Boyd, William K. (1973) .
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844:
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632:Philadelphia Walking Tour
566:Neale, Gay Weeks (2005).
549:"Ravenscroft, John Stark"
381:diocese of North Carolina
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847:Bishop of North Carolina
776:"John Stark Ravenscroft"
722:"John Stark Ravenscroft"
237:and helped organize the
38:Bishop of North Carolina
674:Catholicus (May 1825).
495:University of the South
293:"Republican Methodists"
208:Anne Spotswood Burwell
167:Raleigh, North Carolina
326:Richard Channing Moore
322:Second Great Awakening
320:. Nonetheless, as the
227:John Stark Ravenscroft
111:Richard Channing Moore
27:John Stark Ravenscroft
697:R.U. (January 1827).
484:His successor Bishop
374:bishop of Mississippi
586:The Episcopal church
568:The Lunenburg Legacy
377:William Mercer Green
142:Prince George County
805:Christianity portal
459:Columbia University
857:Levi Silliman Ives
780:Project Canterbury
616:on April 23, 2016.
514:Project Canterbury
499:Sewanee, Tennessee
486:Levi Silliman Ives
401:Alexander Griswold
358:Mecklenburg County
342:Richmond, Virginia
301:old-line Virginian
218:(m. 1818, d. 1829)
211:(m. 1792, d. 1814)
146:Colony of Virginia
93:Levi Silliman Ives
23:The Right Reverend
863:
862:
854:Succeeded by
428:St. John's Church
420:James Hervey Otey
407:on May 22, 1823.
338:Monumental Church
305:Church of England
274:St. George Tucker
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841:Established 1817
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473:Death and legacy
405:Episcopal Church
309:Episcopal Church
286:Lunenburg County
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130:Personal details
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16:American bishop
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638:on 2016-04-21.
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416:Cumberland Gap
412:high churchman
350:Fredericksburg
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314:Francis Asbury
297:Meherrin River
259:Robert Bolling
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479:Fayetteville
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432:Williamsboro
410:A dedicated
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270:George Wythe
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187:Denomination
162:(1830-03-05)
138:May 17, 1772
120:May 22, 1823
117:Consecration
31:D.D., S.T.D.
880:1830 deaths
875:1772 births
837:New diocese
318:Thomas Coke
282:Spring Bank
107:May 6, 1817
869:Categories
851:1823–1830
520:References
465:, and the
397:James Kemp
366:Petersburg
362:plank road
251:Petersburg
245:Early life
104:Ordination
490:Asheville
89:Successor
84:1823–1830
81:In office
332:Ministry
191:Anglican
122:by
109:by
728:America
553:NCpedia
508:and at
389:Raleigh
354:Boydton
233:of the
197:Parents
73:Elected
63:Diocese
461:, the
231:Bishop
205:Spouse
177:Buried
99:Orders
53:Church
614:(PDF)
603:(PDF)
356:, in
399:and
316:and
272:and
157:Died
135:Born
497:at
430:in
387:in
364:to
284:in
253:in
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