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| Samuel Seabury (Ralph Earl artist QS:P170,Q1350959, Ralph Earl - Samuel Seabury - NPG.84.171 - National Portrait Gallery, marked as public domain, more details on Wikimedia Commons) |
Today is the feast day for the Right Rev. Samuel Seabury, best known as the first consecrated bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States. He was elected bishop of Connecticut by ten clergy in 1783 and consecrated in Scotland in 1784. He was then formally elected by the Connecticut convocation in 1785. What is somewhat less well known is that he was an enslaver, and he became an enslaver during his time as a priest in New Jersey before the Revolutionary War.
The first parish Seabury served following his ordination was Christ Church, New Brunswick where he was rector from 1754 to 1757. After serving in New Jersey he held various appointments in New York State, and after the Revolutionary War, moved to Connecticut, where he had grown up and where his father had been a priest.
His father had been an enslaver[1] when Seabury was growing up, so Seabury was likely already comfortable with the institution by the time he was an adult. But Seabury himself did not come to own any slaves until his marriage to Mary Hicks in his late-twenties, in 1756 while he was the rector of Christ Church, New Brunswick, New Jersey.[2] Many different priests and wealthy parishioners at Christ Church had owned slaves during the colonial era.[3] Hicks' family (also an enslaving family of origin like Seabury's) gave a dowry of one slave and a promise of more upon the marriage, than a number of additional enslaved persons subsequently. Throughout the rest of his career Seabury would remain an enslaver, still keeping enslaved persons until his death.[4]
The first parish Seabury served following his ordination was Christ Church, New Brunswick where he was rector from 1754 to 1757. After serving in New Jersey he held various appointments in New York State, and after the Revolutionary War, moved to Connecticut, where he had grown up and where his father had been a priest.
His father had been an enslaver[1] when Seabury was growing up, so Seabury was likely already comfortable with the institution by the time he was an adult. But Seabury himself did not come to own any slaves until his marriage to Mary Hicks in his late-twenties, in 1756 while he was the rector of Christ Church, New Brunswick, New Jersey.[2] Many different priests and wealthy parishioners at Christ Church had owned slaves during the colonial era.[3] Hicks' family (also an enslaving family of origin like Seabury's) gave a dowry of one slave and a promise of more upon the marriage, than a number of additional enslaved persons subsequently. Throughout the rest of his career Seabury would remain an enslaver, still keeping enslaved persons until his death.[4]
Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.
Reparations Commission Research Historian
Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey
[1] Seabury's father's will lists ownership of an enslaved "mulatto" man named Newport. See New York Historical Society, Abstract of Wills on File in the Surrogate's Office, City of New York, Vol. VI, 1760-1766 (New York: 1898), 347-348.
[2] See, for instance, Bruce Steiner, Samuel Seabury, 1729-1796: A Study in the High Church Tradition (Oberlin: Ohio University Press, 1971), 65ff.
[3] See Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, ed. "The History of Slavery at Christ Church, New Brunswick," Diocese of New Jersey Racial Justice Review (March 27, 2023).
[4] Seabury's will lists two enslaved persons: Nell and Rose (see the scanned manuscript made available by the Connecticut State Library). The 1790 census data for New London County, Connecticut lists three enslaved persons in the household (Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census, The First Census of the United States, 1790: Connecticut [Washington: Government Printing Office, 1908], 129). For additional information see also "Samuel Seabury (1729-1796)" which is part of the "Trinity and Slavery" collection of the Primus Project hosted by Trinity College.
