Charles Henry Wharton
| Charles Henry Wharton | |
|---|---|
| 4th President of Columbia University | |
|
In office 1801–1801 |
|
| Preceded by | William Samuel Johnson |
| Succeeded by | Benjamin Moore |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
June 5, 1748 St. Mary's County, Maryland |
| Died | July 22, 1833 (aged 85) Burlington, New Jersey |
Charles Henry Wharton (June 5, 1748 – July 22, 1833), who grew up Catholic and became a Catholic priest, converted to Protestantism and became one of the leading Episcopal clergyman of the early United States, as well as briefly served as president of Columbia University.
The family plantation, Notley Hall, was presented to his grandfather by Lord Baltimore. In 1760 he was sent to the English Jesuit College at St Omer, where he was very studious, and became fluent in Latin, so as to even be able to converse in it.
He was ordered deacon in June, 1772, and priest the following September, both in the Roman Catholic Church. At the close of the American Revolution Wharton resided at Worcester, England, as chaplain to the Roman Catholics in that city. There he addressed a poetical epistle to George Washington, with a sketch of his life, which was published for the benefit of American prisoners in England (Annapolis, 1779; London, 1780).
Wharton returned to what had become the United States in 1783 in the first vessel that sailed after the peace. In May, 1784, he converted to the Church of England, and published his celebrated "Letter to the Roman Catholics of Worcester" (Philadelphia, 1784), and became rector of Immanuel Church, New Castle, Delaware. Together with the only other remaining Anglican clergyman remaining in the state and several laymen, Rev. Wharton attended the first General Convention that established the Episcopal Church (USA) At that convention, Rev. Wharton served on the committee to "draft an ecclesiastical constitution for the Protestant Episcopal church in the United States", as well as the committees "to prepare a form of prayer and thanksgiving for the Fourth of July", and to Americanize the Book of Common Prayer. In 1786 he was elected a mere-bet of the American Philosophical Society.
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