Richard Hooker Wilmer
| Richard Hooker Wilmer | |
|---|---|
| II Bishop of Alabama | |
| Province |
Episcopal Church in the Confederate States Episcopal Church in the United States of America |
| See | Episcopal Diocese of Alabama |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | March 6, 1862 by William Meade, Stephen Elliott, John Johns |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 15, 1816 |
| Died | June 14, 1900 (aged 84) Mobile, Alabama |
| Parents | William Holland Wilmer |
Richard Hooker Wilmer (March 15, 1816 – June 14, 1900) was the second Bishop of Alabama in the Episcopal Church. A firm believer in slavery, Richard Wilmer was the only bishop to be consecrated by the Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America (PECCSA).
He was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of the rector of Christ Church, William Holland Wilmer and his wife Marion Hannah Cox, who died in childbirth when Richard was six. His father, a prominent priest in Maryland as well as Virginia and from a family of priests, briefly served as the eleventh president of the College of William & Mary before his death in Williamsburg, Virginia when Richard was only eleven. Raised in part by his stepmother (his eldest brother dying in Mississippi shortly after his father), Richard Wilmer began working as a teenager to support his family. He regretted his father's failure to provide for his family, blaming in particular (since his father held some of the most lucrative posts according priests) his practice of buying and freeing slaves. Accordingly, Richard Wilmer supported the institution of slavery, and ultimately strongly supported the Confederate cause, insisting that history would vindicate his views.
He graduated from Yale University in 1836 and the Virginia Theological Seminary in 1839.
William Meade, Bishop of Virginia, ordained him as a deacon on March 31, 1839 and as a priest on April 19, 1840. He served parishes in Goochland and Fluvanna counties in Virginia, and then served as rector of St. James Church in Wilmington, North Carolina. Upon returning to Virginia, Wilmer served parishes in Clarke, Loudoun, Fauquier and Bedford counties. In 1858, he started a mission church in Henrico County which became Emmanuel Church at Brook Hill.
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