James Hervey Otey (January 27, 1800 – April 23, 1863), Christian educator, author, and the first Episcopal Bishop of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, having established the Anglican church in the state, including its first parish churches and what became the

University of the South The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee (), is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is owned by 28 southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and its School of Theology is an official seminary of ...

Early and family life

James Hervey Otey was born January 27, 1800, on a plantation near Fancy Farm in

Bedford County, Virginia Bedford County is a United States county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is the town of Bedford, which was an independent city from 1968 until rejoining the county in 2013. Bedford County was ...

to Major Isaac Otey and Elizabeth Mathews.Boots, John R. (1970). The Mat(t)hews family: an anthology of Mathews lineages. The University of Wisconsin — Madison His paternal grandfather, Capt. John Armistead Otey, had served in the American Revolutionary War. Major Otey farmed using enslaved labor as well as represented Bedford County in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-number ...

(part-time) for many terms beginning (1798-1804, 1805–1812), before attaining his military rank in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

. In 1807, Major Isaac Otey purchased Fancy Farm (including a distillery and grist mill) from the estate of Andrew Donald, a Scottish merchant who had built that plantation but died before his sons reached legal age. Major Otey or his heir of the same name also served as executor of the will of Thomas Dillard, who owned Fancy Farm 1817–1820. His son Isaac Otey Jr. would also operate plantations and serve five terms in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Bedford County. Isaac Otey purchased Mount Prospect plantation and other properties on the Otter River (altogether about 3000 acres) in 1818, then sold 1540 acres to his son John M. Otey in 1820 James Otey was among the youngest of his father's twelve children, and received a private education at the New London Academy at the county seat (then called Liberty, Virginia, now

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

), before attending the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

. In addition to receiving an A.B. and B.D., Otey was named a Bachelor of Belles Lettres". After graduating in 1820, Otey became a

tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in ...

in Greek and Latin at his alma mater. Following his marriage in 1821 to Elizabeth Davis Pannill, daughter of William Pannill and Martha Mitchell of

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Econ ...

, Otey moved to Maury County, Tennessee and opened a boys' school. The Oteys would have at least six children. Their household also included enslaved people, as did other related families back in Virginia. In the 1840 federal census, Otey owned three enslaved people.

Ministry

However, Otey soon left Tennessee, having accepted a position as President of Warrenton Academy in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. While in Warrenton, Otey was baptized and confirmed in The Episcopal Church by bishop Ravenscroft. He became a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

in 1825 and priest in 1827. Otey then returned to Franklin and organized Tennessee's first Episcopal church there in the

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

. His later-famous pupils included Matthew F. Maury, future Confederate General

Braxton Bragg Braxton Bragg (March 22, 1817 – September 27, 1876) was an American army officer during the Second Seminole War and Mexican–American War and Confederate general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, serving in the Western ...

, and

Thomas Bragg Thomas Bragg (November 9, 1810January 21, 1872) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 34th Governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1855 through 1859. During the Civil War, he served in the Confederate States Cabinet. ...

. Otey also established several other churches and on July 1, 1829, established the

Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America that covers roughly Middle Tennessee. A single diocese spanned the entire state until 1982, when the Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee ...

at Nashville. Otey was elected the missionary diocese's first

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

in June 1833 and was consecrated at Christ Church,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, the following January. Following his election, Otey also took charge of the Diocese of

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

and was missionary bishop for

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

and the

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...

(now Oklahoma). He traveled for months at a time across the extensive region, establishing new churches and preaching the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

. Fervently interested in Christian education, Otey helped organize schools at Ashwood,

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

and

Columbia, Tennessee Columbia is a city in and the county seat of Maury County, Tennessee. The population was 41,690 as of the 2020 United States census. Columbia is included in the Nashville metropolitan area. The self-proclaimed "mule capital of the world," Colum ...

, the later with the Rev.

Leonidas Polk Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk (April 10, 1806 – June 14, 1864) was a bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana and founder of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America, which separated from the Episcopal Ch ...

, future Bishop of Louisiana and Confederate general. Bishop Otey's 30-year dream for a "Literary and Theological Seminary" for the region were realized when the

at Sewanee, in southeastern Tennessee, was established in 1857. Otey lived at "Mercer Hall" in Columbia from 1835 to 1852, when he relocated to

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, where in 1863 he died. He had opposed coercion as the Civil War began, and declined to attend the organizational meetings of the Confederate Episcopal Church.Appleton's After the Civil War, he was re-buried at

St. John's Church St. John's Church, Church of St. John, or variants, thereof, (Saint John or St. John usually refers to John the Baptist, but also, sometimes, to John the Apostle or John the Evangelist) may refer to the following churches, former churches or other ...

at Ashwood in Maury County.

References

* Richard Quin ( .d.
James Hervey Otey
In: ''The Tennessee Encyclopaedia of History and Culture''. Nashville, Tennessee: Tennessee Historical Society. – please see talk

External links

*
Documents by Otey
from Project Canterbury {{DEFAULTSORT:Otey, James Hervey 1800 births 1863 deaths Sewanee: The University of the South people People from Memphis, Tennessee Heads of universities and colleges in the United States 19th-century Anglican bishops in the United States Episcopal Church in Tennessee Religious leaders from Tennessee Episcopal bishops of Tennessee Episcopal bishops of Arkansas