Peter Trimble Rowe (November 20, 1856 – June 1, 1942) was a Canadian prelate who served for decades as the first bishop of the American

Episcopal Diocese of Alaska The Episcopal Diocese of Alaska is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America with jurisdiction over the state of Alaska. Established in 1895, it has the largest geographical reach of any diocese in the Episcopal Church, ...

Early life and education

Peter Rowe was born in Meadowvale, Toronto Township,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. He attended local schools and went to

Trinity College, Toronto Trinity College (occasionally referred to as The University of Trinity College) is a college federated with the University of Toronto, founded in 1851 by Bishop John Strachan. Strachan originally intended Trinity as a university of strong Angli ...

. There he earned his bachelor's degree in 1878, his master's degree in 1880, and his doctorate of divinity in 1895.

Clergy

Rowe was ordained to the diaconate in 1878 and the priesthood in 1880, by

Frederick Dawson Fauquier Frederick Dawson Fauquier (29 July 1817 – 7 December 1881) was an eminent Canadian Anglican priest in the second half of the 19th century. Personal life Fauquier was born in Malta on 29 July 1817. He was orphaned at a young age and adopted by ...

, bishop of the

Diocese of Algoma The Diocese of Algoma is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario of the Anglican Church of Canada. It comprises nearly 182,000 square kilometres of the Ontario districts of Algoma (from which it takes its name), Thunder Bay, Sudbury, ...

. In 1895, he was appointed Missionary Bishop of Alaska. He was consecrated on November 30, 1895, by

William Croswell Doane William Croswell Doane (March 2, 1832, in BostonGeorge Lynde Richardson, Project Canterbury: William Croswell Doane, First Bishop of Albany (Hartford, Connecticut; Church Missions Publishing, 1933), found aAnglican History website G L Richardson pa ...

, Ozi William Whittaker, and Thomas A. Starkey. Rowe traveled across his vast diocese for decades, by dogsled, boat and other frontier means. He gained many admirers, among whom was his colleague

Hudson Stuck Hudson Stuck (November 4, 1863 – October 10, 1920) was a British native who became an Episcopal priest, social reformer and mountain climber in the United States. With Harry P. Karstens, he co-led the first expedition to successfully climb Den ...

, Archdeacon of the Yukon. Stuck praised Rowe's dedication in his three books published to combat exploitation of the native peoples among whom they served. Rowe died in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

on June 1, 1942.

References

* Thomas Jenkins, ''The Man of Alaska: Peter Trimble Rowe'' (New York: Morehouse-Gorham Co., 1943).
Mushing Bishop
''Time'' magazine, December 4, 1939.
Photographs of Rowe
Alaska's Digital Archives 1856 births 1942 deaths Episcopal bishops of Alaska Trinity College (Canada) alumni {{Canada-Anglican-bishop-stub