Frederick Rogers Graves was an American missionary bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church to China.
Background
Graves was born on October 24, 1858, the eldest of seven children of Samuel Seabury and Elizabeth Anna (Wilson) Graves. The forebears of both parents were members of the Church of England who came early to America and settled in Vermont. From the age of six Graves spent his childhood and youth in Geneva, New York, where his father operated a large plant nursery.
Education
Graves had the major part of his education in Geneva, New York, in private schools and in Hobart College, from which he was graduated in 1878. His theological training was in the General Theological Seminary in New York City. He later received honorary doctorates from the seminary (1893) and from Oxford (1908).
Career
While in seminary Graves volunteered for work in China, and he proceeded to that field shortly after his graduation and ordination as deacon in 1881. His first post was in Wuchang, where, except for about two years (1885-1887) as a professor in the theological school of St. John's College in Shanghai, he remained until 1893, doing evangelistic work and teaching theology. He also carried on the work of translation, chiefly of books needed in seminary teaching, begun by Bishop Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky. In 1882 he was ordained a priest in Shanghai. On June 14, 1893, in St. Thomas's Church, New York City, Graves was consecrated the fifth bishop for China with the title of Bishop of Shanghai and the Yangtse Valley. In 1901, the mission having grown sufficiently to require a division of territory and another bishop, his jurisdiction became Kiangsu Province only and his title Bishop of Shanghai. For two brief periods (1899-1901 and 1918-1920) he was also charged with oversight of the mission in the Philippines. Though Graves had heavy episcopal responsibilities, he found time to take an active part in other affairs. He participated in many interdenominational ventures, though remaining aloof from such as he felt led towards church unity. For many years he spent much time and energy in famine relief work, for which he was decorated by the Chinese government. But his primary concern was in extending and strengthening his diocese, in which much progress was made, and in the development of an indigenous church. He had a significant part in the drawing together of the American, Canadian, and English church missions into a single Anglican body, organized in 1912 as the Chung Hwa Sheng Kung Hui (Holy Catholic Church of China), of which he was the second presiding bishop (1913-1923). From 1925 on, Graves's work became increasingly difficult, as he had to deal with the disruption caused by the Nationalist revolution in the twenties and by the Japanese invasions in the thirties, with financial problems caused by the depression in America, with his wife's illness, and with his own declining health. In 1934 he suffered a paralytic stroke, but he recovered sufficiently to carry on his work. He sought to resign in 1936, but at the urgent request of the bishops in America agreed to remain in office longer. Early in 1937, however, he had to make his resignation final. He maintained his residence at St. John's University, where he remained through the Japanese attack on Shanghai and afterwards lived quietly until his death on May 17, 1940. His ashes were interred in Holy Trinity Cathedral, Shanghai.
Achievements
Connections
Graves married Josephine Harriet Roberts of Brooklyn, New York, in 1883. They had four children. The daughters later were missionaries in his diocese. His wife died in 1926.