He was born on February 26, 1742 in New York City, New York, United States, the son of John and Eve (Rutgers) Provost. A distant ancestor, William (or Guillaume) Provost, fled from France to Holland in 1572; his grandson David emigrated to New Netherland in 1624, returned to Holland, married, and came again to New Amsterdam in 1634. Samuel was his great-great-grandson. In Holland the name became Provost; after the Revolution the Bishop adopted the spelling Provoost.
A member of the first class graduated by King's College (Columbia) in 1758, Samuel went to England in 1761, entering Peterhouse (St. Peter's College), Cambridge.
While in Cambridge he determined to take holy orders and was ordained deacon, February 3, 1766, at the Chapel Royal, St. James Palace, Westminster, by the Rt. Rev. Richard Terrick, Bishop of London. On March 25 of the same year he was advanced to the priesthood at King's Chapel, Whitehall, by the Rt. Rev. Edmund Keene, Bishop of Chester, acting for the Bishop of London.
Returning to New York, he was appointed an assistant minister of Trinity Church. He resigned, March 21, 1771, retiring to East Camp, Dutchess County, New York, where he remained in straitened circumstances until 1784. During this period he was elected chaplain of the New York state convention which drafted the first constitution of the state, but did not accept. He also refused a call to the rectorship of St. Michael's Church, Charleston, and another to King's Chapel, Boston. In 1784 he accepted an invitation to officiate at St. Paul's and St. George's chapels, of Trinity Parish, New York. In the same year he was appointed regent of the University of the State of New York, and in the following year, chaplain of the Continental Congress.
Having been elected first bishop of New York, he sailed for England with William White (who had been elected first bishop of Pennsylvania) for consecration. His signed the testimonials at the convention in Wilmington, Delaware, October 10, 1786. The negotiations leading to the passage of this act had been carried on by John Adams, American minister at the Court of St. James's.
Provoost and White were consecrated in the chapel of Lambeth Palace, February 4, 1787, by the Most Rev. John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury. The return passage to New York occupied a period of seven weeks. Provoost was formally received as Bishop of New York at a convention at St. Paul's Chapel in June 1787. His first ordination and confirmation service was held at St. Paul's in September of the same year, when over 300 people were confirmed. He officiated at the first confirmation service ever held in New Jersey, at St. Peter's Church, Perth Amboy, July 9, 1788. Provoost conducted the service held at St. Paul's Chapel, April 30, 1789, following Washington's inauguration, which was attended by the President, his staff, and all the leading officials of the new government. He officiated also at the memorial service for Washington held at St. Paul's, December 31, 1799.
In 1801 he offered his resignation as bishop. The House of Bishops refused to accept it, but consented to the consecration of a bishop coadjutor. Thereafter, Provoost appeared in public only once, at the consecration of Bishop Griswold and Bishop Hobart, May 29, 1811. He died in his seventy-fourth year.
Samuel Provoost was the first bishop of New York, became chaplain of the United States Senate. He was chairman of the committee, which drafted the constitution of the Church and was responsible for the necessary changes in the Prayer Book, following the establishment of the Church as an American entity. He was also a gifted botanist and made an elaborate index of Johann Bauhin's Historia Plantarum Universalis (1650 - 51).
He was proficient in the German, French, Hebrew, and Latin languages.
He was married in St. Mary's Church, Cambridge, June 8, 1766, to Maria, daughter of Thomas Bousfield of Lakelands, Cork, member of the Irish House of Commons. His wife died in 1799 and his youngest son made the suicide. He also had two daughters and a son.
