Stephen Elliot

Background

Stephen Elliot was born on August 31, 1806, in Beaufort, South Carolina, United States. He was the son of Stephen Elliott, founder of the Southern Review and his wife Ester Wylly Habersham Elliott.

Education

Stephen Elliott attended private schools in Charleston and went to Harvard College before graduating third in the class of 1825 at South Carolina College (present-day University of South Carolina) in Columbia. He studied law under James L. Petigru.

Career

Stephen Elliott was admitted to the bar in 1827. In 1830 he assumed the editorship of The Southern Review, but after a few months, he moved to Beaufort to practice law. In Beaufort, he was converted to evangelical Christianity and became a "new creature in Christ." He studied for the ordained ministry on his own. Elliott was ordained deacon on November 8, 1835. He served a church in Wilton, South Carolina, for about a month and then became the professor of the evidence of Christianity and sacred literature at Carolina College. He was ordained priest on June 22, 1838. On February 28, 1841, Stephen Elliott was consecrated the first Bishop of Georgia and served in that position until his death.

From 1845 until 1852 he was the head of the Montpelier Institute, and from 1852 until 1866 he was the rector of Christ Church, Savannah. Elliott presided at three of the General Councils of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America. He was a founder of the University of the South and served as its third Chancellor from June 14, 1864, until his death.

Achievements

• Stephen Elliott was elected the first Bishop of Georgia. He also served as Provisional Bishop of Florida and the only Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America. He founded The University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee.

Religion

Following a conversion experience on hearing a Presbyterian evangelist preach at his Episcopal Church, Elliott studied for holy orders. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1836, having been ordained a deacon the previous year.

Politics

He was an ardent secessionist and turned his pen and sermons to the service of the Confederacy. During the war, he served as senior bishop of the South. Although he was one of the religious leaders of the Confederacy, he managed to remain on good terms with the Northern branch of the church, which facilitated the reunion of the church after the war.

Views

Elliott was a strong proponent of education. As Bishop, he founded the girl’s school, Montpelier Institute, at a great personal financial cost. Together with Bishops Polk and Otey, he also founded The University of the South at Sewanee, Tennesse

Membership

Stephen Elliott was president of the Clariosophic Society. He also was one of the founders of the Forensic Club.

Connections

Stephen Elliott first married his cousin, Mary Gibbes Barnwell, daughter of Col. Robert W. Barnwell in 1828. Following her death, he married another cousin, Charlotte Bull Barnwell. Among his children was the novelist Sarah Barnwell Elliott and Robert Woodward Barnwell Elliott, missionary bishop to West Texas.

Father:

Stephen Elliott

1771-1830

Mother:

Ester Wylly Habersham Elliott

1778-1836

Brother:

James Habersham Elliott

1819-1877

Wife:

Charlotte Bull Barnwell Elliott

1810-1895

late wife:

Mary Gibbes Barnwell Elliott

1808-1837

Son:

Stephen Elliott

1832-1906

Son:

Robert Woodward Barnwell Elliott

Son:

John Barnwell Elliott

1841-1921

Daughter:

Esther Habersham Elliott Shoup

1843-1916

Daughter:

Sarah Barnwell Elliott

1848-1928

References

• The Story Of An American Family
  1969
• Men of mark in Georgia; a complete and elaborate history of the state from its settlement to the present time 1907
  2019
• The Episcopate in America: Sketches, Biographical and Bibliographical, of the Bishops of the ... 1895
  2015
• Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States; Volume 02
  2015