Background
Thomas Atkinson was born on August 6, 1807 in Mansfield, Virginia, United States to Robert and Mary Tabb (Mayo) Atkinson.
Thomas Atkinson was born on August 6, 1807 in Mansfield, Virginia, United States to Robert and Mary Tabb (Mayo) Atkinson.
After preparation in the schools of Petersburg he entered Yale College, but in his junior year transferred to Hampden-Sidney College in Virginia.
From the latter institution he graduated in 1825 with the honors of his class at the age of eighteen. Upon graduation, he studied under Judge Henry St. George Tucker and practiced law for eight years before turning to theology.
Atkinson first entered the legal profession after pursuing his studies under Judge Henry St. George Tucker of Winchester, Virginia. He then abandoned the law to enter the ministry.
He was ordained deacon by the Right Rev. William Meade, then assistant bishop (later diocesan bishop) of Virginia.
He was advanced to the priesthood in St. Paul's Church, Norfolk, May 7, 1837, by the Right Rev. Richard Channing Moore, bishop of Virginia.
In the year last named, he was elected rector of St. Peter's Church, Baltimore.
He was twice elected as a bishop of Indiana, and twice declined.
On October 17, 1853 he was consecrated bishop of North Carolina.
He aided in efforts to establish the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee before the Civil War, but that institution could not be built until after the war.
The religious enlightenment of black people had a strong advocate in Bishop Atkinson. After the outbreak of the war, the diocese of North Carolina withdrew from its former union with the Northern dioceses and allied itself with the "Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America. " Bishop Atkinson, a devoted Southerner, loyally upheld the government of the Southern Confederacy.
After the surrender of General Lee, and the consequent end of the war, he was instrumental in effecting a union between the Northern and Southern branches of the Church.
Upon his arrival he was almost immediately invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury to take part in the consecration of some English colonial bishops, but circumstances forced him to decline.
After the war, in 1866, Atkinson recommended placing the operation of black Episcopal churches fully in the hands of black clergymen, and the Diocesan Convention passed a series of resolutions doing so. Two years later, he opened the Episcopal school for blacks near Raleigh that eventually became St. Augustine's College.
In 1866 Bishop Atkinson also made a six months' tour of Europe (June-December) for the benefit of his health. Almost immediately upon his arrival he was invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury to take part in the consecration of some English colonial bishops, but circumstances forced him to decline. He was also present by invitation at an Anglican Conference in York.
In 1867 he attended and participated in the First Lambeth Conference at Lambeth Palace.
In 1873 Bishop Atkinson was given an assistant bishop in the person of the Rev. Dr. Theodore B. Lyman, who became diocesan bishop upon Atkinson's death.