Cleland Kinloch Nelson (May 23, 1852 - February 12, 1917) was the Third Bishop of the U.S. state of Georgia and the first bishop of the

Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta The Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, with jurisdiction over middle and north Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is in Province 4 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of ...

. Nelson was the

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bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of the

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(ECUSA).

Early and family life

Nelson was born in 1852 to Julia Ann Rogers Nelson and her husband, Keating Lewis Simons Nelson (1819-1898) at Cobham, a plantation in

Albemarle County, Virginia Albemarle County is a United States county (United States), county located in the Piedmont region of Virginia, Piedmont region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, Virginia, Charlottes ...

. He had two older brothers, Dr. Hugh Nelson (1842-1903) and Francis K. Nelson (1845-1864), as well as sisters Margaret Nelson (1843-1858), Elizabeth Harrison Nelson Mason (1846-1945) and Celia Hamilton Nelson (1848-1929) and younger brothers Rev. Keating Simons Nelson Jr. (1856-1919) and William Meade Nelson (1859-1843). His father owned a plantation, and about 35 enslaved people in 1850. His grandfather was U.S. Congressman

Hugh Nelson Hugh Nelson may refer to: *Hugh Nelson (Australian politician) (1833–1906), Premier of Queensland, Australia *Hugh Nelson (Virginia politician) (1768–1836), American politician *Hugh Nelson (Canadian politician) (1830–1893), Canadian politicia ...

(1768-1836) and his paternal great-grandfather Thomas Nelson (1738-1789) had signed the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

and served as Governor of Virginia. An uncle of the same name, Cleland Kinloch Nelson (1814-1890), was an Episcopal priest in Maryland. His elder brothers both served in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Hugh Nelson rose to become a captain in the

4th Virginia Cavalry The 4th Virginia Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia. History The Virginia 4th Cavalry comp ...

and on the staff of General R.S. Ewell, and was commended for his actions at the

Battle of Port Republic The Battle of Port Republic was fought on June 9, 1862, in Rockingham County, Virginia, as part of Confederate Army Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's campaign through the Shenandoah Valley during the American Civil War. Port Republic w ...

. His other brother, Francis K. Nelson, enlisted in the Rockbridge Light Artillery battery, transferred to the

1st Virginia Cavalry The 1st Virginia Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia. Organization The 1st Virginia Cavalry co ...

, then the

2nd Virginia Cavalry The 2nd Virginia Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia. The unit was organized by Colonel (United ...

and was promoted to sergeant a month before being mustered out and dying in May, 1864. Nelson attended St. John's College in

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and graduated with an A.B. degree in 1872. He received a D.D. degree from the

University of the South The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee (), is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee, United States. It is owned by 28 southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and its School of Theology is an off ...

in 1891, and another D.D. degree from the

Berkeley Divinity School Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, founded in 1854, is a seminaries, seminary of Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Episcopal Church in New Haven, Connecticut. Along with Andover Newton Theological School and the Yale Institute ...

in 1892. Nelson married Maria Bruce Matthews of

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in 1877, but they had no children.

Career

Nelson was ordained as a deacon by Maryland's bishop Pinkney in 1875, and Nelson was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop

William Bacon Stevens William Bacon Stevens (July 13, 1815 – June 11, 1887) was the fourth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. Early life and education William Bacon Stevens was born in Bath, Maine on July 13, 1815. He was educated at Phillips Acad ...

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in 1876. Nelson served as rector of the Church of St. John the Baptist in what became Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood (1876-1882), then accepted a position as rector of

Cathedral Church of the Nativity The Cathedral Church of the Nativity is an Episcopal Church of the United States, Episcopal cathedral in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It is the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem, Diocese of Bethlehem. In 1988 it was listed as a contributing ...

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(1882-1892), then in the

Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania The Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania is one of the dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. It was established in 1904 as the Diocese of Harrisburg, separating from the original Diocese of Central Pennsylvania ...

but since 1904 the cathedral of the

Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem The Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem covers fourteen counties in Pennsylvania to the north and west of Philadelphia. The current bishop, the Rt. Rev. Kevin D. Nichols, was elected as Bishop on April 28, 2018, and consecrated on September 15, 2018 ...

. After two higher profile churchmen refused to accept offers to lead the

Episcopal Diocese of Georgia The Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, USA is one of 20 dioceses that comprise Province 4 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Province IV of the US Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Episcopal Church, and is a dio ...

, Nelson accepted the offer made to him. He was consecrated as Bishop on February 24, 1892, in St. Luke's Church, Atlanta, by bishops including

Charles Todd Quintard Charles Todd Quintard (December 22, 1824 – February 16, 1898) was an American physician and clergyman who became the second bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Episcopal Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee, Diocese of Ten ...

of Tennessee, William B. W. Howe of South Carolina and Theodore B. Lyman of North Carolina as well as bishops Whitehead, Rulison, Coleman, Jackson and Watson. Rt. Rev. Nelson served as Bishop of the

until its split into two dioceses in 1907, when he chose to become the first bishop of the

. As bishop, Nelson had challenged the Diocese of Georgia to grow, and it did. From 1893 until 1906, the diocese grew from 88 missions to 108 missions, and its 6,292 communicants of 1893 swelled to 9,229 by 1906. During that same time period, sixty-two church buildings were built in the diocese. Rt.Rev. Nelson also supported African Americans within his diocese to the extent permitted by social mores, consecrating the first and only African American deaconess, Anna Alexander, in 1907. Addressing the second annual meeting of the diocese's council of colored churchmen at the Church of the Good Shepherd, he described Alexander as "a devout, godly and respected colored woman," and ordained her as a

deaconess The ministry of a deaconess is a ministry for women in some Protestant, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Orthodox churches to provide pastoral care, especially for other women, and which may carry a liturgical role. The word comes from the Greek ...

(she would become the Episcopal Church's first and only African American deaconess). At the time of the diocesan separation later that year, the Diocese of Atlanta (northwestern Georgia) was created with 28 churches and missions. The remaining Diocese of Georgia consisted of 24 churches (including deaconess Alexander's Church of the Good Shepherd). Nelson's publications included collections of ''Episcopal Addresses'' and ''Occasional Sermons'', as well as editorial articles in ''The Church in Georgia''.

Death and legacy

Nelson died February 12, 1917, at the age of 65, after serving as a bishop for 25 years. He was buried at

Westview Cemetery Westview Cemetery, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is the largest civilian cemetery in the Southeastern United States, comprising more than , 50 percent of which is undeveloped. The cemetery includes the graves of more than 125,000 people and was ...

in Atlanta, near his friend (and church founder) Thomas Egleston.

References

Sources

*''The Episcopal Church in Georgia 1733-1957'', by Henry Thompson Malone published by The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Atlanta, 1960 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Cleland 1852 births 1917 deaths 19th-century American Episcopalians Berkeley Divinity School alumni Clergy from Atlanta Episcopal bishops of Atlanta People from Albemarle County, Virginia People of Virginia in the American Civil War Religious leaders from Georgia (U.S. state) Sewanee: The University of the South alumni St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe) alumni