The Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia is a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

of the

Episcopal Church in the United States of America The Episcopal Church (TEC), also known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (PECUSA), is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, based in the United States. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is ...

(TEC). It encompasses all 55 counties of

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. The diocese has 66 congregations, including 38 parishes, 26 missions, and 2 other churches. The diocese is headquartered in Charleston and led by The Rt. Rev. Matthew Davis Cowden who was consecrated as bishop coadjutor in March, 2022 and became bishop diocesan in October, 2022.

History

1700s

Ministry of the Church of England and its successor, the Protestant Episcopal Church, developed slowly in what is now West Virginia. The 1784 disestablishment of the Church of England in the then-unified Virginia created severe challenges for Episcopalians. The first Episcopal Church in present-day West Virginia was established as a log structure in 1740 near Bunker Hill in Berkeley County. This chapel was founded by Colonel

Morgan Morgan Colonel Morgan Morgan (November 1, 1688 — November 17, 1766) was an American pioneer. He was thought to have founded the first permanent settlement in present-day West Virginia at Cool Spring Farm. Biography Early life Little direct evidenc ...

and known by the names Christ Episcopal Church and Morgan Chapel. Services at Morgan Chapel were led by local lay readers and by occasional priests visiting from Christ Church in

Winchester, Virginia Winchester is the northwesternmost Administrative divisions of Virginia#Independent cities, independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of Frederick County, Virginia, Frederi ...

. Morgan Chapel is maintained as a historical site, but worship services are now held in nearby Zion Episcopal Church, Charles Town. Zion Church was the spiritual home of

Charles Washington Charles Washington (May 2, 1738 – September 16, 1799) was an American planter and politician who founded a town in the Shenandoah Valley that was named Charles Town in his honor shortly after his death and that of his eldest brother, George ...

, Col. Lewis Washington, and

John Yates Beall John Yates Beall (January 1, 1835 – February 24, 1865) was a Confederate privateer in the American Civil War who was arrested as a spy in New York (state), New York and executed at Fort Columbus on Governors Island. Early life and education Be ...

. Westward expansion of white settlers in the late eighteenth century encouraged the founding of Episcopal Churches near the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

. Unlike most Virginia churches, mountainous geography led many churches in West Virginia to be planted by congregations from Pennsylvania, Maryland, or Ohio. Mirroring Virginia politics, diocesan bishops based in Williamsburg and Richmond often overlooked Episcopalians living west of the Blue Ridge. Efforts of the Rev. Dr.

Joseph Doddridge Joseph Doddridge (1746–1826) was a historian, horticulturist, physician, clergyman, and author, notable for his work in the trans-Allegheny West and Upper Ohio River Valley in what is now Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. He is primarily re ...

, a Pennsylvania-born missionary, were especially significant in establishing frontier churches in the Upper Ohio Valley. In 1793, he founded Olde St. John's Episcopal Church in

Colliers Collier or colliers may refer to: Coal industry * Collier, coal miner or coal merchant * Colliery, coal mining and selling; or a coal mine *Collier (ship), a bulk cargo ship which carried coal *Charcoal maker, in colonial United States and also i ...

. It remains the oldest continuously active Episcopalian congregation in West Virginia.

1800s

In the absence of episcopal visitations from the bishop of Virginia, Bishop William White of Pennsylvania consecrated St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in Ohio County, West Virginia, Ohio and Marshall County, West Virginia, Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The county seat of Ohio County, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mo ...

as the nineteenth century began. By 1851, Episcopalians in the northwestern mountain counties petitioned Bishop

William Meade William Meade (November 11, 1789March 14, 1862) was an American Episcopal bishop, the third Bishop of Virginia. Early life His father, Colonel Richard Kidder Meade (1746–1805), one of George Washington's aides during the American Revolutiona ...

of Virginia to provide the mountain region its own bishop. Meade demurred even though he had previously founded St. John's Episcopal Church, Charleston, in 1837, and serviced these parishes both while affiliated with Christ Church, Winchester, and later as assistant bishop of Virginia. When

John Johns John Johns (July 10, 1796 – April 5, 1876) was the fourth Episcopal bishop of Virginia. He led his diocese into secession during the American Civil War and later tried to heal it through the Reconstruction Era. Johns also served as President ...

became his assistant bishop, he likewise conducted periodic visitations into the western counties of Virginia. However, with the outbreak of the American Civil War, episcopal visitations ceased. In 1863, shortly before West Virginia's incorporation as a state, St. Matthew's Church, Wheeling, asked permission for another bishop to visit the parish, but like his predecessor, Bishop Johns demurred, asking instead for a safe-conduct to visit the area, which he did not obtain. After the Civil War, the six northwestern counties remained part of the Diocese of Virginia for more than a decade. By 1876, Virginia's diocesan council (a name analogous to diocesan conventions elsewhere) agreed to support the creation of a separate diocese for the state of West Virginia, which the national General Convention approved in 1877. At the organizational meeting led by Virginia bishop

Francis McNeece Whittle Francis McNeece Whittle (July 7, 1823 – June 20, 1902) was the fifth Episcopal bishop of Virginia. Early and family life Born at Millbank Plantation on the Meherrin River in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, Francis was the next-to-youngest of the ...

(who chose to remain with the larger diocese), 14 clergy and 16 lay delegates agreed to extend an invitation to Rev. J.H. Eccleston of Newark, New Jersey to become their new bishop, but his existing congregation pointed out to him the missionary nature of the new diocese and questioned its ability to financially support a bishop and other diocesan officers, and he refused the call. The following year, the clerical and lay delegates met again and finally decided to call Rev. George William Peterkin, who accepted the call and was consecrated by bishops of Virginia, Maryland and Kentucky at the new diocese's largest church, St. Matthew's Church in Wheeling on May 30, 1878. Although the churches in Wheeling and Charleston had also offered to build rectories for the new bishop, Rt. Rev. Peterkin chose to accept the offer from the Parkersburg congregation. He thus made the town diocesan headquarters and ultimately succeeded in raising the funds and building the Church of the Good Shepherd in Parkersburg in 1891.

1900s

In 1899, Peterkin found visitations increasingly difficult and asked for a bishop coadjutor, the diocesan convention elected Rev. William Loyall Gravatt of Zion Episcopal Church in

Charles Town, West Virginia Charles Town is a city in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. The population was 6,534 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The city is named for its founder Charles Washington, youngest brother of Pres ...

. Upon Rt. Rev. Peterkin's death in 1916, Rt. Rev. Gravatt moved the diocesan headquarters to

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in West Virginia, most populous city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Kanawha County, West Virginia, Kanawha County and ...

, the state capital, where they are again today, although moved to Wheeling under the episcopate of his successor, Robert E.L. Strider.

Diocesan Office and Retreat Centers

The diocese is headquartered on Virginia Street in Charleston, a few blocks from the

West Virginia State Capitol The West Virginia State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of West Virginia, and houses the West Virginia Legislature and the office of the Governor of West Virginia. Located in Charleston, West Virginia, the building was dedi ...

, in a house known as Diocesan Center. It was donated by Helen Ruffner Ritz in 1964 in memory of her late husband, the lawyer and jurist Harold A. Ritz. The diocese also has two spiritual retreat centers. Since 1944, Peterkin Camp and Conference Center on the South Branch of the Potomac River near Romney has been used for Christian Education retreats and summer camps. In the early 1950s, the diocese acquired Sandscrest Farms near Oglebay Park in Wheeling as a bequest from philanthropists Harry and Helen Turner Sands. Originally envisioned as an Episcopalian retirement home, Sandscrest Conference and Retreat Center now operates as a nonprofit, spiritual retreat center with the mission "…to provide a place in which to nourish the soul, mind, and body through the spirit of Jesus Christ."

Roll of Bishops

# George William Peterkin (1878-1916) #*William Loyall Gravatt, bishop coadjutor (1899-1916) # William Loyall Gravatt (1916-1939) #*Robert E.L. Strider Sr., bishop coadjutor (1923-1939) # Robert E.L. Strider Sr. (1939–1955) #*Wilburn C. Campbell, bishop coadjutor (1950-1955) #

Wilburn C. Campbell Wilburn Camrock Campbell (November 8, 1910 - July 29, 1997) became the fourth Diocesan bishop, Bishop of West Virginia in the Episcopal Church in the United States, after working with Bishop Robert E. L. Strider Sr., Robert E.L. Strider as coadjuto ...

(1955-1976) #*Robert P. Atkinson, bishop coadjutor (1973-1976) # Robert P. Atkinson (1976-1988) # John H. Smith (1989-1999)
*

Charles Vaché Claude Charles Vaché (August 4, 1926 – November 1, 2009) was an American prelate of The Episcopal Church, who served as the seventh Bishop of Southern Virginia. Early life and education Born in New Bern, North Carolina, Vaché was the son of ...

, assisting bishop (1999–2001) # W. Michie Klusmeyer (2001- 2022)
* Mark Van Koevering assistant bishop (2016–2018)
* Matthew Davis Cowden, bishop coadjutor (2022) # Matthew Davis Cowden (2022 -)

References

External links

Official Web site of the Diocese of West Virginia
*
Journal of the Annual Convention, Diocese of West Virginia
' {{DEFAULTSORT:West Virginia Diocese of West Virginia Religious organizations established in 1877 Anglican dioceses established in the 19th century

1877 establishments in West Virginia Province 3 of the Episcopal Church (United States)