Protestant Episcopal Church In the USA

The first Anglican services on North American shores took place during Martin Frobisher's Hudson Bay expedition in 1578, when Chaplain Wolfall preached and administered the sacrament. In June 1579, in the course of Sir Francis Drake's voyage along the west coast, a similar service was held near San Francisco, at which Drake's chaplain, Francis Fletcher, officiated. Various attempts to establish colonies on North American territory during this period were, however, unsuccessful. In 1607 a small band of colonists succeeded in settling at Jamestown, Virginia. There they built the first Anglican church in America, and public worship was regularly conducted by their chaplain, Robert Hunt. By 1624 Anglicanism was firmly established in Virginia.