Samuel Provoost

1742-1815. First Protestant Episcopal bishop of New York. He graduated from King's College (Columbia), New York, and later went to England for study at Cambridge. He was ordained deacon in 1766 and priest shortly afterward. After resigning an assistant pastorate because he felt his pro-Whig politics offended Tory parishioners, he served in the Revolution as chaplain of the Continental Congress. In 1786 he was consecrated in England as a bishop, without the customary oath of allegiance to the king. He aided the formation of the new Episcopal Church, but was forced to resign in 1801 because of poor health.