G. Ashton Oldham
The Right Reverend George Ashton Oldham D.D., S.T.D., L.H.D. | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Albany | |
| Church | Episcopal Church |
| Diocese | Albany |
| In office | 1929–1949 |
| Predecessor | Richard H. Nelson |
| Successor | Frederick L. Barry |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | June 10, 1906 by David H. Greer |
| Consecration | October 24, 1922 by Richard H. Nelson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 15, 1877 Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, England |
| Died | April 7, 1963 (aged 85) Litchfield, Connecticut, United States |
| Nationality | English |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Parents | Joseph Rodgers Oldham & Mary Elizabeth Shaw Banks |
| Spouse | Emily Pierrepont Gould |
| Children | 4 |
| Previous post(s) | Coadjutor Bishop of Albany (1922-1929) |
George Ashton Oldham (August 15, 1877 – April 7, 1963 Oldham was a major religious leader for several decades in the middle of the 20th and a serious candidate for presiding bishop.
Early life
Oldham grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and attended Cornell University, where he was an active debater, and graduated with an A.B. in 1902. In 1908, he graduated from the General Theological Seminary with his bachelor's degree in divinity.
Marriage
Oldham was married to Emily Pierrepont Gould (born March 24, 1884 — died October 31, 1969), from a very old and wealthy family. She was noted in the Social Register of New York of 1914, among other years. She was the daughter of Mary Pierrepont Perry and James Henry Gould (1844-1896), and a direct descendant of James Pierpont, the founder of Yale University. Their society wedding was announced in the New York Tribune, which was set for January 14, 1915, to be celebrated by Bishop Greer at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Emily Pierrepont Gould was a distant cousin of Aaron Burr through James Pierpont.
At the time of his marriage, Oldham was rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church at Convent Avenue and West 141st Street in Manhattan, which was next to Hamilton Grange, the home of Alexander Hamilton.
Work as bishop
Oldham was elected Bishop Coadjutor of Albany in 1922, to prepare for replacing Richard Henry Nelson.
In 1924, Oldham made a major sermon, entitled "America First", at the Washington National Cathedral. However, it was not necessarily made in support of the controversial "America First" movement:
His message was a more compassionate one, a call to transform ourselves into a nation that is first in "things of spirit", rather than "treading again the old, worn, bloody pathway which ends inevitably in chaos and disaster".
— David Walsh, Independence Day Blog.
His sermon on "The church's responsibility for world peace" was also widely published. He was a keynote speaker at the 1931 dedication of the War Memorial in Ithaca, New York, place of his alma mater, Cornell.
Oldham was an organizer of a conference on Anglo-Catholicism in Albany. He was also active in ecumenism with the Roman Catholic Church, long before that became popular.
He was installed in 1929 in the cathedra in the choir at the Cathedral of All Saints, as the 3rd Bishop of Albany. That would be a terribly unlucky year to begin any ministry, as the Great Depression was to start with the Stock Market Crash of 1929.
Oldham wrote the Catechism Today: Instructions on the Church, the catechism used in the Episcopal Church (United States) for decades until 1979.
He also wrote a book entitled The Fighting Church.
He was very active in Episcopal Church activities, from at least 1932. In 1937, he was a serious candidate for election as presiding bishop.
In 1949, he received an honorary degree from Hobart College. The deanery of the Cathedral of All Saints is named Oldham House in his honor.
He retired as bishop in 1950 and died in 1963. He was replaced by Bishop Frederick L. Barry, whose death he announced to a diocesan convention in 1960.
External links
- Bibliographic directory from Project Canterbury
- Cathedral of All Saints web site
- Episcopal Diocese of Albany official web site
See also
- List of Episcopal bishops (U.S.)