Thursday, June 21, 2018

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Going to the Chapel

This post is part of Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks for 2018. The prompt for the week of June 4, 2018, is Going to the Chapel. Amy suggests this topic doesn't necessarily have to be about going to the chapel to get married; it could be about a clergyman in the family or a particular church. I thought of my maternal great grandfather, George Albert Redles, an Episcopalian minister.

One of seven children, George Albert (or G. Albert) Redles was born on September 12, 1843, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to John Adam Redles and Jane Eliza Myers. 

G. Albert graduated from the Boys’ Central High School in Philadelphia in 1862 and entered the University of Pennsylvania that year where he studied in the Department of Arts. He graduated in 1865.[1] 

Handwritten information (page 1) for the University of Pennsylvania’s biographical sketch in my mother’s possession. This appears to have been written by my grandfather, William Liming Redles, G. Albert’s son
Handwritten information (page 2) for the University of Pennsylvania’s biographical sketch in my mother’s possession. This appears to have been written by my grandfather William Liming Redles, G. Albert’s son

While G. Albert was at the University of Pennsylvania, he was a member of the Philomathean Society (a literary society according to Wikipedia), the Honors Club, and the University Glee Club.[2] In 1865, he entered the Episcopal Divinity School and graduated in 1868. He was ordained as a deacon by Bishop Stevens and as a priest of the Pennsylvania Diocese by Bishop Lee.[3] He accepted the position of Assistant Minister of St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Wilmington, Delaware, in June 1868.[4] The following year, he married Isabella Sheppard (nee Liming) on June 7, 1869, at St. Andrews. Rev. Alfred Lee, rector of the church, performed the ceremony. It was the first marriage for G. Albert, and Isabella’s second (her first was to Joseph Sheppard, see my post Two Husbands for Isabella).

G. Albert was the rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Mt. Holly, New Jersey, from 1871 to 1874.[5] He baptized his own son, William Liming Redles, on March 16, 1874, in this church.[6] G. Albert and Isabella had two other children, Isabella (b. 1876) and Helen (b. 1877).

G. Albert eventually joined the Reformed Episcopal Church and was the rector of the Reformed Episcopal Church of Our Redeemer. He was the rector of the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Philadelphia from 1910 to 1912. He retired in June 1912, and died on November 4, 1912, at the age of 69.[7] According to the handwritten information for the University of Pennsylvania’s biographical sketch, G. Albert was the rector of a total of six churches (see footnote 1 below). 

Catherine
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References:
[1] Handwritten information for the University of Pennsylvania’s biographical sketch in my mother’s possession. This appears to have been written by my grandfather William Liming Redles, G. Albert’s son. 

[2] University Society Record, University of Pennsylvania, 1863. University Record, University of Pennsylvania, College Year 1864-1865. (Both available online at Penn University Archives & Records Center.)

[3] The American Church Almanac Yearbook for 1913, page 568. Edwin S. Gorham Publisher, New York. (Digital copy available on Google Books)

[4] Journal of the Proceedings of the Seventy-Ninth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Diocese of Delaware, held in Christ Church, Delaware City on Wednesday June 2, 1869, Published by Order of the Convention, H. & E. F. James Printers, Wilmington, Delaware, 1869. (Digital copy available on Google Books)

[5] Archives of the General Convention, Edited by Order of the Commission on Archives by Arthur Lowndes, New York, 1912, page 348. (Digital copy available on www.archive.org)

[6] Baptismal record for William Liming Redles. (accessed on ancestry.com) Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records, Reel 777.

[7] See footnote 3.






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