The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-06-20
PHI.
A8ouT THE FIRST
Il BISHOP OF OHIO, FOR WHOM S5s
I ENNSYLVANIA's NEW tjNi-35.5s
TED STATES SENATOR
WAS NAMED.

Bishop Philander Chase, for whom
Senator p C, Knox was named, was
one OF the most distinguished found
ers of the Protestant Episcopal
Church in the West. he was born
in New Hampshire in I1.5 and in 1917
went TO Ohio. where he organized
several parishes, and in 1Sl9 was
elected first bishop for that State
1t was his purpose TO found a college
and Theological seminary, and in or
der to secure the necessary funds he.
went TO England. His visit there at
tracted groa deal OF attention. An
American bishop. and especially one
from the wilderness. which Ohio
then was, was rarity in the mother;
country, He collected $4,000, a
large sum in those days. and purchas-.
ed 5000 acres of land in what is now
Knox county, O.. q few miles from
Mt. Vernon. the county seat There
he founded the town of Gambler and
also Kenyon College, named respect.
lively after Lords Gambler and Ken
yon. two of his benefactors. ie also
established theological seminary.
known as Bexley hall and named after
Lady Bexley. Tile stone walls Of
this building were very thick. and
the bacllwoodsmen of the neishbor-
hood, knowing that the money for its
construction had come from England,
believed that the bishop intended to
establish q fort there and array him
self against the authorities of the
United States.
Prior 10 this time. and when the
bishop was principal OF an academy
at WortLiuGton. near Columbus, his
nephew, Salmon p. Chase, afterward
Governor. Senator. Secretary of the
Treasury and Chief Justice of the
United States, came out TO him in
Ohio. The future chief Justice was
then but IL years of age, and went
as far as Cleveland, O., with an elder
brother. who was starting to join
the schoolcraft expedition to the up
per Mississippi. Young Chase was
obliged to remain some time at Clevc-
land, and earned his living by ferry
ing passengers across the Cuyahoga
river in a canoe. At Worthington
Chase studied in the bishops acade-
my and worked on the bishops farm.
Later, after he had been admitted
to the bar, Chase went to Washing
ton, but, failing to find employment,
he applied to another uncle, Dudley
Chase. then a United States Senator.
for q clerllship in the Treasury De-
partn ent. IF you want half dollar
to buy spade, and go dig for liv-
ing said the Senator. II will give it
to you, but / will not help you to
place under the government. 1 got
place once for a nephew and it ruined
him." The young man thus refused
aftcrward became Secretary of The
Treasury. ~
Disputes arose in the new diocese
of Ohio over the funds obtained from
England. and in 1881 Bishop Chase re-
signed his bishopric and left Ohio.
In 1885 he was chosen first bishop
of Illinois. and, again visiting Eng
land, obtained $4,000, with which
he founded jubilee College. He was
presiding bishop of the Episcopal
Church from 1915: until he died in
1852. He is stated to have been a
man OF indomtable perseverance and
great strength of will and was the
most successful and energetic pioneer
OF the, Episcopal church in the West.
While Bishop Chase was in England
in 1928, raising funds for Gambler
College, & young EnsIishman named
Caswe1l was so attracted by him that
he came ont TO Ohio and studied for
the ministry. He married a niece of
Bishop Chase aud was rector OF sew
eral churches il Ohio, Indiana and
Kentucky. II was about that time
that Mormonism had its start and Cas-
well had an interview with the
Joseph Smith and wrote one
OF the first books on Mormonism, a
publication which had wide circula-
ton in both England and the United
States He returned to England and
a priva&e act of Parliament was pass
ed making him a clergyman of the
Church of England. in which capacity
he served as vicar of Figheldean,
Wiltshire. and a prebeud of Salisbury
His later years were spent
in Franklin, Pa, where he died about |
so years ago. Among the heiriooms |
Of the family was a Scottish plaid of
the coIors of the Stuart clan. This
plaid was worn by the young preten-
Eov~;r in al