PROVOOST, pro-ve, Samuel, American Protestant Episcopal bishop: b. New York, 26 Feb. 1742; d. there, 6 Sept. 1815. He was graduated at King's College (now Columbia) in 1758, at its first commencement; went to Eng land in 1761 to prepare for ordination, studied at Saint Peter's College, Cambridge University, and was ordained deacon and priest in 1766. Returning to America he became assistant rector of Trinity Church, New York. He re signed in 1771. In 1784 he was elected rector of Trinity Church. In the same year he was appointed a regent of the University of New York and was given the degree of D.D. by the University of Pennsylvania. Throughout the Revolution he took a firm stand in favor of the liberty of the colonies, and was chaplain to Congress in 1785 as well as to the United States Senate in 1789. In 1787 he was appointed a trustee of Columbia College. After presiding at the general convention held in Wilmington in 1786 (the absent Seabury being the only bishop in America), he set sail for England in company with William White to receive episco pal consecration, having been elected as bishop of New York. A special act of Parliament hav ing been passed empowering the archbishops of Canterbury and York ato consecrate to the office of a bishop persons being subjects or citizens of countries out of His Majesty's dominions,* Provoost and White were consecrated by these prelates and the bishops of Bath and Wells and Peterborough in the chapel of Lambeth Palace, 4 Feb. 1787. Bishop Provoost resigned the rec
torship of Trinity Church in 1800 and his see in 1801, but the House of Bishops declined to receive his resignation, giving consent, however, to the consecration of Dr. Benjamin Moore as assistant bishop. He is buried in Trinity churchyard. Consult Berrian, W., 'An His torical Sketch of Trinity Church' (New York 1847) Dix, M., ed., 'A History of the Parish of Trinity Church, New York' (4 vols., New York 1898-1906) ; Francis, J. W., 'Old New York' (New York 1858) ; Gallagher, M., 'Chapter of Unwritten History' (New York 1888) ; Hartley, I. S., 'Rt. Rev. S. Provoost' (in Magazine of American History, Vol. XXVI, p. 115, New York 1891) ; Perry, W. S., 'Bishop Seabury and Bishop Provoost' (1862); 'Pro voost, A. J., 'Biographical and Genealogical Notes of the Provoost Family' (New York 1895) ; Purple, E. R., 'Genealogical Notes on the Provoost Family' (New York 1875) ; Schroeder, T. F.,