Elected 1786, October, Day 1

The Rev. Samuel Provoost, born Feb. 26, 1742, was very briefly the second President of the House of Deputies, and shortly thereafter, the first Bishop of New York. Provoost was born in New York City and studied at King’s College (Columbia) and Cambridge. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1766, and served for sixteen years as the rector of Trinity Church in New York. In 1787 he traveled to England with William White and was consecrated as the third bishop in the American succession. He served as Bishop of New York until his retirement in 1801, after which his duties were taken up by Assistant Bishop Benjamin Moore. Bishop Provoost died in 1815 in New York City.