Bedell, Gregory Townsend

(Oct. 28, 1783-Aug. 30, 1834). A leading evangelical preacher, who wrote several poems and musical compositions. He was born in Fresh Kill, Staten Island, New York, and educated at the Episcopal Academy, Cheshire, Connecticut. He graduated from Columbia College in 1811 and then studied for the ordained ministry. He was ordained deacon on Nov. 4, 1814, and priest on June 28, 1818. From June 15, 1815, until late 1818, he was the pastor of Christ Church, Hudson, New York. He was rector of St. John's Church, Fayetteville, North Carolina, 1818-1822. In 1822 he moved to Philadelphia and established St. Andrew's Church. He died in Baltimore, Maryland. He was the editor, 1824-1827, of the Philadelphia Recorder (later the Episcopal Recorder), a periodical “standing for Low Church evangelical principles.” He was the father of Gregory Thurston Bedell, the third Bishop of Ohio.