Coleman, Leighton

(May 3, 1837-Dec. 14, 1907). Bishop and church historian. He was born in Philadelphia. Coleman was ordained deacon on July 1, 1860. He graduated from the General Theological Seminary in 1861. From 1860 until 1862, he was a missionary at Randall's and Blackwell's Islands, New York. On May 15, 1862, Coleman was ordained priest. From 1862 until 1863, he was rector of St. Luke's Church, Bustleton, Pennsylvania. He was rector of St. John's Church, Wilmington, Delaware, 1863-1866; St. Mark's Church, Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, 1866-1874; and Trinity Church, Toledo, Ohio, 1874-1879. Coleman lived and worked in England from 1879 until 1887, and then was rector of the Church of the Redeemer, Sayre, Pennsylvania, 1887-1888. He was consecrated the second Bishop of Delaware on Oct. 18, 1888, and served in that position until his death. He wrote several books, of which the most significant was The Church in America (1895). It was issued in a second edition in 1906 with the title, A History of the American Church to the Close of the Nineteenth Century. He died in Wilmington, Delaware.