Wharton, Charles Henry

(May 25, 1748-July 23, 1833). An organizer of the Episcopal Church. He was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland. Wharton was raised a Roman Catholic, and in 1760 he entered the Jesuit college at Saint-Omer, France. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest on Sept. 19, 1772, and then became a chaplain to the Roman Catholics at Worcester, England. Wharton returned to America in 1783 after his conversion to Anglicanism. He became the rector of Immanuel Church, New Castle, Delaware. He was a deputy to the first General Convention in 1785 and named a member of the committee that prepared the constitution of the new church. In 1798 he became the rector of St. Mary's Church, Burlington, New Jersey, where he remained until his death. Wharton died in Burlington.