Talk:William Meade

Southern Church
I note that Meade became the Presiding Bishop of the "Southern Church," during the Civil War. I have several questions, answers to which might be an improvement to this article. Was the Southern Church formally seperated from the ECUSA during the period of the CSA? Was it called the "Southern Church," of something else (e.g. The Episcopal Church in the CSA?") Did it have a General Convention?  Does it have any historical tie to the current Southern Episcopal Church?  Etc.  A brief history, either here or in a new article, might be useful.  Just some thoughtsFranklin Moore 16:45, 20 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I did find this, which wihile it does not refer to Meade, does refer to the Sourthern Church and answers some of the question. The Church was apparently know by 2 names, The Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America and/or the General Convention of the Confederate States of America. Franklin Moore 01:26, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Benjamin Treadwell Onderdonk
I edited out the intoxication part of the statement that Benjamin Treadwell Onderdonk "was suspended due to intoxication and improper conduct." I researched the trial before the House of Bishops and include this (with cites) in the article on Benjamin Treadwell Onderdonk. While there was some reference to alcohol at the time, he was suspended for improper conduct not intoxication. Franklin Moore 18:45, 7 April 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Alexnovo (talk • contribs)

slavery
The article's current state reflects my confusion as to Meade's views on slavery, since the first source I consulted said Meade freed his slaves, but upon checking Johns' biography, it seems Meade may have only freed some of his slaves (or that might've reflected Johns' pro-slavery views). I haven't checked the relevant wills, nor visited the Clark County historical society to check if anyone's done research on him in the last few decades--nor do I have time given my family and other responsibilities (I write this in McDonalds as I wait for a recycling center to open). It's ironic that slavery's ills were the don't ask/don't tell bugaboo in the 19th century, and now these Confederate bishops seem a 20th century bugaboo (I edited the Henry C. Lay article some months ago). One possibility is that Meade, like bishop Madison, didn't have slaves but also didn't oppose slavery in any active way. Another possibility is that Meade moderated his anti-slavery position in the 1830s after the deaths of Rev. William Holland Wilmer and/or Meade's own second wife, and/or Nat Turner's revolt. As for Rev. Wilmer's antislavery stance, I edited his wikipedia article a few months ago. Unfortunately, briefly skimming Felder Dorn's recent book also didn't resolve my questions. I also don't have time to edit John Johns' article which seems inappropriately giving him credit for reviving the Episcopal church in Virginia. On my to-do list for months have been 3 new articles: (1) about the Ketoctin Baptist Association (the first the put black and white members on equal footing) most of whose churches were in the same Berryville/Millwood/Winchester area as Meade's home (2) about All Saints church in Frederick, Maryland (about a day's ride up Hwy 340 from Meade's Millwood home) at which both bishop John Johns as well as Confederate general William N. Pendleton served and (3) 17th century Rev. Thomas Bacon, All Saints' first priest and possibly helping both blacks and native americans.Jweaver28 (talk) 13:27, 15 September 2014 (UTC)Jweaver28 (talk) 21:50, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

A couple of days ago (while updating a refurb laptop to replace the one whose screen broke after falling on its corner from an improperly zipped base) I read a recent biography of the lawyer and prominent Episcopal layman Francis Scott Key. He undoubtedly knew Bishop Meade from their mutual Episcopal church activities in the then-new national capital area (especially VTS), as well as what I'll call the Shenandoah/Catoctin corridor. While I'm still not sure of their personal interactions nor views of each other (since the author mentioned but barely explained Key's church activities), I hope some historian can do as good a job concerning Meade's (and John Marshall's and John Johns') views on slaveholding as well as actual practices, as Prof. Leepson did concerning Key's. I appreciated not only his research into Key's purchases, manumissions and lawsuits both for slaves and slaveholders, but his discussion of the complex moral issues which continued to face and trouble intellectual leaders of that day and age. Thus, a professional whom contemporaries saw as moral could now seem so hypocritical if not immoral (at least before my edits of his wikipedia article that day).Jweaver28 (talk) 23:43, 19 September 2014 (UTC)