Edward Thomson (bishop)

Edward Thomson was an American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church (and therefore also of the United Methodist Church), elected in 1864.

Birth and Family

Edward was born 12 October 1810 in Portsea, part of Portsmouth, England. When he was seven years old his parents emigrated to the U.S.A., settling in Wooster, Ohio.

Education

His father, a druggist, influenced Edward toward the study of medicine, which he pursued at the University of Pennsylvania. He united with the M.E. Church 29 April 1832, and was licensed as an Exhorter the next year. Indiana Asbury (now DePauw) University gave him the degree of D.D. in 1846, and Ohio Wesleyan that of LL.D. in 1855.

Ordained Ministry

The following July Edward was recommended for admission to the Ohio Annual Conference, received "on trial" that September. He was appointed junior preacher on the Norwalk Circuit. His great abilities were apparent almost immediately. In 1836 he was appointed to Detroit in the Michigan Annual Conference (the northern part of Ohio then a part of the Michigan Conference). Lewis Cass, Governor of Michigan, though a Presbyterian, was among Rev. Thomson's parishioners. While at Detroit, Edward married a daughter of Mordecai Bartley, Member of Congress (and later also Governor).

In 1837 Edward became the Principal of the Norwalk Seminary, where his success was so great that in 1843 he was offered the Chancellorship of the University of Michigan and the Presidency of Transylvania College. In 1844 Edward was elected by the M.E. General Conference the Editor of the "Ladies' Repository," an important denominational periodical. He was re-elected to this post in 1848, but instead was called to the Presidency of Ohio Wesleyan University, a post he held until 1860. He was elected Editor of the "Christian Advocate" in 1860, remaining until 1864 despite much opposition.

Episcopal Ministry

Elected to the Episcopacy in 1864, Bishop Thomson continued in this office until his death. He likewise attained high rank as a lecturer and an editor, writing much for periodicals and papers. He was a profound student, though absent-minded, preferring the seclusion of a college to the episcopal "office." Notwithstanding, he was among the most eminent of Bishops of that time.

Bishop Thomson died 21 March 1870 in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Selected Writings

Educational Essays (new edition), Cincinnati, 1856.
Moral and Religious Essays, 1856.
Biographical and Incidental Sketches, 1856.
Letters from Europe, 1856.
Letters from India, China, and Turkey, (2 vols.), 1870.

References

Virtual American Biographies, based on Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography (Six Volumes). James Grant Wilson, John Fiske and Stanley L. Klos, Editors. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-89 and 1999. [1]
Leete, Frederick DeLand, Methodist Bishops. Nashville, The Methodist Publishing House, 1948.