John Croes

{{Infobox Christian leader

| type = Bishop

| honorific_prefix = The Right Reverend

| name = John Croes

| honorific_suffix =

| title = Bishop of New Jersey

| image = John Croes (cropped).jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = The Rt. Rev. John Croes

| native_name =

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| church = Episcopal Church

| archdiocese =

| province =

| metropolis =

| diocese = New Jersey

| see =

| elected = August 30, 1815

| term = 1815–1832

| quashed =

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| successor = George Washington Doane

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| ordination = March 4, 1792

| ordained_by = William White

| consecration = November 19, 1815

| consecrated_by = William White

| rank =

| laicized =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1762|06|01}}

| birth_place = Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1832|07|26|1762|06|01}}

| death_place = New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.

| buried = Christ Church in New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.

| resting_place_coordinates =

| nationality = American

| religion = Anglican

| residence =

| parents = Jacob Croes and Charlotte Christiana Feigart

| spouse = Martha Crane

| children = 8

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| signature = John Croes (signature).jpg

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}}

John Croes (June 1, 1762 – July 26, 1832) was a prelate in the Episcopal Church who served as the first Bishop of New Jersey.

Early life and education

Croes was born on June 1, 1762, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the son of two German immigrants, Jacob Croes and Charlotte Christiana Feigart. He served in the Revolutionary War as a sergeant and quartermaster. He studied for the ministry of the Episcopal Church and was ordained deacon by Bishop William White in Philadelphia, on February 28, 1790, and priest on March 4, 1792.

Career

Croes was uniformly active and zealous in the service of the church, in both diocesan and general conventions. He first served as rector of Trinity Church, Swedesboro, New Jersey, and was called rector of Christ Church, New Brunswick, New Jersey. In 1801, and he also served as principal of Rutgers Preparatory School.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} During the early decades of the 19th century, he was a slave owner with at least four slaves in his household in New Brunswick.{{Cite web |title=New Jersey Slavery Records · John Croes (1762-1832) |url=https://records.njslavery.org/s/doc/item/2374 |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=records.njslavery.org}}

Walter Herbert Stowe wrote in 1966, that Croes was symbolic of the Episcopal Church ceasing to be exclusively English, coming from a lower class background, restoring a more democratized and simple Christian character to the episcopate without pomp and circumstance, and rejuvenating the standing of the church in New Jersey.{{Cite journal |last=Stowe |first=Walter Herbert |date=1966 |title=JOHN CROES (1762-1832) "First Bishop of New Jersey (1815-1832)" |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42973156 |journal=Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=221–230 |jstor=42973156 |issn=0018-2486}}

He was elected bishop of New Jersey in the summer, and was consecrated at St Peter's Church in Philadelphia on November 19, 1815. He is buried beneath the chancel of Christ Church in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

External links

[http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/jcroes/ Historical material by John Croes] from Project Canterbury
{{cite web |title=Info on the Historic Christ Church in New Brunswick, N.J. |url=http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~lesk/church/ |website=rutgers.edu |publisher=Rutgers University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820044519/http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~lesk/church/ |archive-date=20 August 2008 |url-status=dead}}

John Croes

Early life and education

Career

See also

External links

References

Further reading