Cortlandt Whitehead

Cortlandt Whitehead (October 30, 1842 – September 18, 1922) was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh from 1882 to 1922. Biography Cortlandt Whitehead's father was William Adee Whitehead (1810–1884), the son of William Whitehead, who was born of English parents in the Island of St. Croix, W.I., May 12, 1773. His wife was Abby Coe, of Newark, N.J. Whitehead's mother was Margaret Elizabeth Parker, the daughter of James and Penelope (Butler) Parker, of Perth Amboy, N.J. Whitehead's grandfather, James Parker, was the grandson of Rev. William Skinner, first rector of St. Peter's Church, Perth Amboy. The latter was a member of the Clan MacGregor, and assumed the name of Skinner, when, after the rebellion of 1715, the name MacGregor was proscribed. His wife was Elizabeth Van Courtlandt, daughter of Stephanus Van Cortlandt, first lord of the Manor of Courtlandt, Westchester County, N. Y. Cortlandt Whitehead was born in New York City on October 30, 1842. All his early years were spent in Newark, New Jersey, where at various schools, and later at the Newark Academy, he made preparation for college, and then to Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., graduating in the Class of 1859. In the autumn of that year, he joined the Class of 1863 of Yale College, graduating in due course, and taking the degree of Master of Arts three years later, in 1866. Thereafter, for four years, he was in preparation for the ministry, one of those years, however, spent as a private tutor. In 1867 he graduated at the Philadelphia Divinity School, and was admitted deacon by the Right Reverend William Henry Odenheimer, D.D., Bishop of New Jersey, in Trinity Church, Newark, on June 21. Immediately upon admission to the ministry, he offered himself to the Right Reverend George H. Randall, D.D., Bishop of Colorado, to serve as missionary in his jurisdiction; and during August, 1867, he journeyed across the plains, a considerable portion of the journey being by stagecoach, to Denver, and thence to Black Hawk and Central City, in the mountains west of Denver. In these places, and at Georgetown and Idaho City, he held service and did missionary work for three years.