Alexander Burgess

Burgess was born on October 31, 1819, in Providence, Rhode Island, the son of Thomas Burgess and Mary Mackie. His brother George Burgess was to become the future Bishop of Maine, while his nephew Frederick Burgess, was to become the future Bishop of Long Island. He graduated from Brown University in 1838 and the General Theological Seminary in 1841.[1]

Burgess was ordained to the diaconate on November 3, 1842, by Presiding Bishop Alexander Viets Griswold, and to the priesthood on November 1, 1843, by Bishop John Prentiss Kewley Henshaw of Rhode Island.[2] In 1842, Burgess was assigned to St Stephen's Church in East Haddam, Connecticut, while in 1843 he became rector of St Mark's Church in Augusta, Maine. Between 1854 and 1866 he served as rector St Luke's Church in Portland, Maine. In 1866, he went to become rector of St John's Church in Brooklyn, while in 1869 he assumed the rectorship of Christ Church in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he remained till 1878. He represented the dioceses of Maine, Long Island and Massachusetts as a deputy from 1844 to 1877, and was elected President of the House of Deputies in 1877.[3]

During a special convention held February 26, 1878, Burgess was elected as the first Bishop of Quincy on the forty forth ballot. He was consecrated in Christ Church on May 15, 1878, by Presiding Bishop Benjamin B. Smith.[4]

• The American Church Review, 1878, page 627.