Alexander Gregg


Alexander Gregg, an Episcopal clergyman, was the first bishop of Texas.

Information

Bishop Alexander Gregg was born on October 8, 1819, in Society Hill, South Carolina, Darlington County, South Carolina, in an area historically known as ″the old Cheraws."
Gregg was the first elected Bishop of Texas in 1859. His diocese covered the entire state of Texas. Bishop Gregg presided through the difficult days of the Civil War and Reconstruction, and gave leadership as Texas changed from frontier to settled community. He saw the number of churches in his diocese grow from six to sixty. In 1874, toward the end of his episcopate, Gregg presided over the division of the Diocese of Texas into three dioceses - two new missionary districts of West Texas and North Texas. The Diocese of Texas retained the name of the original diocese in our present boundaries.
In 1867, Bishop Gregg published the history of his native area with a decided emphasis on the Patriot role in the American Revolution.
Bishop Gregg died at his Austin, Texas, home on July 10, 1893, is buried at Saint David's Church in Cheraw, South Carolina.
Currently there are a total of six separate bishoprics in the state: the Dioceses of Texas, West Texas, Dallas, Fort Worth, Northwest Texas and western most Texas attached to New Mexico as the Diocese of the Rio Grande.