Title: James H. Otey Letter

Date/Date Range :   1837 August 17

Extent: 0.1 linear feet

Abstract:

This collection houses the August 17, 1837, letter of James H. Otey in Columbia, Tennessee, to his sister, Mrs. Frances A. Buford, in Bedford County, Virginia. Otey recounts his ordeals with a near-fatal disease and enthusiastically advises his sister about her "religious condition."

Call number: MS-3124

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

Collection is property of the UTK Special Collections Library.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], James H. Otey Letter, MS-3124. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of one folder.

James Hervey Otey was born on January 27, 1800, in Bedford County, Virginia, and graduated in 1820 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The next year he married Eliza Panhill and moved to Maury County, Tennessee, to be principal of the Harpeth Academy. After becoming an Episcopal priest in 1827, Otey established Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee at Nashville and in 1834 was elected first bishop of Tennessee.

As well as establishing numerous churches, Otey helped found schools designed to provide a Christian education, including one in Columbia, Tennessee, where he began living in 1835. He moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1852, and died there in 1863.

This collection contains the August 17, 1837, letter of James H. Otey in Columbia, Tennessee, to his sister, Mrs. Frances A. Buford in Bedford County, Virginia. Otey recounts his ordeals with a near-fatal disease, which left him "impressed with the frailty of life" and "with considerations of the goodness of God." He also enthusiastically advises his sister about her "religious condition," stating "For a person in your situation, seldom having an opportunity of hearing the word of God preached" that "the only safety is to perform [your children's] daily religious duties with the same system and regularity as they do any other work."

See also, MS-2279: the Episcopal Bishops Collection, 1858-1956.

• Otey, James Hervey, 1800-1863.
• Columbia (Tenn.) -- History.
• Episcopalians -- Tennessee.