Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History/biography
Thomas Hubbard Vail was born in Richmond, Virginia, on October 21, 1812. He graduated from Trinity College, Hartford in 1831, and from the General Theological Seminary (GTS) in 1835. In 1858, he received a Doctor of Sacred Theology from Brown University and later, in 1875, he earned a Doctor of Laws from the University of Kansas.
After his graduation from GTS, Vail was ordained deacon in 1835 and a priest two years later. Around this time, he married Frances Sophia Vose with whom he had a daughter, Maria Vail. From 1837 to 1863, Vail served as rector for the following parishes: Christ Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1837-1838); St. John’s Church, Essex, Connecticut (1839-1844); Christ Church, Westerly, Rhode Island (1844-1857); St. Thomas’ Church, Taunton, Massachusetts (1857-1863); and Trinity Church, Muscatine, Iowa (1863-1864).
Vail was ordained the first Bishop of Kansas, on December 15, 1864, at Trinity Church, in Muscatine, IA. Three years later and after Frances’ death, he married Ellen Ledlie Bowman, Samuel Bowman’s daughter. With her he had a daughter, Ellen Sitgreaves Vail (Motter), in whose honor the Vail-Bowman correspondence was donated to the Archives. As bishop, Vail developed the new diocese, founded a wide network of parishes, and established both an Episcopal Seminary (1865) and the first Protestant hospital in Kansas, Christ Hospital in Topeka (1884). He was known for his rhetorical skill and for making the Church’s teachings accessible. His creative works include: The Comprehensive Church, Life of Lyde, and Sermon and the Consecration of the Chapel of Griswold College. Bishop Vail died in Philadelphia on October 6, 1889.