{{Short description|American bishop (1841–1888)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Bishop | honorific-prefix = The Right Reverend | name = Samuel Smith Harris | honorific-suffix = D.D., LL.D. | title = Bishop of Michigan | image = Samuel Smith Harris.png | alt = | caption = | church = Episcopal Church | archdiocese = | diocese = Michigan | see = | term = 1879–1888 | elected = June 7, 1879 | predecessor = Samuel A. McCoskry | successor = Thomas Frederick Davies Sr. <!-- Orders --> | ordination = June 30, 1869 | ordained_by = Richard Hooker Wilmer | consecration = September 17, 1879 | consecrated_by = Richard Hooker Wilmer | rank = <!-- Personal details --> | birth_date = {{birth date|1841|9|14}} | birth_place = Autauga County, Alabama, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1888|8|21|1841|9|14}} | death_place = London, England | buried = Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit | previous_post = | parents = Buckner Harris & Sarah McKeithen | spouse = Mary Gindrat Pickett | children = 7 | alma_mater = University of Alabama | religion = Anglican | signature = Signature of Samuel Smith Harris (1841–1888).png }} '''Samuel Smith Harris''' (September 14, 1841&nbsp;– August 21, 1888) was the second Bishop of Michigan in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

==Biography== Harris was born on September 14, 1841, in Autauga County, Alabama.<ref name=Twentieth>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/twentiethcentur26unkngoog/page/n116/mode/1up |title=The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans |volume=V |editor1-first=Rossiter |editor1-last=Johnson |editor2-first=John Howard |editor2-last=Brown |publisher=American Biographical Society |location=Boston |page=<!-- no page numbers --> |year=1904 |access-date=2022-04-08 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> He graduated in law from the University of Alabama in 1859. Later he enlisted in the 3rd Regiment Alabama Infantry in 1861. On December 19, the same year, Harris married Mary Gindrat Pickett with whom he had seven children. After the war he left for New York to practice supreme law. He also commenced his studies in theology after which he was ordained deacon on February 10, 1869, and then priest on June 30, 1869, on both occasions by Bishop Richard Hooker Wilmer of Alabama. He served in several churches in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Illinois. He graduated with a Doctor of Divinity in 1874 from the College of William & Mary and his LLD from the University of Alabama in 1879.

==Episcopacy== In 1879 Harris was elected Bishop of Michigan. He was consecrated on September 17, 1879, in St Paul's Cathedral in Detroit. He served as the first editor of ''The Living Church'' with John Fulton, and wrote several books, including ''The Dignity of Man'', ''Christianity and Civil Society'', ''Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality'', and ''Shelton'', a novel.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Herringshaw |editor-first=Thomas William |title=Accurate and Succinct Biographies of Famous Men and Women in All Walks of Life |location=Chicago |publisher=American Publishers Association |year=1902 }}</ref>

==Death== In 1888 he traveled to England to preach in Winchester Cathedral. Whilst there he suffered a stroke and died a few days later on August 21, 1888.<ref name=Twentieth/> His funeral took place in Winchester Cathedral and presided by Edward White Benson Primate of All England and Archbishop of Canterbury. His body was brought back to Detroit and buried in Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit, however he was exhumed and transferred to Elmwood Cemetery in 1900.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Samuel Smith Harris |sopt=t}}

{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ep}} {{succession box|title=Bishop of Michigan|before=Samuel A. McCoskry|after=Thomas Frederick Davies Sr.|years=1879–1888}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Samuel Smith}} Category:1841 births Category:1888 deaths Category:People from Autauga County, Alabama Category:Clergy from Detroit Category:19th-century American Episcopal priests Category:Episcopal bishops of Michigan Category:Burials at Elmwood Cemetery (Detroit)

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