An autonomous branch of the fellowship of Anglican churches that is unique within Protestantism for its religious orders of monks and nuns. The Episcopal Church spread slowly westward because its organizational structure (state organizations giving way to dioceses) lacked the easy adaptability to frontier conditions. The formation of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society in 1820 extended church work to the west. In 1835, Jackson Kemper became the Church's first missionary bishop, responsible for founding churches in the west: Wisconsin was added to his jurisdiction in 1838. Public services and an organized ministry were initiated in Wisconsin with the arrival of the Oneidas to the Duck Creek Reservation near Green Bay in 1822. The Duck Creek mission became the first known non-Catholic church in Wisconsin and it grew eventually to become the largest single Indian mission of the Episcopal Church in the nation.

Further missionary work had begun in 1829 with the opening of a mission boarding school by Father Richard F. Cadle near Green Bay. Father Norman Nash led and organized the first white parish in 1826.  Between 1838 and 1847, Rev. Kemper made annual visits to Wisconsin to review and encourage Episcopal priests and missionaries at Green Bay, Duck Creek, and in the southwest. Father Cadle left Green Bay in 1837 and was a key figure in the development of the church in the southwest.  In 1847, Wisconsin had 969 Episcopalians. Kemper was elected Wisconsin Diocesan in 1848 and helped to establish the All Saints Cathedral in Milwaukee as the seat of central authority for the Church. He also worked to train young men for the missionary and in 1842, Nashotah House was built to provide a training facility for the priesthood.  Gustaf Unonius was Nashotah House's first graduate and the first Swedish Episcopal minister in the U.S. He helped to organize Scandinavian settlers in southeast Wisconsin. Under Kemper, Wisconsin was divided geographically into Convocations at Milwaukee, Fond du Lac, Madison, and La Crosse: today, Wisconsin has three dioceses at Eau Claire, Milwaukee, and Fond du Lac. Membership in the Church reached its peak in 1926.  Episcopalians are most numerous in urban areas, with highest concentrations in the eastern counties.

Wisconsin's Cultural Resources Study Units, Wisconsin Historical Society

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