Timeline: Colonial Foundations to Present
Nova Belgica et Anglia Nova, from Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1635, Amsterdam.
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Note: In the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, the “Rector” is the priest elected to head a self-supporting parish. A priest who is appointed by the bishop to head a parish in the absence of a rector is termed a “priest-in-charge”, as is a priest leading a mission to a congregation that is not self-supporting. All ministers before 1777 were SPG missionary ministers, and are thus “priests in charge”; after this date they are rectors.