Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana Archives

Rt. Rev. Benjamin Franklin Price Ivins

The Rt. Rev. Benjamin F. P. Ivins was born in South Bend, Indiana, on 6 October 1884, the son of Elbert Thomas and Lucretia (Hart) Ivins. He marred Sarah Jennie Seeber in 1908, and the following year graduated from Nashotah House seminary. He was ordained a deacon in 1909 and a priest in 1910, the same year he came to Indiana to become rector of St. Thomas Church in Plymouth. He remained there until 1913, and then spent a year as Head of the History Department at Howe School. In 1914 he moved to Gary to become rector of Christ Church, and during his tenure he established the first weekday religious school in the country. Resigning in 1915, he moved to Kalamazoo to become rector of St. Luke's, and also served in World War I. In 1921 he was elected dean and president of Nashotah House, serving there until 1925. That year he was elected Bishop Coadjutor in the Diocese of Milwaukee, succeeded William Walter Webb as bishop in 1933. In this role he was one of the bishops who consecrated Reginald Mallett as Bishop of Northern Indiana in 1944. He remained bishop until his retirement in 1953 and died on 2 December 1962. He was buried at Nashotah House.


 

This page references: