St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Carson City Nevada
The organizational meeting to incorporate a Protestant Episcopal Church in Carson City was held on November 9, 1863. At this meeting, the first Wardens and Vestrymen were elected. They were: Sam D. King, H..M. Yerington, A.H. Griswold, A.W. Tjader, J.C. Dorsey, P.W. Van Winkle, James V. Nye, Geo Turner, and H.F. Rice.
King and Griswold were selected as Wardens, the rest as Vestrymen. All of these men were well known and prominent citizens of Carson City in its formative years. Perhaps the most noted were James W. Nye, Governor of Nevada Territory and H.M. Yerington, later to become General Superintendent of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad.
Among the men who have served the church in a ministerial capacity, the Right Reverend Ozi William Whitaker is perhaps the "best known. He was horn in 1830 in New Salem, Massachusetts and ordained at Grace Church, Boston in 1863. His first parish in Nevada was at Gold Hill. In 1867 and early 1868, Whitaker also served St. Peter's in Carson City, conducting week-day services for the congregation, then without a regular minister. It was during this time that the church edifice was under construction. In October, 1868, he was appointed Bishop of the Missionary District of Nevada. In June 1870, Whitaker consecrated the enlarged St. Peter's Carson City. In 1886, he became Bishop Coadjutor of Pennsylvania, and later Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
