Bissett, George

Bissett, George a missionary of the Church of England, came from that country to Newport, R. I., in 1767, as assistant to the Rev. Arthur Browne, rector of Trinity Church. When Mr. Browne went to England in 1769, Mr. Bissett supplied his place as minister. It was part of his regular duty to teach the school connected with the parish. The "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts" declined sending a missionary to this point, whereupon the congregation made him rector, and he remained with them until Newport was evacuated by the British, Oct. 25, 1779, when he went to New York, leaving his wife and child In destitute circumstances. His flight, of course, was in consequence of his royalist sentiments. Afterwards his family were permitted to rejoin him in New York. About 1786 he was appointed missionary to. St. John's Church, and died in New York city in 1788. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 5, 80.