When the adjourned convention convened in Christ Church on June 27, Bishop Lyman gave his canonical consent to the election of an assistant bishop. The convention then provided that the new office should carry with it an annual salary of twenty-five hundred dollars.
At the afternoon session the doors of the convention were closed, and nominations for an assistant bishop by the clergy were in order. The clergymen nominated were Rev. Nathaniel H. Harding, Dr. Joseph Blount Cheshire, Jr., Rev. T. M. N. George, Dr. Francis J. Murdoch, Dr. Matthias M. Marshall, and Rev. Robert S. Barrett. It is significant that all of these candidates, with the exception of R. S. Barrett, of Atlanta, were clergymen resident in North Carolina. It is also of interest that Murdoch and Cheshire, who were to be the two most important candidates, nominated each other. In his nomination speech Dr. Murdoch said: "The good shepherd knows his sheep. This is pre-eminently true of Dr. Cheshire. He knows the people of North Carolina, their history, their relationships, better perhaps than any other person living."[25]
Under the rules of the convention the clergy elects a bishop by a two-thirds vote of their number. Their choice is then submitted to the laity, who either ratify or reject it. In this convention twenty-nine votes was the necessary majority for election.
On the first three ballots, although all candidates received some votes, Cheshire led each time. But after the third ballot, the contest was narrowed down to Cheshire, Barrett, and Murdoch. Cheshire remained ahead through the sixth ballot; Murdoch then took the lead, which he held, with the exception of five ballots, through the twenty-fourth. During this balloting, Barrett led all candidates twice and tied with Murdoch for the highest number three times. After the twenty-fourth ballot Cheshire asked to be excused from further attendance. He explained that he had expected the convention to last only one day and had accordingly promised to marry a friend on the twenty-eighth.[26] He was excused, and without further balloting the convention adjourned at eleven-thirty in the evening.
The following morning balloting was resumed, with Murdoch continuing to hold his lead. On the twenty-ninth ballot the Rev. Arthur S. Lloyd, of Norfolk, Virginia, was nominated and remained in the contest until the end. From the thirty-second through the thirty-fifth ballots Cheshire did not receive a single vote; while from the thirty-sixth through the thirty-eighth he received only one vote on each. Before the thirty-seventh was taken, Rev. W. S. Barrows moved that if no one was elected within the next two ballots, the clergy should retire from the convention for a conference. His motion was carried. Since no election took place, the clergy repaired to Christ Church chapel for prayer and conference.
There was a small minority in the convention, numbering ten or twelve clergymen, who were opposed to electing anyone from the Diocese of North Carolina. This minority held the balance between the stronger candidates and thus prevented an election. All attempts to compromise with the minority on some candidate other than Murdoch or Cheshire failed. Thereupon, when the clergy met in the chapel, it was agreed that they should arrive at a choice by the process of elimination. After several votes were taken, the selection lay between Cheshire and Murdoch. The supporters of both men then agreed to vote in the convention for the one who received the highest vote in this conference. When the votes were counted, it was found that Cheshire led by a majority of one. The clergy then re-entered the church and took the thirty-ninth ballot, which resulted in twenty-nine votes for Cheshire, seven for Lloyd, and five scattered. The laity quickly confirmed the choice of the clergy by a vote of twenty-four to seven; whereupon the Bishop declared Rev. Joseph Blount Cheshire, Jr., elected assistant bishop of the Diocese and appointed a committee to notify him of his election.
After performing the promised marriage ceremony, Cheshire went to High Point to spend the night. When he arrived, he found several telegrams from friends congratulating him upon his election. Describing his reaction to the news, he said that he "could not comprehend what they meant, and thought there must be some mistake. I was more deeply agitated than I could have anticipated." The following day he wrote his father: "The one thing in the election at Raleigh which gives me unmixed satisfaction is the knowledge that it would be a happiness to you and to mother. In every other respect my feelings are of so confused a kind that I hardly know myself what to do or say.... I feel that this election has its human cause and origin in your life-long labor for the church, and in the name and good will of our people which I have derived from you and not made for myself."[27] This sincere statement of his thoughts about his election was characteristic of Cheshire. He felt profoundly the great responsibility which had been placed upon him, and wrote a friend that he could never have undertaken it had he not felt that he had the "sympathy, co-operation, and prayer"[28] of his people.
The month following his election Cheshire received more than two hundred letters and telegrams of congratulation. They came from clergymen and laymen in and outside of North Carolina, and a great many were from persons who were not members of the Episcopal Church. One of the most common sentiments found in these letters was the pleasure and gratification expressed at the election of a North Carolinian as assistant bishop. It is a noteworthy fact that Cheshire was the first native clergyman of the state to be elected to the Episcopate of the Diocese of North Carolina.
Dr. Francis J. Murdoch, as well as many of his adherents, sent their sincere congratulations. In a circular letter to his supporters, thanking them for their efforts in his behalf, Dr. Murdoch said of Cheshire: "The election has ended as I wished. Other men may tremble as to the outcome. I have not one misgiving. Neither love for Dr. Cheshire nor prejudice against any man can warp my judgment in this matter. I say now (as I said when I nominated him) that we have made no mistake."[29] This warm praise from a man of Dr. Murdoch's high character and ability must have been very encouraging to Cheshire.
An amusing and interesting tribute to Cheshire's election as assistant bishop were some verses by Rev. John E. C. Smedes. Dr. Smedes, a former clergyman of the Diocese, had been one of Cheshire's examiners for deacon's orders and had presented him for ordination as priest. His lines are as follows: