Person:John Williams (226)

unmarried

The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans: Volume X W WILLIAMS, John, fourth bishop of Connecticut, and 54th in succession in the American episcopate, was born in Deerfield, Mass., Aug. 30, 1817. He attended Harvard college, 1831-33; was graduated from Washington (now Trinity) college, Hartford, Conn., in 1835; studied theology under Dr. Samuel Jarvis, and was admitted to the diaconate and advanced to the priesthood by Bishop Thomas C. Brownell, in 1838. He was a tutor at Washington college and assistant at Christ church, Middletown, Conn., 1837-40, and rector of St. George's church, Schenectady, N.Y., 1940-48; being promiment among the proposed successors to Bishop B.T. Onderdonk of New York in 1845. He was president of Trinity college, and professor of history and literature, 1848-53. He was elected assistant bishop of Connecticut, and was consecrated Oct. 29, 1851, by Bishops Brownell, Hopkins and DeLaney, assisted by Bishops Eastburn, Henshaw, Clause and George Burgess. He was vice-chancellor of Trinity college, 1853-65; chancellor, 1865-99, and lecturer on history there, 1853-92. In 1854 the Berkeley Divinity school was founded at Middletown, Conn., and he was dean of the institution and principal instructor in doctrinal theology, history of the Reformation and prayer book, 1854-99. On the death of Bishop Brownell, in 1865, he succeeded to the diocese of Connecticut as its fourth bishop. He was appointed first lecturer on the Bishop Paddock foundation, at the General Theological seminary, New York city, in 1881, and delivered the first series of Bedell lectures at Gambler college, Ohio, the same year. In 1887, on the death of Bishop Horatio Potter, he became senior bishop of the American church, on the death of the Bishop of British Guiana, senior bishop of the entire Anglican communion in America, and on the death of Bishop Southgate, in 1894, senior bishop of the episcopate with the Archbishop of Canterbury as the acknowledged head. The honorary degree of D.D. was conferred on him by Union in 1847; by Trinity in 1849; Columbia in 1851, and Yale in 1883, and that of LL.D. by Hobart in 1870. He edited, with additional notes, an American edition of Bishop Harold Browne's Exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles (1864), and is the author of Ancient Hymns of Holy Church (1845); Thoughts on the Gospel Miracles (1848); Paddock Lectures on "The English Reformation" (1881); Bedell Lectures on "The World's Witness to Jesus Christ" (1882); Historical Sermons in the Seabury Centenary (1885); Studies on the Book of Acts (1888). He died in Hartford, Conn., Feb. 7, 1899.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article John Williams (bishop).

1.   John Williams (bishop), in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
2. ↑ Baldwin, Thomas W. Vital Records of Deerfield, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850. (Boston: Wright & Potter, 1920)
   139.

   WILLIAMS...John, s. of Ephraim and Emily, Aug. 30, 1817.