John Williams (bishop)

John Williams (August 30, 1817–1899) was the eleventh Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States. 
==Early life==
Williams was born at Deerfield, Massachusetts, the son of Ephraim Williams and Emily (Trowbridge) Williams.Shepard, 112 He was educated at Harvard and at Trinity College, Hartford, where he graduated in 1835.Batterson, 165 Although his parents were Unitarian, Williams's time at Harvard convinced him to join the Episcopal faith.Shepard, 113 He was ordained deacon in 1838 and ordained priest in 1841. Williams held the rectorship of St. George's Church, Schenectady, New York, from 1842 to 1848, after which he became president of Trinity College, and at the same time professor of history and literature.
==Bishop of Connecticut==
In 1851 he was elected Assistant Bishop of Connecticut.Batterson, 166 He was the 53rd bishop in the ECUSA, and was consecrated by Bishops Thomas Church Brownell, John Henry Hopkins, and William Heathcote DeLancey. On the death of Bishop Brownell, in 1865, Williams succeeded him in the sole charge of the diocese. At the same time, from 1854 on, he held the office of dean of the Berkeley Divinity School at Middletown, and was its principal instructor in Church history and theology.
==Presiding Bishop==
He succeeded Alfred Lee, of Delaware, in 1887, as presiding Bishop, and earned the reputation of a wise conservative leader in ecclesiastical affairs.Johnson In 1896, he was acknowledged as the senior bishop in the Anglican communion.
==Works==
Among his published works are: 
* Thoughts on the Gospel Miracles (1848)
* The English Reformation (Paddock Lectures, 1881)
* The World's Witness to Jesus Christ (Bedell Lectures, 1882)
* Studies in the Book of the Acts (1888)
==Notes== 
==References==
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==External links==
*Documents by Williams from Project Canterbury
Category:People from Massachusetts
Category:Harvard University alumni
Category:American academics
Category:American religious writers
Category:1817 births
Category:1899 deaths
Category:Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America
Category:Presiding Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America
Category:19th-century Anglican bishops