William Stevens Perry, Bishop of Iowa

I’d gone searching for old photographs and there they were; a stack of cabinet cards in beautiful condition.  Most were done by photographers in the Davenport / Dubuque, Iowa area, but as I searched through them I realized, there were no clues as to who any of these people were; no writing on them ... except the last one … a photograph of an older “priestly” looking gentleman.

I couldn't work up much enthusiasm for a photograph of an old man … not even a kindly old man, but the writing on the back did catch my eye.  It said “Bishop of Iowa” and that, I thought, was a lofty sounding title worth investigating.

Or maybe the kindly gent had visions of grandeur.

I took him home to find out.

At home, I studied the reverse side but wasn't able to make out the complete inscription. What I could make out was, “Faithfully yours …. Perry, Bishop of Iowa.”  I entered what I had and hit the search button.

And found the Right Reverend William Stevens Perry, II Bishop of Iowa.  There was no doubt I had the right Perry. The article was accompanied by the same photograph.

The amount of information I found on Bishop Perry was overwhelming.  I have tried to condense it but suffice to say, he was a very busy man.

William Stevens Perry was born in Providence, RI. January 22, 1832. He was the son of Steven Perry and Katharine Whittemore (Stevens) Perry.

He was of English origin, his first American ancestor on the paternal side, John Perry, having arrived in New England in 1636, a fellow passenger with John Eliot, and referred to as "cousin" in a preserved letter from “that distinguished Puritan Apostle.” His great-grandfather, Abel Perry, was an officer in the Revolutionary War. Among his maternal ancestors were William Stevens, of Falmouth, Maine, who served as a privateer's man on the frigate Boston, and the latter's son of the same name, who held a Lieutenant's commission in the United States Army during the War of 1812.

Perry graduated Harvard in 1854.  He studied theology at Virginia Theological Seminary, but finished his studies privately because of ill health.   He was ordained a deacon in 1857 and a priest the following year at St. Paul’s in Boston where he spent the first year of his ministry.    His parish ministries included positions at St. Luke‘s Church, Nashua, NH, St. Stephen‘s Church in Portland, Maine, St. Michael‘s Church in Litchfield, CT, and Trinity Church in Geneva, NY.

On Jan. 15, 1862, at the age of 24 the Rev. William Stevens Perry, rector of St. Stephen’s Church in Portland, Maine married Sara Abbott Woods Smith, 18, youngest daughter of Rev. Thomas Mather and Mary Greenleaf (Woods) Smith.  They were married in Rosse Chapel, Gambier, Ohio by Dr. Gregory Thurston Bedell.  

Among Sara’s paternal ancestors are some very interesting people … John Cotton, first minister in Boston, Increase Mather, President of Harvard College, Rev. Cotton Mather Smith, of Sharon, CT and the latter's son, the Hon. John Cotton Smith, 23rd  Governor of CT.

From 1871 - 1873 William Perry was a professor of history at Hobart College and served as president from April to Sept. of 1876 but resigned when he accepted the position as Bishop of Iowa.

Bishop Perry’s work in the Diocese of Iowa is impressive.  I still find it difficult to comprehend all this one man accomplished in his lifetime.

He is credited with reopening Griswold College, founding Katharine’s Hall for girls, Kemper Hall for boys, Lee Hall for training candidates for orders and several other schools throughout the dioceses.

Three hospitals were founded during his episcopate:  Cottage Hospital in Des Moines, St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids and St. Luke’s Hospital in Davenport, and two Homes for the Friendless were started, one in Dubuque and another in Davenport.

He created the Office of the Registrar to collect and preserve historical documents of the church;  created more than 30 new parishes and missions and ordained dozens of priests.

He was also a prolific writer and published more than 100 books and pamphlets.  famousamericans.net credits him with publishing more books “probably than any living clergyman in the Episcopal church.”

In his book Some Summer Days Abroad, published 1880, there is a dedication that reads:

Sara A. W. Perry:

The Best of Wives and the Best of Travelers

These Sketches of 

Days Spent Together Abroad

Are Inscribed.  

Mrs. Perry is described as a woman who was attractive, gentle and sweet, a gracious hostess and an avid supporter of her husbands plans, commending herself to all classes and conditions of men by loving words and deeds.  She shunned notoriety even for well doing.

In 1887 Rev. Perry was unanimously elected “Lord Bishop of Nova Scotia” … but he declined this honor, one that had never before been offered to any one other than one of English birth and allegiance.

In the latter part of his life William Perry suffered ill health and took several trips to Europe to recuperate.

While in England in 1897 he was invited to preach at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Chester Cathedral, St. Paul’s in Oxford, Kensington Palace Royal Chapel, Royal Savoy Chapel and Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon.

He returned from Europe with his wife and niece, passengers on the Lucania, reaching NY on Oct. 23, 1897.  Mrs. Perry had been ill, and in deference to her desire to return to her home her medical advisers in London consented to her sailing.  She reached the home of her aunt Mrs. Stevens in Philadelphia where she died at a few minutes before 3 o’clock Wednesday morning, Oct. 27th, 1897.

The Rev. and Mrs. Perry were married 35 years.

The following spring, on May 12, 1898 while on an Episcopal visitation to Dubuque, Iowa, Bishop Perry suffered a paralytic stroke and died the following day. His funeral was held in St. John’s Church in Dubuque.  He was buried in the churchyard of the Church of St. James the Less in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

William Stevens Perry (January 22, 1832 – May 13, 1898), a 19th century bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, educator and author. He served as the second bishop of the Diocese of Iowa from 1876 - 1898 ...

and he is the man in the photograph.