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William Ingraham Kip

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William Ingraham Kip
Bishop of California
ChurchEpiscopal Church
DioceseCalifornia
ElectedFebruary 5, 1857
In office1857–1893
SuccessorWilliam Ford Nichols
Previous post(s)Missionary Bishop to California (1853–1856)
Orders
OrdinationOctober 20, 1835
by George Washington Doane
ConsecrationOctober 28, 1853
by Jackson Kemper
Personal details
Born(1811-10-03)October 3, 1811
DiedApril 7, 1893(1893-04-07) (aged 81)
San Francisco, California, United States
BuriedCypress Lawn Memorial Park
NationalityAmerican
ParentsLeonard Kip
and Maria Ingraham
Spouse
Maria Elizabeth Lawrence
(m. 1935)
Children2
SignatureWilliam Ingraham Kip's signature

William Ingraham Kip (October 3, 1811 – April 7, 1893) was an American Protestant Episcopal bishop.

Early life

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Kip was born in New York City, of Breton ancestry, the son of Leonard Kip and Maria (Ingraham) Kip.[1] He graduated at Yale in 1831.[2] After briefly studying law, Kip turned to a clerical calling and graduated from the General Theological Seminary in 1835.[2] He was ordained deacon in June 1835 and ordained priest in October of the same year.[1]

Kip became rector of St. Peter's Church in Morristown, New Jersey in 1835, moved to become assistant minister of Grace Church in New York City in 1836, and moved again to become rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Albany, where he remained from 1838 to 1853.[2]

Episcopate

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Bust of Kip by William Henry Rinehart

On October 28, 1853, Kip was chosen to be the missionary bishop to California.[3][4] He was the 59th bishop in the ECUSA, and was consecrated by Bishops Jackson Kemper, Alfred Lee, and William Jones Boone.[3] He arrived in California after a journey by steamship and transit of the Panamanian isthmus, which in those days could be a dangerous journey.[5] Kip's brother, Leonard, had already moved to California during the Gold Rush, but returned to New York by the time Kip arrived in San Francisco. On arriving in San Francisco, Kip had only two congregations under his charge, but the Episcopal population soon began to grow as immigrants from the East streamed into California.[6] When California became a diocese in its own right in 1856, Kip was elected as its first bishop.[7] He continued to serve as Bishop of California until his death in 1893.[8] His last act in office was the ordination of his grandson, William Ingraham Kip, III. Kip was noted for his Episcopalian Catholicism, which he considered as a means of raising the spiritual sights of California's urban centers.[9] He also promoted the idea of "Grace Cathedral" for San Francisco, which was also advanced by his successor, William F. Nichols.[10]

Among his works are:

  • The Lenten Fast (1843)
  • Early Jesuit Missions in North America (1846)
  • The Catacombs of Rome (1854)
  • The Olden Time in New York (1872)
  • The Church and the Apostles (1877)
  • Double Witness of the Church (twenty-second edition, 1904)

Personal life

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Kip was married to Maria Elizabeth Lawrence, the daughter of merchant banker Isaac Lawrence and Cornelia Beach (the daughter of a minister of Trinity Church).[11] They had two children:[1]

His great-great-grandsons are businesspeople Frederick R. Koch, Charles Koch, David Koch, and Bill Koch.

References

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Specific
  1. ^ a b c Memorial Biographies, 130
  2. ^ a b c Batterson, 176
  3. ^ a b Batterson, 177
  4. ^ Carey, Joseph (December 24, 2019). By the Golden Gate: Or, San Francisco, the Queen City of the Pacific Coast; with Scenes and Incidents Characteristic of its Life. Good Press.
  5. ^ Kip, 12–46
  6. ^ Kip, 89–93
  7. ^ Kip, 189
  8. ^ "Obituary: Bishop William Ingraham Kip" (PDF). The New York Times. April 8, 1893. p. 4. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  9. ^ Radner, Ephraim; Turner, Philip (2007). The Fate of Communion: The Agony of Anglicanism and the Future of a Global Church. Cambridge, UK: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-8028-3282-5.
  10. ^ Williams, Peter W. (2016). Religion, Art, and Money: Episcopalians and American Culture from the Civil War to the Great Depression. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-4696-2697-0.
  11. ^ Barrett, Walter. THE OLD MERCHANTS OF NEW YORK CITY - CHAPTER 6 - MERCHANT DESCRIPTIONS 1863 (Second Series)
  12. ^ a b A history of the new California: its resources and people, Volume 2 edited by Leigh Hadley Irvine
  13. ^ Genealogical and Memorial History of the State of New Jersey edited by Francis Bazley Lee
General
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