Henry Codman Potter.
There have been a great many clergymen in the Potter family, and doubtless the Right Reverend Henry Codman Potter, bishop of the diocese of New York, had an inclination for the pulpit which was an ancestral inheritance. He is the son of Bishop Alonzo Potter, of Pennsylvania, and was born at Schenectady, New York, May 25, 1835. He was educated at the Philadelphia Academy of the Protestant Episcopal church, and later at the theological seminary in Virginia. Graduating therefrom in 1857, he was at once made a deacon and one year later was ordained to the priesthood. Until 1859 he had charge of Christ P. E. church, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, when he was transferred to St. John’s, P. E. church, Troy, New York; for seven years he was rector of that parish. He then became an assistant of Trinity P. E. church, Boston, and in May, 1868, was made rector of Grace P. E. church, New York. For sixteen years he was identified with the affairs of that famous church. In 1883 he was elected an assistant to his uncle, Bishop Horatio Potter, who presided over the diocese of New York. A short time after entering on his duties as such, his uncle withdrew from active work and the care of the diocese fell upon the younger man. On January 2, 1887, Bishop Horatio Potter died and was succeeded by his nephew. His diocese is the largest in point of population in the United States. Eloquent, earnest and devoted to his life work, Bishop Potter commands the love and respect of all of those with whom he comes in contact.
William Taylor.
William Taylor was born in Virginia May 2, 1821. Reared on a farm, he learned the tanning business. He entered the Methodist ministry in 1842. Going to California with the “Forty-niners” as a missionary, he remained there until 1856. He next spent a number of years traveling in Canada, New England and Europe. After conducting missionary services in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania, he visited South Africa and converted many Kaffirs to Christianity. From 1872 to 1876 he organized a number of churches in India and in South America. He also established mission stations on the Congo and elsewhere in Africa. He has written a number of books, the most interesting of which is, without doubt, The Story of My Life. In 1884 he was made missionary bishop for Africa.
John Heyl Vincent.
John Heyl Vincent, bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and chancellor of the Chautauqua system, was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, February 23, 1832. He was educated at Lewisburg and Milton, Pennsylvania, and as a mere boy gave evidence of the religious trend of his nature. When only eighteen years of age he was a preacher, and many of his then sermons are said to have been both eloquent and convincing. After studying in the Wesleyan Institute of Newark, New Jersey, he joined the New Jersey Conference in 1853, was ordained deacon and four years later was made pastor. He had several charges in Illinois between 1857 and 1865, and during the next fourteen years brought into being a number of Sunday school publications. He was one of the founders of the Chautauqua Assembly and was the organizer of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, of which he has held office of chancellor since its inception. In 1900 he was made resident bishop in charge of the European work of the church with which he was associated. He is preacher to Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Wellesley and other colleges. As an author of helpful and interesting religious works, Dr. Vincent is well known to all students of American literature.
CANADIANS.
William Peterson.
One of the influential educators in Canada is Dr. William Peterson, President of that powerful and progressive educational institution, McGill University. Dr. Peterson’s policy in the conduct of the university is to maintain a harmonious relationship between classical education and the scientific training which is now so greatly in demand. That the university is kept well abreast of the times in scientific teaching and equipment is indicated by the fact that a recent addition to the institution has been a school for instruction in all branches of railroading. Dr. Peterson keenly realizes that the future development of Canada will depend in a very considerable measure upon the extension of the Dominion’s railway system—that in the railroad business there will, perhaps, be more and greater opportunities for young Canadians than in any other one branch of industry. Another proof of the scientific thoroughness at McGill is the high standing held by the University’s medical and engineering schools, but Dr. Peterson holds fast to the belief that no education is complete without a familiarity with the classics. He is himself an accomplished classical scholar.