Ozi William Whitaker
| Ozi William Whitaker | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Pennsylvania | |
| Church | Episcopal Church (USA) |
| Diocese | Pennsylvania |
| In office | 1974-1987 |
| Predecessor | William B. Stevens |
| Successor | Alexander Mackay-Smith |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1863 |
| Consecration | 1869 by Charles Pettit McIlvaine, Alfred Lee, Manton Eastburn |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 10, 1830 Salem, Massachusetts |
| Died | February 9, 1911 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Previous post | Missionary bishop of Nevada and Arizona |
Ozi William Whitaker (May 10, 1830 - February 9, 1911) was a leading evangelical in the Episcopal Church who became missionary bishop of Nevada and Arizona, then coadjutor and eventually the 5th diocesan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.
Born in Salem, Massachusetts, he attended Shelburne Falls and Brattleboro Academies in 1851-52, then taught New Salem Academy in 1853. He attended Middlebury College and after graduating in 1856 attended the General Theological Seminary and married. He received a doctorate of Divinity from Kenyon College in 1869, and an honorary doctor of law degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1898.
Whitaker was ordained to the diaconate on July 15, 1863, and as an Episcopal priest on August 7, 1863. He was elected the first rector of St. Paul's Church, Englewood, Colorado in 1865 and technically remained there until March, 1867, although active as a missionary in the surrounding countryside.
In 1863, Rev. Whitaker founded a small Episcopal congregation in Dayton, then in the Nevada Territory, a year after his wife helped found a Sunday School in Virginia City, Nevada. He became missionary bishop of Nevada and Arizona succeeding Joseph Cruikshank Talbot in 1869 (Nevada did not receive separate diocesan status until 1971). Bishop Charles McIlvaine of Ohio, bishop Alfred Lee of Delaware and bishop Manton Eastburn of Massachusetts consecrated him on October 13, 1869. For many years, Bishop Whitaker made St. Paul's the Prospector Episcopal Church in Virginia City his base, and even rebuilt it after a disastrous fire in 1875. Rt.Rev. Whitaker also established in 1874 the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, a missionary church for Asian railroad workers in Carson City and the following year a chapel for Chinese workers in Virginia City (which was destroyed by a city-wide fire a few months later in October 1875). Growing anti-Chinese feeling also prompted its prime mover, Ah Foo, to become a missionary in China. Bishop Whitaker also established a mission to the Paiute tribe, St. James Mission in Wadsworth.
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