Henry John Whitehouse

Henry John Whitehouse (August 19, 1803 – August 10, 1874) was the second Episcopal bishop of Illinois.

Early life Whitehouse was born in New York City, the son of James Whitehouse (1767–1854) and Eliza Higgs Norman (1775–1835). Whitehouse was described as a "thorough aristocrat by birth and training and accustomed to every luxury." Whitehouse was ordained deacon in 1824, and was ordained priest in 1827. until his salary demands were met. The diocesan convention in 1860 charged him with dereliction of duty and generally condemned him.

Whitehouse identified with high church Anglicanism, and in 1868 he wrote of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Several of his clergy, led by Charles Edward Cheney, denounced the Anglo-Catholic idea, accusing Whitehouse of "unprotestantizing this Protestant Episcopal Church, corrupting her doctrine, debasing her worship, and over-turning her long-established rites, ceremonies, and usages." and by 1871, he was successful in having Cheney suspended from the ministry. Cheney later became one of the original clergymen of the Reformed Episcopal Church.

While in England in 1867, Whitehouse delivered the opening sermon before the first Pan-Anglican conference at Lambeth Palace, by invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury. He was among the first American bishops to advocate for a cathedral system in the Episcopal Church.

Personal life On August 8, 1835, Whitehouse married Evelina Harriet Bruen (1806-1864). Together, they were the parents of five sons and one daughter. They gave middle names to some of their children, specifically Meredyth, Cope, and FitzHugh, which were surnames of women who had married into the Whitehouse family prior to 1800. Their children were:

Henry Bruen Whitehouse (1838–1889), an attorney Edward Norman Whitehouse (1839–1904), a career Naval officer whose duties included the office of Paymaster Frederic Cope Whitehouse (1842–1911), also an attorney, but he engaged so ardently in his avocations of archaeology and Egyptology that his obituary in The New York Times referred to him as “the well-known Egyptologist.” He did not marry. William FitzHugh Whitehouse (1846–1909), yet another attorney who married Frances Sheldon (1852–1944), the niece of William B. Ogden, the First Mayor of Chicago.

Henry John Whitehouse died in Chicago on August 10, 1874. He is buried in the Whitehouse family plot in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York.

Descendants Through his son William, he was the grandfather of diplomat Sheldon Whitehouse (1883–1965), who was married to Mary Crocker Alexander (1895–1986) in 1920, great-grandson was Ambassador Charles S. Whitehouse (1921–2001). His great-great-grandson, Sheldon Whitehouse (born 1955), is a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island.

Legacy In 1934, his son Francis, along with other members of the family, donated a "missionary window" at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in memory of his father. The windows, designed by Wilbur Herbert Burnham, were dedicated by Bishop William T. Manning.