Henry W. Lee

Henry Washington Lee (July 29, 1815 – September 26, 1874) was a 19th-century bishop in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He served as the first Bishop of Iowa from 1854–1874. He also served as Provisional Bishop of Nebraska from 1857–1859 and Provisional Bishop of Kansas, 1860–1864.

Biography

Early life and ministry Lee was born in Hamden, Connecticut, but the family soon moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he grew up and was educated. His father was Roswell Lee, who was a colonel and the superintendent of the Springfield Armory and Phebe Lee née Potter. He was ordained a deacon at Grace Church in New Bedford, Massachusetts and a priest in the Episcopal Church by Alexander Viets Griswold in October, 1839. That same year he married Lydia Mason Morton of Taunton, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Marcus Morton, governor of Massachusetts and Charlotte Morton née Hodges. They raised two sons and a daughter. Lee spent four years as rector of Christ Church in Springfield, and eleven years as rector of St. Luke's Church in Rochester, New York. He received a Doctor of Divinity (DD) degree from Hobart College in 1850, and the University of Rochester in 1852. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD)from the University of Cambridge, England in 1867.

Bishop of Iowa Lee was elected the first bishop of the Diocese of Iowa on June 1, 1854, and he was consecrated by John Henry Hopkins, Bishop of Vermont and Presiding bishop; Samuel A. McCoskry, Bishop of Michigan; and William H. DeLancey, Bishop of Western New York, on October 18, 1854, in St. Luke's Church, Rochester. The bishops of Massachusetts, Maine, and Illinois were also in attendance.