Life Of The Reverend James De Koven, D.D. by William C. Pope - 1899: Sometime Warden Of Racine College

This book is an antique. Not only is it an antique but it is in very good condition. Attached to the front inside cover is a letter of correspondence between the Right Reverend Edward Randolph Welles and the daughter of the author, Emily Pope Eckel. The first page of the book has been notated that this book was given to Reverend R.E. Macy by Emily Pope Eckel.

DeKoven was born in Middletown, Connecticutt and educated at Columbia College. In 1851 he was admitted to General Theological Seminary and was ordained as a deacon in 1854 in Middletown. He accepted a teaching position at Nashotah House in Wisconsin and became rector of the nearby St. John Chrysostom parish in Delafield. It was there that he was ordained as a priest by Bishop Jackson Kemper In 1859 he became the warden of Racine College and continued to be at the center of that school for the rest of his life.

He led the cause for ritualism at the National Conventions in 1871 and 1874. DeKoven was several times nominated and even elected as a bishop, but was never ordained to the episcopate. He was nominated or elected as bishop of Massachusetts (1873), Wisconsin (1874), Fond du Lac (1875), and Illinois (1875). In the Illinois election he was elected by the clergy and the laity, but the standing committee refused to accept his election. The reason given by the standing committee was his 'doctrine on the Holy Eucharist.' An open letter written in the Milwaukee paper on January 14, 1874 was at least partly responsible for his Eucharistic doctrine being questioned. The signers of this letter included three teachers from Nashotah House. He also addressed the Church Congress (a series of national meetings to cast a vision for the Episcopal Church) in 1876.

De Koven remained in Wisconsin for the rest of his life, turning down calls to lead some of the nation's largest and wealthiest parish churches, including Trinity Church in New York City, Church of the Advent in Boston, and St. Marks Church in Philadelphia.