The Rt. Rev. William Edmond Armitage
Assistant Bishop, 1866-1870
Second Bishop of Wisconsin, 1870-1873

A History of the Diocese of Milwaukee, by Harold Ezra Wagner
Diocese of Milwaukee, 1947.

William Edmond Armitage was born in New York City, September 6, 1830, and like his predecessor in Wisconsin graduated from Columbia University, the date being 1849. He attended General Theological Seminary in New York and graduated from that institution in 1852. He was ordained to the diaconate on June 27, 1852 in the Church of the Transfiguration in New York, the "Little Church Around the Corner," by Bishop Carlton Chase, and to the priesthood in St. Mark's, Augusta, Maine, September 27, 1854, by Bishop George Burgess.

His first position was that of assistant at St. John's, Portsmouth, N. H., from which he was called to St. Mark's, Augusta, Maine. Here he remained until called to St. John's, Detroit, the rectorate he held when elected to the episcopate. In the year of his election Columbia gave him a D.D. degree.

He was consecrated in St. John's Church, Detroit, December 6, 1866. To him, his superior. Bishop Kemper, assigned the task of developing and carrying to its completion the inauguration of a Cathedral for the Diocese of Wisconsin. This he carried out with energy and enthusiasm, and continued to foster despite the criticism he received. At the time of his death, a suitable building had been secured for such a cathedral, the diocese had adopted a resolution accepting it as such, and had drawn up a canon for its government which was to be ratified at the following session of the Council.

He died suddenly while on a visit to New York City on December 7, 1873, and is buried in Detroit, Michigan.

The present home of the Cathedral clergy in Milwaukee is called "Armitage House" in his memory.

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