Elder, William Henry, 1819-1904

William Henry Elder was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 22, 1819. His father, Basil Elder, was a descendant of William Elder (1681–1714), a Catholic immigrant from England to Maryland (United States) in colonial times. His grandfather was Thomas Elder, husband of Elizabeth Spalding, thus making William a first cousin once removed of Catherine Spalding, co-founder of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. His mother was Elisabeth Miles (née Snowden) Elder.[1]

In 1831 Elder entered Mt. St. Mary's College, in Emmitsburg, Maryland, then presided over by the Rev. John Baptist Purcell who afterward became the second bishop, and later the first Archbishop of Cincinnati. Elder graduated in 1837 and entered the seminary. In 1842 he was sent to Urban College in Rome for further studies, where he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity.[1]

William Henry Elder was born on March 22, 1819 in Baltimore, Maryland, son of Basil S. Elder and Elisabeth Miles (née Snowden) Elder. Beginning at the age of 14 he attended Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He continued his seminary studies at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in 1837. In 1842 Elder was sent to study at Urban College, Rome and was ordained in that city on March 29, 1846. That year he returned to the United States to teach dogmatic theology at Mount St. Mary's Seminary. On May 3, 1857, Elder was consecrated bishop of Natchez, Mississippi. Eventually, Bishop Elder's services would be needed in Ohio. From 1880 to 1883, when Archbishop John Purcell was ill and living in Brown County, Ohio, Bishop Elder served as coadjutor and administrator of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Upon the death of Archbishop Purcell on July 4, 1883, Archbishop Elder became the third ordinary of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Much of Archbishop Elder's time as administrator and archbishop was spent addressing the financial failure of the archdiocese. He also established important administrative procedures for the archdiocese, most notably a chancery office, a building commission, and a system for parishes to send in annual reports to the archdiocese. Archbishop Elder died on October 31, 1904 in Cincinnati.