Elder, William Henry, 1819-1904

Archbishop William H. Elder was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 22, 1819 and received his seminary training at Mt. St. Mary in Emmitsburg. He was ordained in Rome in 1846. After 11 years as a professor of dogmatic theology at Mount St. Mary, he was named bishop of Natchez (Mississippi) in 1857. Although appointed coadjutor archbishop of San Francisco in 1878, he never fulfilled the assignment, believing himself more critically needed in Natchez. In 1880 he was appointed coadjutor to the archbishop of Cincinnati with right of succession. He succeeded as archbishop of Cincinnati July 4, 1883. Following the 1903 appointment of Bishop Henry Moeller as his coadjutor, Archbishop Elder turned the administration of the archdiocese over to his successor. He died Oct. 31, 1904.