Frederick W. Keator

Frederick W. Keator
Rt.Rev.
Church Episcopal Church (United States)
Province Province 8
Diocese Missionary Diocese of Washington State
Diocese of Olympia
In office 1902-1924
Predecessor William Morris Barker
Successor S. Arthur Huston
Orders
Ordination 1891
by William Edward McLaren
Consecration January 8, 1902
by William Hobart Hare, William Edward McLaren, Cyrus F. Knight
Personal details
Born (1855-05-20)May 20, 1855
Honesdale, Pennsylvania, Wayne County, Pennsylvania
Died January 31, 1924(1924-01-31) (aged 68)
New Haven, Connecticut
Buried Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington
Denomination Episcopalian
Spouse Ellen Lyons Keator
Children Frederick Keator, Jr.
Education Yale University
Alma mater Yale Law School
Seabury-Western Theological Seminary

Frederick W. Keator (October 22, 1855 – January 31, 1924) was an American lawyer who became an Episcopal priest and the third missionary bishop of Washington State, which encompassed that portion of Washington State west of the Cascade Range. It achieved full diocesan status (and a name change) during his tenure, so Rt.Rev. Keator became the first bishop of what became the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia.

Early and family life

Born to Mary Chapman Baldwin Keator and her husband Jermann Samuel Keator on October 22, 1855 in Honesdale, the county seat and a railroad terminus in Wayne County, Pennsylvania serving New York City and Pennsylvania's coal county. Young Keator moved to Moline, Illinois (another important railroad town) with his family by 1860.[1]

He graduated from Yale University with a bachelor's degree in 1880 and two years later received an LLB. degree from Yale Law School. After admission to the Illinois bar, he practiced law in Chicago, Illinois. He later attended the Western Theological Seminary of Chicago, and graduated in 1891. He received a D.D. degree from Yale in 1895.[2]

In 1896, when he was 39, Rev. Keator married 21 year old Emma Lyons n Chicago, and they would soon have a son, Frederic Keator, Jr.[3]

Ministry

An Anglo-Catholic, Keating helped establish the Church of the Atonement in the developing Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago, which prompted him to leave his legal practice. After ordination both as a deacon and priest by bishop William Edward McLaren of Chicago in 1891, Rev. Keator served as the mission congregation's first priest-in-charge until 1896, shortly before it achieved full parish status.[4] He then served congregations in Freeport, Illinois until 1898, and at St. John's Church in Dubuque, Iowa from 1899-1902.[5]

Consecrated on January 8, 1902 by Presiding Bishop William Hobart Hare (former missionary bishop of South Dakota), as well as by Chicago bishop McLaren, bishop Cyrus F. Knight of Milwaukee, as well as bishops Nicholson, White, Edsall, Morrison, A. Williams, Anderson and Taylor, Rt.Rev. Keator reached his diocese on January 25 and soon established his residence in Tacoma. He served as the third Missionary Bishop of Washington State from 1902 until 1910, when the missionary district achieved full diocesan status (as well as a name change to distinguish it from not only the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane but also the diocese encompassing the national capital).

Among his various civic activities, Bishop Keator served as president of the Tacoma Public Library board from 1907 to 1910 and also 1912 to 1923. He also served on the boards of the Annie Wright Seminary, Whitman College in Walla Walla, and Tacoma General Hospital. Bishop Keator also served as the chaplain of the local Coast Guard Artillery Corps and the Washington State National Guard, and was a member of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church (representing the Pacific region).[6]

Rt. Rev. Keator became the first Bishop of Olympia upon its formation in 1910, and served until his death on January 31, 1924. The following year, Rev. Simeon Arthur Huston was elected to succeed him and was duly consecrated, and would move the diocesan seat to Seattle.

Death and legacy

Bishop Keator died of a heart attack on January 31, 1924 in New Haven, Connecticut while visiting his son, who had become an instructor in electrical engineering at Yale. He was also survived by his wife, and was buried in Tacoma cemetery in Tacoma, Washington.[7] His papers are held by the Tacoma Public Library in their special collections.[8]

Episcopal Church (USA) titles
Preceded by
William Morris Barker		 3rd Missionary Bishop of Washington
1902 – 1910		 Succeeded by
n/a
Episcopal Church (USA) titles
Preceded by
n/a		 1st Bishop of Olympia
1910 – 1924		 Succeeded by
Arthur Huston

References

  1. ↑ 1860 U.S. Federal Census available on ancestry.com
  2. ↑ Stowe's Clerical Directory of the American Church 1920-1921 (Minneapolis, Andrew D. Stowe) p. 152
  3. ↑ Stowes Clerical directory gives the date of their marriage as October 28, 1894, but Cook County Illinois marriage records on ancestry.com indicates it occurred in 1896. Their son appears on the 1920 U.S. Federal Census for Tacoma Ward 2, Pierce County, Washington, family renting 111 Yakima Ave.
  4. ↑ http://www.churchoftheatonement.org/history
  5. ↑ Stowe's Clerical Directory p. 152
  6. ↑ Stowe's Clerical Directory p. 152
  7. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=107586718&ref=acom
  8. ↑ http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv29171 Archival collection



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