William Edmond Armitage

Born in New York City, he graduated from Columbia College in 1849 and the General Theological Seminary in 1852. He was ordained deacon in the Church of the Transfiguration, New York on June 27, 1852 by Bishop Carleton Chase and priest in St. Mark's, Augusta, Maine on September 27, 1854 by Bishop George Burgess.

Armitage's first position was as assistant at St. John's, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was then called to St. Mark's, Augusta, Maine, until called to be rector of St. John's, Detroit, Michigan, where he was when elected to the episcopate. He received his doctorate in divinity from Columbia College in 1866.

Armitage was consecrated at St. John's Detroit on December 6, 1866, by bishops Kemper, McCoskry, H. W. Lee, Whipple, J. C. Talbot, Coxe, Clarkson, Kerfoot, and Cummins, together with Bishop Cronyn, the Bishop of Huron, Canada. He was coadjutor bishop to Jackson Kemper (1866–1870) and on the death of Kemper served as the second Bishop of Wisconsin (1870–1873). He died in St. Luke's Hospital, New York, on December 7, 1873, and his remains are buried in Detroit, Michigan, at Elmwood Cemetery.

• Documents by W. E. Armitage from Project Canterbury