Gershom Mott Williams

Gershom Mott Williams (February 11, 1857 – April 14, 1923) was an American bishop. He was the first Episcopalian bishop of Marquette. He was a church journalist, author, and translator. Williams graduated from Cornell University and received his master's degree and Doctor of Divinity degree from Hobart College. Although he passed the bar in 1879, Williams began an extensive career in the Episcopal Church, having positions in Buffalo, Milwaukee, and Detroit before becoming a bishop. He was involved in many church commissions, including the preparation of and attendance at the Lambeth Conference of 1908. Williams was the grandson of John R. Williams, the first mayor of Detroit and a delegate to the convention by which Michigan acceded to the Constitution of the United States. His father, Thomas Williams, served as a Civil War general and died in the Battle of Baton Rouge (1862). Williams himself was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and served for four years as the chaplain to the state militia of Michigan. Early life Williams was born on February 11, 1857, in Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, New York. He was the son of Civil War general Thomas Williams and Mary Neosho Williams. His father died at the Battle of Baton Rouge in 1862. Mott published his father's personal papers. His grandfather was John R. Williams, the first mayor of the city. Williams' great-grandfather, Thomas Williams, settled in Detroit in 1765 and the Williams family remained there from that time. Prior to Detroit, the Williams family had settled in Albany, New York in 1690. His paternal ancestors were Roman Catholics who at some point joined the Episcopal Church. His mother was the daughter of Joseph Bailey, who served in the U.S. Army. Her Dutch ancestors were from the Hudson River Valley area and New England. Williams was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. He had a brother, John R. Williams, and sister, Mary Josepha Williams. Josepha was a physician and like her mother, Mary Neosho Williams, a significant landowner in Evergreen, Colorado. Josepha was married in 1896 to Canon Charles Winfred Douglas,