Channing Moore Williams was an Episcopal Church missionary, later bishop, in China and Japan.
Background
Channing Moore Williams was born on July 18, 1829 in Richmond, Virginia, the son of John G. Williams, a farmer, and his wife, whose maiden name was Cringan. He was a descendant of John Williams who emigrated from London to the region of the Rappahannock in 1698. His father died early, and the children knew poverty and hard labor. His mother was deeply religious and gave him a careful training in her faith. Through her care he overcame the ill health that clouded much of his childhood.
Education
At about fifteen he went to Henderson, Kentucky, and there for a number of years was employed by a merchant. There he decided to enter the ministry, and in preparation for that calling attended the College of William and Mary for at least two years, graduating in 1852. In 1855 he completed his work at the Theological Seminary at Alexandria, Virginia.
Career
In 1853 he was ordained deacon and in 1857 priest. While in Alexandria he had been stirred by reports of the work of graduates of the school in Africa and China.
In 1859 he and one other were appointed by the board of missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church to initiate the activities of that body in Japan, then recently opened to the residence of foreigners. Landing at Nagasaki, he and his colleague began holding services for English and American merchants, and in 1861 supervised there the erection of what seems to have been the first Protestant church building in the empire.
In 1862 ill health compelled his companion to leave the country, and until 1871 Williams was the only representative of his board in Japan. In addition to holding services for foreign residents, he prepared Christian literature in Japanese. He celebrated his first baptism of a Japanese in February 1866. Elected to succeed the first Bishop Boone, he was consecrated in New York in 1866 as bishop of China with jurisdiction in Japan. He returned to the Far East in 1868 and lived for a time in China, but the following year he went once more to the land of his preference, residing first in Osaka and then, beginning with 1873, in Tokyo.
In 1874, at his suggestion, his diocese was divided, China being separated from it and he being named bishop of Yedo (Tokyo). For a time, however, he had the oversight of certain districts of the Anglican diocese of Hong Kong. Under his administration the mission of his church in Japan grew steadily. He himself had direct charge of several congregations, and he established schools, including one for boys in Osaka, another for boys in Tokyo (1874), and the Trinity Divinity School (1878), in which his own board and the two societies of the Church of England united. He translated into Japanese part of the Book of Common Prayer and assisted in the formation of a prayer book for the Anglican communion in Japan. He aided the creation of the Seikokwai (1887), in which were united the churches formed under the leadership of the American Episcopalians and of the two societies of the Church of England.
In 1889 he resigned his diocese but remained in Japan, serving as bishop until his successor could be appointed, and performing the duties of a parish priest in several congregations. Interested in pioneering, in 1895 he went to Kyoto and helped open new stations in a number of places in that vicinity. Working until the infirmities of age would no longer allow him to go on, he retired to America in 1908 and died in Richmond, Virginia.
Achievements
Williams was a leading figure in the establishment of the Anglican Church in Japan. His commemoration in the Anglican liturgical calendar is 2 December.
Personality
Modest almost to a fault, he lived very simply, sought nothing for himself, and disliked praise.
Connections
Never marrying, he gave himself unstintedly to his calling.
