Background
Charles Edward Cheney was born on February 12, 1836, in Canandaigua, New York, United States. He was the son of Ephraim Warren and Alethia Wheeler Chipman Cheney.
300 Pulteney St, Geneva, NY 14456, United States
Charles graduated from Hobart College (present-day Hobart and William Smith Colleges) in 1857.
3737 Seminary Rd, Alexandria, VA 22304, United States
Charles spent a year at the Virginia Theological Seminary.
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Charles Edward Cheney was born on February 12, 1836, in Canandaigua, New York, United States. He was the son of Ephraim Warren and Alethia Wheeler Chipman Cheney.
Charles graduated from Hobart College (present-day Hobart and William Smith Colleges) in 1857 and then spent a year at the Virginia Theological Seminary.
About 1858 Charles Edward Cheney became assistant rector of St. Luke's Church, Rochester, New York. He was ordained a deacon in the Protestant Episcopal Church at Utica, New York, on November 21, 1858. He was for a brief time in charge of St. Paul's Church, Havana, New York, and on March 4, 1860, was ordained presbyter at Rochester. The same year he became rector of Christ Church, Chicago, which office he held until his death.
He was a signer of the "Chicago Protest" of February 18, 1869. This was the beginning of litigation which attracted wide attention. An injunction stayed the trial for a time, and it proceeded with four of the original triers, against the protest of Cheney's attorney, Melville W. Fuller. The accused was found guilty and deposed from the ministry until he should express contrition and promise future conformity. He paid no attention to the judgment, was tried again for contumacy, and deposed.
An attempt to oust him from the church property was contested in the circuit court of Illinois, which decided that the property belonged to the parish and not to the diocese and that the original ecclesiastical court which began with five members and ended with four was not a court according to the canons of the church, and therefore that Cheney had not been legally deposed. In the meantime, in December 1873, he had joined with Bishop George D. Cummins and others in organizing the Reformed Episcopal Church into which body his congregation accompanied him. He was consecrated missionary bishop of the Northwest by Bishop Cummins, December 14, 1873. From 1875 until his death he was Bishop of the Synod of Chicago.
He was Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, 1876-1877, and 1887-1889.
His publications included: "Sermons" (1880); "A Neglected Power and Other Sermons" (1916); "What Do Reformed Episcopalians Believe" (1888); and several historical brochures.
Cheney was a member of the Protestant church. He favored "the great fundamental principles held by all evangelical Christians" and objected to the conception of infant baptism.
Charles was a signer of the "Chicago Protest" of February 18, 1869, directed against the "unprotestantizing" tendencies in the church, thus bringing upon himself the disfavor of the bishop, who, learning that he was accustomed to omitting the word "regenerate" from the baptismal service, brought him to trial before five of the clergy.
Cheney was a member of the American Historical Association, American Geographical Society, Chicago University Club, and Chicago Historical Society.
Cheney was a magnetic and lovable person, popular and successful in his parish and intense in his convictions.
On April 25, 1860, Cheney married Clara Emma Griswold.