Background
Whitehouse was born in New York City, the son of John Whitehouse and Eliza Norman.
Whitehouse was born in New York City, the son of John Whitehouse and Eliza Norman.
He graduated from Columbia University in 1821, and from the General Theological Seminary in 1824.
Whitehouse was ordained deacon in 1824, and was ordained priest in 1827. After his ordination as priest, he became rector of Christ Church in Reading, Pennsylvania. He remained there for fifteen years before moving to New York in 1844 to become rector of Saint Thomas Church.
Whitehouse was elected coadjutor in 1851.
He was the 55th bishop in the ECUSA, and was consecrated by Bishops Thomas Church Brownell, Alfred Lee, and Manton Eastburn. Upon the death of Bishop Philander Chase, Whitehouse became bishop, but refused to take up his seat for nine years, until his salary demands were metropolitan
The diocesan convention in 1860 charged him with dereliction of duty and generally condemned him. During the American Civil War, Whitehouse displayed decidedly pro-Southern sympathies, further alienating his Illinois flock.
While in England in 1867, Whitehouse delivered the opening sermon before the first Pan-Anglican conference at Lambeth Palace, by invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Henry John Whitehouse died in Chicago on August 10, 1874. He is buried in the Whitehouse family plot in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New New York The middle names of some of these children, specifically, Meredyth, Cope, and FitzHugh, were surnames of women who had married into the Whitehouse family prior to 1800.
His great-grandson was Ambassador Charles South. Whitehouse.
His great-great-grandson, Sheldon Whitehouse, is a Senator from Rhode Island.