Background
WELLER, Reginald Heber was born on November 6, 1857 in Jellerson City, Missouri, United States. Son of Reverend Reginald Heber Weller and Emma Amanda Look.
WELLER, Reginald Heber was born on November 6, 1857 in Jellerson City, Missouri, United States. Son of Reverend Reginald Heber Weller and Emma Amanda Look.
Educated Saint John's Academy, Jacksonville, Florida, 1867-1875, University of the South, 1875-1878. Bachelor of Divinity, Nashotah (Wisconsin) Theological Seminary, 1884, Doctor of Divinity, 1901, Doctor of Laws, 1925.
After attending the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee, Weller received his degree of Bachelor of Divinity at Nashotah House in 1884. He was ordained deacon in 1880. He was ordained a priest in 1884 at All Saints’ Mission, Providence, Rhode Island, after serving his diaconate there.
Weller was married to Bessie Brown in 1886 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Rectorships at Christ Church, Eau Claire, and Saint Matthias, Waukesha, were served before he became rector at Church of the Intercession, Stevens Point, where he was at the time of his election to be Bishop Coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac in 1900. He was consecrated coadjutor on November 8, 1900, at the Cathedral of Saint Paul the Apostle in Fond du Lac.
The photo, published widely back east, became known as the Fond du Lac Circus. During his thirty-three years of active service, a longer episcopate than any other in the state at the time, Weller preached in all parts of the country.
He held many positions of importance in the church and became widely known in England.
He became diocesan bishop on August 30, 1912, after the death of Grafton. He held the position of Superior General of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament from 1913-1935, succeeding Grafton who held the office from 1890-1912. Attendants at the Lambeth Conference in 1930 found Weller taking an active part in its deliberations and preaching in several English cathedrals.
At home or abroad, Weller was a defender of the faith, a stirring, convincing preacher of great ability, a wise pastor, generous friend and a man of God.
Weller held many preaching missions, especially in the eastern United States. He took an active and influential part in the deliberations of the House of Bishops.
On Saint Andrew’s Day, November 30, 1929, Weller acted as the chief consecrator at the consecration of Harwood Sturtevant as the Bishop Coadjutor of the diocese. Four years later in November 1933, Bishop Sturtevant succeeded Weller as the fourth bishop of the diocese.
Married Bessie, daughter; children: Ruth (Mistress George B. Nelson), Reginald Heber, III, Dan Brown, Charles Grafton, Walter Trowbridge, Horace Look.