William Capers was an early bishop of the Methodist Church.
Background
William Capers was born on January 26, 1790 on his father's plantation at Bull-Head Swamp in St. Thomas' Parish, about twenty miles from Charleston, South Carolina, United States; the son of William and Mary (Singeltary) Capers. One of the molding forces in his life was his father, a strong character, a captain under Gen. Marion in the Revolution, and, for the most part, a convinced Methodist. The family was of Huguenot ancestry.
Education
In 1805 Capers entered the sophomore class of South Carolina College, injured his health by protracted study in an effort to make up for his desultory preparation, and on Dr. Maxcy's advice withdrew and entered the college again in 1807. But his mind was agitated by thoughts of religion; and, troubled in spirit, he left the college in 1808, intending to study law. During the summer he underwent a series of religious experiences, and before the end of November, somewhat to his own surprise and misgiving, he found himself a licensed Methodist preacher accompanying the Rev. William Gassaway on his circuit. In December 1810 he was admitted into full connection with the South Carolina Conference and was ordained deacon; two years later he was ordained elder.
Career
Besides serving various circuits Capers was at one time or another located at Wilmington, North Carolina; Georgetown, Charleston, and Columbia, South Carolina; Milledgeville, Oxford, and Savannah, Georgia. Several of these charges he filled more than once.
He was superintendent of the missions to the Creek Indians along the Chattahoochee in Georgia and Alabama 1821-25, visited England in 1828 as an official representative of the American Methodist Church to that of Great Britain, and began in 1829 the work of which he was proudest, --his missions among the plantation negroes of the South Carolina littoral. For this work, difficult and perhaps even dangerous, he was peculiarly fitted by his sympathy and understanding, and he managed it with success. He was secretary of the Southern Missionary Department of the Church 1840-44. In the slavery controversy that finally split the Methodist Church into two general bodies in 1844, he was a dignified, good-tempered exponent of the Southern point of view. On May 14, 1846, he was consecrated a bishop of the Methodist Church South. In all he made eight episcopal visitations, his territory extending from Virginia to Texas across half a continent. He died of heart disease near Anderson Court House, S. C. , while returning from a visit to Florida. With ample opportunity to make money, he died a poor man.
Achievements
Personality
No scholar and of no conspicuous ability as an administrator, he was nevertheless one of the leaders of the second generation of Southern Methodism by sheer strength and goodness of character.
Connections
He married Anna White of Georgetown District, January 13, 1813. She died in childbirth Dec. 30, 1815, and on October 31, 1816, he married Susan McGill of Kershaw District.