Bishop William T. Vernon (1871-1944)

Born and raised in Missouri, Bishop Vernon received his formal education from Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City, Missouri and Wilberforce University in Ohio. After teaching in the public schools of Boone Terre and Lebanon, Missouri, he followed his father’s religious calling and joined the ministry of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.). In 1896, the A.M.E. church assigned him to serve as president of Western University, a post-secondary school in Quindaro, Kansas that operated by the church. Under his direction, the school expanded its academic program and physical plant by acquiring financial support from the Kansas State Legislature. As an eloquent orator and active member of the Republican Party, he gained a national reputation for his leadership skills. President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him to serve as Register of the United States Treasury in 1906 and in 1912 he was reappointed to that position by President William Taft. He retired from government service in 1912 to return to school administration and the ministry. In 1920, he was elected to serve as the Bishop of the A.M.E. district in South Africa where he fostered the building of churches and schools for four years. When he returned to the United States in 1924, he continued to serve as Bishop in areas throughout the Midwest and the South. He returned to Kansas in 1933 to accept an appointment by Governor Alfred Landon to serve as superintendent of the State Industrial Department at Western University. Five years later he retired and spent his remaining years in Kansas City, Kansas.

previous biography            next biography 

home