Cranston, Walter

Cranston, Walter a minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was born at Newport, R.I., December 12, 1789. Having studied under John Fraser, in Newport, and graduated at Harvard College in 1810, he took a voyage to the island of Trinidad, and, returning in 1811, went to Charleston, S.C., and afterwards to Cambridge for study. In the autumn he was appointed Greek tutor in the university, and held the position until 1815, studying theology meanwhile. Part of the time he officiated as lay-reader in the Episcopal Church at Cambridge, January 20, 1815, he was ordained deacon. After resigning his tutorship he went to Savannah, Georgia, and became pastor of Christ Church in the fall of 1815. The next year he was ordained presbyter, and returned to Savannah to resume his pastoral duties. On two occasions, when yellow fever invaded the city, he remained at his post. His health failing, he went to Middletown, Connecticut and died there, July 25, 1822. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 5:580.