West, William (1), Dd

West, William (1), D.D.

an American Episcopal clergyman, was born in Fairfax County, Va., near Mount Vernon, about 1739. He was ordained and licensed for Virginia by the bishop of London, Nov. 24, 1761; became rector of St. Margaret's, Westminster parish, Ann Arundel County, Md.; rector of St. Andrew's parish, St. Mary's County, Nov. 17,1767; incumbent of St. George's parish, Harford County, in 1772; incumbent of St. Paul's parish, Baltimore County, June 7, 1779; was five years (1780-85) employed to officiate every third Sunday in. St. Thomas's Parish Church; took a prominent part in; the organization of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America after the Revolution; was chosen president of' the Diocesan Convention in May, 1790; and died March 30,1791. He was a Whig during the Revolution, and left no published works. He ordered his sermons to be burned, stating that they were not worthy of preservation. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 5, 208 sq.