Sacramento County
Biographies
REV. WILLIAM H. HERMITAGE
REV. WILLIAM H. HERMITAGE.--Distinguished among the most honored representatives of Christianity in Sacramento County is the Rev. William H. Hermitage, the scholarly, efficient and popular rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church at Sacramento. He was born at Margate, about fifteen miles from Canterbury, England, on January 6, 1882, the son of John James and Emily (Robinson) Hermitage. His father was a building contractor, and of such honorable position that he was elected to be mayor of the city for several terms; he died during the World War.
William Hermitage attended the parochial schools, and during the Boer War he went out to South Africa. From there he shipped for Australia, and spent two years in that country. In January, 1907, he came from Australia to California, and at San Mateo he took a classical course. Then he went to the Church Divinity School in preparation for the ministry, and received the Bachelor of Divinity degree from the Pacific School of Religion. He was the first assistant at the Grace Pro-Cathedral, in San Francisco, and then, in the same city, was rector of the Church of the Incarnation. He had been ordained as deacon on May 29, 1912, and on June 11, 1913, he was made priest, at the Grace Pro-Cathedral.
On November 1, 1916, the Rev. Mr. Hermitage came to Sacramento, and since then his influence, as rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, one of the most earnest and active parishes in the city, has been enviable. He is public-spirited, in close touch with both California and Sacramento movements, and enjoys the esteem of all who know him.
On November 1, 1912, and at San Jose, Rev. Mr. Hermitage was married to Miss Anna Belle Wythe, a native daughter of San Jose, who holds the degree of Bachelor of Music from the College of the Pacific, and now teaches harmony in the Sacramento high school. Mr. Hermitage is fond of fishing and is a Mason and Elk, and also belongs to the Lions Club in Sacramento, of which he was the first president.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Taylor.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County,
California With Biographical Sketches, Page 561. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA.
1923.
© 2007 Jeanne Taylor.