FOWLER, Charles Henry, M. E. bishop, born in Burford, Canada, 11 August 1837. In 1841 he was taken with his father's family to Illinois, where he spent his early years on a farm. After studying at Rock River seminary in Mount Morris, he entered Genesee College, Lima, New York, where he was graduated in 1859. He soon afterward began the study of law at Chicago, but soon after this he was converted and at once changed his purpose, began a course of preparation for the ministry, and in 1861 was graduated at Garrett Biblical institute, Evanston, Ill. The same year he was admitted on trial into the Rock River conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was appointed successively to Churches in Chicago, till in 1872 he was elected president of Northwestern University. He held this office till 1876, when he was elected by the general conference to the editorship of the New York "Christian Advocate."

Four years later he was elected one of the corresponding secretaries of the missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in 1884 he was elected and ordained bishop. He received the degree of D.D. from the Northwestern University, and afterward that of LL.D. from Syracuse University, N.Y. He was a delegate to the general conferences of 1872, 1876, 1880, and 1884. Since his elevation he has traveled through all parts of the country In the performance of his official duties, and has also visited South America. His residence is at San Francisco, and he has devoted a large share of his labors to the interests of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the Pacific states.