William Croswell Doane

William Croswell Doane was born in Boston on March 2, 1832, the son of Episcopal bishop and educator George Washington Doane. He studied at Burlington College in New Jersey, an institution founded by his father, and was ordained deacon in 1853 and priest in 1856. After serving churches in Burlington and Hartford, he became rector of St. Peter's, Albany, in 1867. When the Diocese of Albany was organized, he was elected its first bishop and was consecrated in 1869.

Doane's high-church convictions shaped an episcopate centered on worship, education, and works of care. He established St. Agnes School for girls, the Child's Hospital, and St. Margaret's House, and he made the Cathedral of All Saints the architectural and liturgical center of the diocese. He also published sermons, liturgical studies, biography, and verse; his books include Mosaics, Rhymes from Time to Time, and Sunshine and Play-Time.

Doane wrote the work later known as Ancient of Days for Albany's 1886 charter bicentenary. In a 1907 letter he explained that it was changed when selected for the Episcopal Church's hymnal, on whose revision he served prominently. The resulting Trinitarian hymn became his best-known contribution to hymnody and was sung at his funeral in the Cathedral of All Saints in 1913.