Langdon, William Chauncy (Aug. 19, 1831 - Oct. 29, 1895), Protestant Episcopal clergyman, was born in Burlington, Vt., the son of John Jay Langdon and Harriet Curtis (Woodward), great-granddaughter of Eleazar Wheelock [q.v.], founder of Dartmouth College. Because of the mother's health, the family moved first to Washington, D. C., where in 1835 the father was a clerk in the United States Treasury, and then to Louisiana, whence he went to the Mexican War as colonel of the 1st Louisiana Regiment. William graduated from Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky., in 1850, and for a year thereafter was adjunct professor of astronomy at Shelby College, Kentucky. In 1851 he was appointed assistant examiner in the United States Patent Office, Washington, becoming chief examiner in 1855. The next year he resigned, and went into the practice of patent law.

In 1852, with Thomas Duncan, William J. Rhees, and Zalmon Richards, he started the Washington Young Men's Christian Association. Two years later, at a convention in Buffalo, he took the lead in founding the American Confederation of Young Men's Christian Associations, of which he was chosen first general secretary. He also made influential contributions to...