He was ordained in Raleigh, North Carolina. ®134 He was Bishop of Georgia. ®134 In 1852 he graduated from Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. A short while later he was admitted as a candidate for holy orders in North Carolina. He was ordained to the Deaconate by Bishop Thomas Atkinson on 24 May 1854 and was assigned to Calvary Church, Wadesboro, North Carolina. A year later in May 1855, he was advanced to the priesthood and moved to Anne Arundel County, Maryland. In May 1857 he became Assistant Pastor of Street Paul’s Church, Baltimore, Maryland. About 1862, he moved to Mississippi and after serving parishes in Mississippi and Alabama, he became a Chaplain in the Confederate Army, serving for a time on the staff of General Leonidas Polk. In 1865 he became Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, New Orleans. The Reverend John Watrous Beckwith, then Rector of Trinity Church, New Orleans, was unanimously elected second Bishop of Georgia on 11 May 1867 at the Convention of the Diocese held at Christ Church in Macon. He was consecrated on 2 April 1868 at St. John’s Church, Savannah, Georgia. Three days later, on 5 April 1868, he confirmed a group as members of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Augusta, Georgia. ®129 In 1868 he was awarded a Doctor of Sacred Theology by both his Alma mater, Trinity College, and the University of Georgia. At the time of his election as Bishop of Georgia, he selected Macon as his residence. Christ Church subscribed the sum of $5000 towards an Episcopal residence and at a meeting of the Vestry on 26 October 1868 the Bishop was requested to make Christ Church, Macon, the Cathedral Church of the Diocese. This project does not seem to have gone any further than a proposal. When Bishop Beckwith moved to Savannah, the Bishop’s house reverted to the original subscribers and was sold. On the 18 July 1870 US Census of Macon, Georgia, he was 40 with real estate valued at $5000 and a personal estate of $1000. He lived with his wife Ella, age 35, son Brockenbrough, age 11, daughter Daisy, age 8, daughter Bessie, age 7, and Etta Brockenbrough, age 13. ®97 He is not listed in the Macon city directory of 1872, presumably having moved to Savannah, but continued performing confirmations at Christ Church through 21 March 1875. The 1874 Savannah city directory lists Rev. John W. Beckwith, Episcopal Bishop of Georgia, residing at 132 Harris. He served as Bishop until his death in Atlanta, Georgia on 23 November 1890. He was conservative and considered one of the most emminent men the Protestant Episcopal Church in the South has produced. Dr. Thomas Stanly Beckwith was his brother.

“Beckwith was graduated from Trinity College, Hartford in 1852 and two years later was ordained as a deacon and later priest in the Episcopal Church. Before the American Civil War, he served in North Carolina and Maryland. During the war, he served as a chaplain on the staff of Confederate General William J. Hardee. Following the war, Beckwith served churches in Demopolis, Alabama and Deer Creek, Mississippi. Late in 1865 accepted a call to serve Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in New Orleans as its rector. He served that church for three years before being elected as the second Bishop of the Diocese of Georgia. He was consecrated as Bishop on April 2, 1868 in St. John's Church, Savannah. Beckwith served as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia for 23 years during the difficult period of reconstruction. There were 31 churches in the diocese at the time of his consecration. At his death, there were 53 churches and five missions. In 1887-1888, Bishop Beckwith spent five months abroad preaching in Anglican Churches in Italy, France, England, Egypt and Palestine. His final annual report came at the sixty eighth convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia held in Milledgeville in May 1890. In his address at that convention he told the delegates,
I have not for years looked forward to the future with as much hope as now....All over the Diocese, among clergy and laity, there seems to be an increase in aggressive work on churchly lines.” ®2699