James Philip de Bevers Kaye, dean of Grace cathedral, Topeka, Kan., was born in Shropshire, England, July 4, 1864, the son of John Beersford Kaye and his wife, who prior to her marriage was Mary Jane Griffin. He comes from an English and Welsh family on the paternal side, while on the maternal, he is descended from an honored old Scotch family. However, on the maternal side there is a blend of Norman-French blood, since his mother's mother was a Miss de Bevers, purely of Norman-French descent. In France the de Bevers family belonged to the nobility and Dean Kaye wears a ring which contains an intaglio stone on which there is neatly carved the de Bevers coat of arms consisting of a flower vase and wreath which is supported on one side by a unicorn and on the other by a young woman. On the paternal side, he is descended from the nobility of England. John Kaye was bishop of Lincoln and a religious writer of note. Originally, the Kayes lived in Wales and the name was spelled Keay. Dean Kaye was six years old when he accompanied his parents to the United States in 1870. The family first located at Troy, N. Y., where the father was engaged at electro plating for some years, when he removed to Whitestone, L. I., where he died on March 11, 1910, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. The mother, still a widow, continues to reside at Whitestone, L. I., at the venerable age of seventy-five years.

Dean Kaye received his early educational training in St. Paul's parochial school at Troy, N. Y., and in 1884 he entered Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, in which he completed both the classical and theological courses, graduating in 1889. He then entered the Philadelphia Divinity School in which he spent one year, graduating in 1890. He was ordained deacon in Trinity cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1890 and was ordained priest at Alliance, Ohio, in December, 1890. For four years thereafter he was rector of Trinity church at Alliance, Ohio, after which for two years he was rector of the Church of the Resurrection at Fernbank, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. In January, 1896, he became rector of the Church of the Transfiguration, at Ironwood, Mich., and served there for nearly six years. In November, 1901, he was called to his present post, that of dean of Grace cathedral,

Dean Kaye was married on Sept. 6, 1899, to Miss Frances Camp Nelson of Ironwood, Mich., a direct descendant, on her mother's side, from Governor Bradford of the Massachusetts colony, who was one of the Mayflower passengers. Dean Kaye and his wife are the parents of two children: Margaret Nelson, born Sept. 7, 1904, and Philip de Bevers, born March 11, 1908.

Dean Kaye is a Royal Arch and a Scottish Rite Mason, and also a Knight Templar. He is president of the standing committee of the Episcopal diocese of Kansas; has been a delegate to the general convention of the Episcopal church for the past twelve years; is the examining chaplain to the bishop of Kansas; professor of systematic divinity in the Kansas Theological School of Topeka; is vice-president and general manager of Christ Hospital of Topeka; is trustee of the property of the Kansas Theological School; and is chairman of the financial committee of the diocese of Kansas. He is also the delegate to the missionary council of the Episcopal church, department of the Southwest, and is manager of St. Luke's Hospital, now in course of construction at Wellington, Kan. He has held various civic positions, is president of the Civic Improvement Society, a director of the Foster branch of the National Humane Society, and a member of the advisory board of the Topeka Orphans' Home. He is president of the Topeka Kennel Club, and a member of the Topeka Commercial Club.