About the Author

Dr. James McDonald Chaney, born in 1831, received his Doctor of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary before being ordained in 1958 as a Presbyterian pastor. He served in several churches in Missouri, as well as in the offices of Vice-President and then President of Elizabeth Aull Female Seminary, President of the Kansas City Ladies' College, and President of Independence Academy of Missouri. Dr. Chaney also invented a planetarium for locating and observing celestial bodies. In addition to William the Baptist, he also published Agnes, Daughter of William the Baptist.