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William Sherman Burgoyne was born on October 24, 1901 in Stevensville, Montana, to James Henry and Lola Helena Burgoyne. He was a descendant of the British general John Burgoyne, who had been defeated at the Battle of Saratoga during the American Revolution. William S. Burgoyne attended several institutions of higher education, including the Kimball School of Theology at Willamette University, and became a Methodist minister.

During his career as minister, which lasted until his retirement in 1957, Reverend Burgoyne preached in a number of Oregon towns including Hood River, McFarland, LaGrande, Turner, Cresswell, Sheridan, Lakewood, and Marshfield, as well as in Portland, Oregon, and Spokane, Washington. In 1934, he took a trip to the Holy Land, and for several years afterwards gave lectures at various Oregon churches about his experiences and observations from his travels.

In 1944, while Burgoyne was minister at the Asbury Methodist Church in Hood River, Oregon, the local chapter of the American Legion removed the names of 16 Japanese Americans from local memorial listing local citizens serving in the Armed Forces, claiming that they were dual citizens of Japan and the United States, and therefore suspect and unwelcome. Burgoyne publicly criticized the move, and he and his wife Doris gained national attention for their unyielding stance against bigotry and discrimination. Although his speaking out earned the enmity of locals and led to a decline in his church’s membership, in 1947 the Council Against Intolerance in America honored Burgoyne with the Thomas Jefferson Prize.

In addition to his preaching and social activism, Burgoyne joined the Grand Lodge of Oregon Freemasons in 1941, and was involved with the Masons for the rest of his life. He was elected Master of the Hood River Lodge in 1944.

Burgoyne married Doris Caple in 1920, with whom he had one daughter, Ruth. He died while on vacation in Yuma, Arizona, in 1964.