These pages were created by Aprille Cooke McKay circa 2002 and went offline from the University of Michigan site that hosted them in late 2005. I've reproduced them here with her permission in 2006 and have done some minor corrections of typos. I do not plan to actively update these pages but I do welcome corrections, supplementary info, and links to complementary info and related church sites. Please use the threaded discussion boards on this site to discuss these pages and to offer additional info, clarification and to network with descendants for genealogy purposes. Hosting for these pages is provided courtesy of GetOggz.com. & Malcolm Humes.

Early American Presbyterians -- D

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    • Rev. Naphtali Daggett (b pre 1729)

    He was ordained by the Presbytery of Suffolk, Long Island, New York, August 10, 1749 and directed to preach at Smithtown.  September 18, 1751, he was ordained the minister at Smithtown.  He was a graduate of Yale College and was afterwards its president.

    Joshua Noble Danforth, D.D. (1792-1861)

    He was born at Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1792, graduated at Williams College, with the full honors of the best in his class; graduated at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1821, and was licensed by New Brunswick Presbytery. He was installed pastor of the Presbyterian Church at New Castle, Delaware, where he remained until he accepted a call to Washington, D.C. In this field, his labors were signally blessed. After three years he became an agent of the American Colonization Society. He was next pastor of a Congregational church at Lee, Massachusetts, which, during his ministry, was visited with a revival of religion of wondrous power. Subsequently he assumed the pastorate of the Second Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, Virginia, where his labors were abundant. After fifteen years he resigned this charge, and again accepted an agency for the Colonization Society. He died November 14th, 1861. Several volumes of his have been published, besides being a large contributor to the religious and secular press.
     

    Rev. John Darbe (b pre 1728)

    He was licensed by the Presbytery of Suffolk, Long Island, New York to preach at Mattituck and Aquebogue April 13, 1749.  He held a Master of Divinity degree from Yale College.  1764 he was transferred to the Presbytery of New York by order of the Synod.

    Rev. James Davenport (1716-1757)

    He was born in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1716, and graduated at Yale at the age of twenty-two. He seems to have preached in New Jersey at the close of 1737, but preferred to settle at Southold, Long Island, and was ordained by a Council (Congregational Church), October 26th, 1738. Under his preaching and that of the Rev. Jonathan Barber, a revival occurred in East Hampton. Mr. Davenport preached for a season at Baskingridge, in the absence of Mr. Cross, the pastor, amid an awakening of extraordinary extent and power. The divine blessing also signally attended his labors during a visit to Connecticut. He became a member of New Brunswick Presbytery, September 22d, 1746, having probably for some time been preaching in their bounds. In 1748 he joined New York Presbytery, with a view to settle at Connecticut Farms near Elizabethtown. Having recovered his health, which was for a season impaired, he spent two months in the Summer of 1750, in Virginia, where his labors were highly acceptable and successful. The Winter of 1750-1 he spent on Cape May. On October 27th, 1754, he was installed pastor of Maidenhead and Hopewell, and that year he was Moderator of the Synod of New York. He died in 1757, and was buried in the graveyard, about a mile from Pennington, towards the Delaware.

    Rev. John Davenport

    The Rev. John Davenport, an amiable and excellent man, who had labored many years in different parts of Long Island and Bedford, New York, was installed pastor at Deerfield, August 12th, 1795, and his ministry during his pastorate, which terminated October 16th, 1805, on account of feeble health, was quite successful.

    Robert Davidson, D.D. (1750-1812)

    He was born in Cecil county, Maryland in 1750. He was educated at Newark Academy, Delaware, where he acted for at time as Tutor. At the age of twenty-four he was appointed Professor of History and Belles Lettres in the University of Pennsylvania, and at the same time (1774), was ordained by the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, and acted as assistant to Dr. Ewing, in the First Church. In 1775, the young Professor composed a dialog in verse, which was recited at Commencement, before the Continental Congress. In July, of the same year, a month after the battle of Bunker Hill, he preached a spicy, patriotic sermon before several military companies, from the significant text, "And many fell down, for the war was of God." (1Chron. v. 22). This sermon was printed.

    In 1785, being now thirty-five years of age, Dr. Davidson removed to Carlisle, as pastor of the church there, and continued in that connection the remainder of his life--that is, for twenty-seven years. His benignity of disposition and exemplary character helped to heal all parties, both Old and New Lights, in uninterrupted harmony. At the same time, mainly through the influence of Dr. Rush, he received the appointment of Professor of History and Belles Lettres, and Vice-president in Dickinson College. He was chosen Moderator of the General Assembly in 1796. Upon Dr. Nisbet's decease, in 1804, Dr. Davidson discharged the duties of the office of President, for five years, when he resigned, to devote himself exclusively to his parochial duties. He died December 13th, 1812, in the sixty-second year of his age.

    His reputation as a scholar was equal to his integrity as a man. He was acquainted more or less familiarly with eight languages, was proficient in music and drawing, and was especially fond of astronomy. He invented a cosmosphere, or compound globe, by which astronomical problems are easily solved. As a preacher, he was clear, didactic, and free from affectation, but not fluent, nor apt to rise to the highest flights of eloquence. As a wise councilor in the courts of the church, he ranked highly. One of these committees was one of which Drs. Allison and Ewing and Messrs. Blair and Jones were also members, in 1785, to prepare a new and more suitable version of the psalms.

    Dr. Davidson's published writings were a variety of occasional sermons, orations and poems. Of the latter were a geography in verse, which the students committed to memory, and a metrical version of the Psalms, published in 1812.

    Samuel Davies D.D. (1723-1761)

    He was born near Summit Bridge, in the Welsh Tract, in New Castle county, Delaware, November 3rd, 1723. He was an only son. His mother, an eminent Christian, had earnestly besought him of heaven, and believing him to be given in answer to prayer, she named him Samuel. After being taught by his mother to read, at the age of ten he was sent to a school at some distance from home, and continued in it two years. Having experienced a change of heart, and made a view of entering the ministry, he engaged in literary and theological pursuits under the Rev. Samuel Blair at Fagg's Manor, Pennsylvania. He was licensed by New Castle Presbytery, July 30th, 1746, at the age of twenty-three, and ordained an evangelist, February 19th, 1747.

    Mr. Davies' fervent zeal, undissembled piety, popular talents and engaging methods of address soon excited general admiration. He went to Hanover, Virginia in April, 1747, and soon obtained of the General Court a license to officiate in four meeting-houses. After preaching assiduously for some time, he returned from Virginia. A call for him to settle at Hanover was immediately sent to the Presbytery, but he was about this time seized by symptoms which indicated consumption, and which brought him to the borders of the grave. In this enfeebled state, he determined to spend the remainder of his life in unremitting endeavors to advance the interests of religion. Being among a people who were destitute of a minister, his indisposition did not repress his exertions. He still preached in the day, while by night his schedule was so hectic as to render him delirious. In the Spring of 1748 a messenger from Hanover visited him, and he thought it his duty to accept the invitation of the people in that place. He hoped that he might live to organize the congregation. His health, however, gradually improved. In October, 1748, three more meeting houses were licensed, and among his seven congregations, which were in different counties: Hanover, Henrico, Caroline, Louisa, and Goochland, some of them forty miles distant form each other, he divided his labors. His home was in Hanover, about twelve miles from Richmond. His preaching encountered all the obstacles which could arise from blindness, prejudice and bigotry, from profaneness and immorality. He, and those who attended upon his preaching were denominated new lights by the more zealous Episcopalians; but by his magnanimity and piety, in conjunction with his evangelical and powerful ministry, he triumphed over opposition. Contempt and aversion were gradually turned into reverence. Many were attracted by curiosity to hear a man of such distinguished talents, and he proclaimed to them the most solemn and impressive truths with an energy which they could not resist. It pleased God to accompany these exertions with the efficacy of His Spirit. In about three years, Mr. Davies beheld three hundred communicants in his congregation, whom he considered as real Christians. He had also, in this period, baptized about forty adult negroes, who made such a profession of faith as he judged credible.

    In 1753 the Synod of New York, by request of the Trustees of New Jersey College, chose Mr. Davies to accompany Gilbert Tennent to Great Britain, to solicit donations for the college. This service he cheerfully undertook, and he executed it with singular spirit and success. He arrived in London, December 25th. The liberal contributions he obtained from the patrons of religion and learning placed the college in a respectable condition. After his return to America he entered anew, in 1754 or early in 1755, on his beloved work of preaching the gospel, in Hanover. Here he continued till 1759, when he was chosen President of the College of New Jersey, as successor of Dr. Edwards. He hesitated in his acceptance of the appointment, for his people were endeared to him, and he loved to be occupied in the various duties of the ministerial office. But repeated applications and the unanimous opinion of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, at length, determined him. He was dismissed from Hanover, May 13th, and entered upon his new office, July 6th, 1759. Here the vigor and versatility of his genius were strikingly displayed. The ample opportunities and demands which he found for the exercise of his talents, gave a new spring to his diligence, and while his active labors were multiplied and arduous, his studies were intense. At the close of January, 1761, he was bled, for a bad cold, and the next day transcribed for the press his sermon on the death of George II. The day following he preached twice, in the chapel. His arm became inflamed, and a violent fever succeeded, to which he fell a victim in ten days. He died, February 4th, 1761, aged 36. His venerable mother, Martha Davies, survived him. When he was laid in the coffin, she gazed at him a few minutes and said, "There is the son of my prayers and my hopes--my only son--my only earthly support. But there is the will of God and I am satisfied." See, Collected Poems of Samuel Davies. Edited by Richard Beale Davis (Gainesville, FL: Scholars' Facsimilies and Reprints, 1968)

    Rev. Samuel Davis (b. bef. 1685)

    He was born in Ireland, and was one of the original members of the first presbytery organized in America, perhaps in 1705. He was settled in Maryland.

    Samuel S. Davis, D.D. (1793-1877)

    He was born July 12th, 1793, at Ballston Centre, New York. He graduated at Middlebury College in 1812, but afterwards received his first degree, ad eundem, from Union College. After his graduation, he took charge of an Academy at Castleton, Vermont. After spending a part of the year 1815 in Princeton Seminary, he was Tutor in Union College nearly two years; then returned to the College nearly two years; then returned to the Seminary, and after two years' further study, graduated in 1819. Licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Albany, October 12th, 1819; he soon afterwards was commissioned to collect funds to complete the endowment of a Seminary Professorship, which the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia had resolved to found in connection with the Synod of North Carolina, and for this object he raised a large amount; but before the whole sum was completed, the Synod had embarked in the new effort, to found the Seminary now located at Columbia, South Carolina. He was ordained to the work of the ministry by the Presbytery of Albany, August 12th, 1821; dismissed to the Presbytery of Harmony, September 13th, 1821, and installed, December 16th, 1821, pastor of the Church at Darien, Georgia. This relation was dissolved April 5th, 1823, but during its continuance he had received a considerable accession to the church, to which he had given a decided impulse.

    From Darien, Mr. Davis went to Camden, South Carolina, where he supplied the Church (then called Bethesda) from March, 1823, for nearly a year, after which he supplied the church at Augusta, Georgia, in connection with the Rev. Dr. Talmage. February 4th, 1827, he was elected pastor of the Church at Camden, South Carolina, and without accepting the call, served the church as a supply until January 10th, 1833. In that year he was appointed Agent of the General Assembly's Board of Education, and in this capacity raised considerable sums of money, both for the Board of Education and for the Theological Seminary at Columbia, South Carolina. For about eighteen months, in 1841 and 1842, Mr. Davis was Professor of the Latin Language in Oglethorpe University, at Milledgeville, Georgia. In 1842 he supplied the Presbyterian Church at his native place, Ballston Centre, about a year. On May 4th, 1845, he was recalled by his former charge at Camden; was installed as its pastor April 3d, 1847, and continued in this relation until April, 1851, with a strong and mutual attachment between him and his people. After his release, he resided in Augusta, Georgia, where he took the care and supervision of Springfield Church a large colored congregation in or near that city, numbering at one time fifteen hundred members, to which he gave a large amount of preaching and valuable counsel. He died June 21st, 1877.

    Rev. William C. Davis

    Apparently a controversial figure, such that there is no biography of his in Nevin, although he was prominent as an educator in colonial South Carolina. He was also known as one of the first vocal opponents of slavery. Here is an excerpt from a letter written by John Wilson of Crowders Creek, Lincoln Co., North Carolina to his brother, Rev. Samuel Wilson, who was a minister at Big Spring, Pennsylvania, near Carlisle, dated March 7, 1797:

    Rev. David Denny (b. pre 1772-1845)

    He was the third son of a Revolutionary soldier who fell in battle, when his eldest son, contending at his side, was captured by the enemy. He graduated at Dickinson College, during the presidency of Dr. Charles Nisbet, and was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Carlisle, about the year 1792. He was first installed over two congregations at Path Valley, where he continued until the year 1800, in the enjoyment of the esteem and affections of a much beloved people. In the year just mentioned he was transferred to the pastoral charge of Falling Spring Church, in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, which he retained until the termination of his public ministrations, a period of thirty-eight years. His death occurred December 16th, 1845.

    Hon. Harmar Denny (1794-1852)

    He was born at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, May 13th, 1794. He was the eldest son of Major Ebenezer Denny, of the Revolutionary War, a trusted friend of the Government and the first Mayor of Pittsburg. His mother had been Nancy Wilkins, daughter of Captain John Wilkins, of Revolutionary memory, and sister of Quartermaster-General John Wilkins and the Hon. William Wilkins, United States Senator, Minister to Russia, Secretary of War, etc. The son was named for a bosom friend and a chivalrous brother officer, to whose staff the father had belonged, and the name ever sat gracefully upon him. His youth, with it preparatory studies, was spent in Pittsburg. Afterwards he entered Dickinson College and graduated in 1813. He then read law, and in November of 1816 was admitted to the Bar of his native city, after which he was taken into partnership by Henry Baldwin, Esq., who had been his law preceptor, and ultimately a Judge of the United States Supreme Court. Soon Mr. Denny became a public man, widely and favorably known. He faithfully represented his county in the State Legislature, and was the friend of internal improvements. He was a worthy member of Congress from December 7th, 1829, to March 3d, 1837, inclusive, and the staunch advocate of a protective tariff. He was also a member of the Reform Convention of 1837 and 1838, that formed the new Consitution of Pennsylvania, and he gave to that important work his close attention and best judgment. He greatly favored the construction and success of the Pennsylvania Railroad; and subsequently, was the efficient President of the Pittsburg and Steubenville Railroad. He also encouraged and benefited the farmer, by the introduction of improved implements of agriculture, and by the importation and raising of valuable stock. He was fully identified with the cause of education; was a trustee of the Western University of Pennsylvania, at Pittsburg, as well as one of its Board of Inspectors and likewise a director of the Western Theological Seminary, in Allegheny. And, as a recognition of his character, services and merit, in 1848, he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia, founded by such men as Benjamin Franklin.

    When a young man, Mr. Denny connected himself with the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburg, under the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Francis Herron, and never was his Christian profession tarnished or discredited by any act of his subsequent life. His talents and piety, combined with an ample fortune, made his church relation one of great usefulness. In April 12th, of 1829, he was ordained a ruling elder in the same church, and this honorable and responsible position he very acceptably filled during the remainder of his life.

    On the 25th of November, 1817, Mr. Denny married Miss Elizabth F. O'Hara, the accomplished daughter of General James and Mary (Carson) O'Hara, of Pittsburg; and their children became successively members of the church. He died after a lingering an painful illness, which he was graciously enabled to bear with serene resignation, January 29th, 1852, in the fifty-eighth year of his age.

    Rev. Richard Denton (1603-1662)

    The Rev. Peter D. Oakey, of Springfield, Long Island, New York, says he was one of the first Presbyterian ministers in the country: He was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1603. He graduated at Cambridge University in early 1623, and was ordained a Deacon at Peterborough, March 9, 1622/3 and a Priest June 8, 1823. He had two sons, Tymothie (chr. 1627) and Nathaniel (chr. 1628), and was identified at their christenings as "preacher at Turton," Lanceshire. For seven years he was the Puritan minister of Coley Chapel, parish of Halifax, in the northern part of England. There, three more children were christened: Samuel in 1631, Daniel in 1632, and Phoebe in 1634. By the intolerant spirit of the times which led to the Act of Uniformity, he felt compelled to relinquish his charge, and to emigrate to America. This was before 1638. Mr Denton first came to Watertown, Massachusetts; then he moved on to Wethersfield and in 1641 his name appears among the early settlers of Stamford, Connecticut; and then in 1644 he is recorded as one of the original proprietors of Hempstead, Long Island. A part of his flock accompanied him from England, and also settled with him as their pastor, the descendent of some of them remain there to the present day. Thus a Puritan/Presbyterian Church was established in Hempstead, Long Island in 1644. Mr. Denton had some disputes with his congregation about its failure to pay him his due, and was in Middleboro (Newtown) L.I. 1650-54 and then journeyed to Virginia to find more lucrative employment. By 1657 he had returned to Hempstead and served the church till 1659, when he returned to England, and spent the latter part of his life in Essex, where he died, in 1662.

    Mr. Denton had a mind of more than ordinary gifts and attainments. He was from the very first noted as a man of "leading influence." Mr. Heywood, his successor in office at Halifax, speaks of him as a "good minister of Jesus Christ, and affluent in his worldly circumstances." In a report of the church of New Netherlands in 1657, by Revs. John Megapolensis and Drisnis, to the Classis of Amsterdam, occurs the following passage: "At Hempstead about seven Dutch miles from here, there are some Independents; also many of our persuasion and Presbyterians. They have also a Presbyterian preacher named Richard Denton, an honest, pious and learned man, who is in agreement with our church in everything. The Independents of the place listen attentively to his sermons; but when he began to baptize the children of parents who are not members of the church, they rushed out of the church."

    Gov. Stuyvesant, in a letter to the people of Hempstead, under date July 29th, 1657, says: "About the continuance of Mr. Denton among you we shall use all the endeavors we can." Cotton Mather speaks of him as "our pious and learned Mr. Richard Denton, a Yorkshire man who, having watered Halifax, in England, with his fruitful ministry, was, by a tempest, hurled into New England, where his doctrine dropped as the rain. Though he were a little man, yet had a great soul. His well-accomplished mind was an Illiad in a nutshell. He wrote a system, entitled 'Soliloquia Sacra,' so accurately describing the fourfold state of man that judicious persons who have seen it very much lament the Church's being deprived of it."

    Before Mr. Denton left Hempstead the church was troubled with sharp contentions between the Independents and Presbyterians. In 1657 Governor Stuyvesant visited Hempstead, and used his influence to persuade Mr. Denton to continue his ministry there, his own Church affinities inclining him to favor the Presbyterian form of government. But the troubles increasing, Mr. Denton left, and the Independents gained the control, and had a stated supply for a number of years. Then through these continued dissensions, the large increase of Quakerism, and the establishment of Episcopacy under the English rule, the Presbyterian Church gradually declined and passed out of sight as an organized body. The Rev. Mr. Jenney writes, September, 1729: "A few Presbyterians at Hempstead have an unordained preacher to officiate for them, whom they could not support were it not for the assistance which they receive from their brethren in the neighboring parish of Jamaica."

    (See, Rev. Francis Makemie, see, also, Walter C. Krumm, "Who Was the Rev. Richard Denton?" in New York Genealogical and Biographical Record (July and Oct. 1986) Also Sue Montgomery-Cook's website documenting the descendants of Rev. Denton http://www.acun.com/dentons )

    William R. De Witt, D.D. (1792-1867)

    He was born at Rhinebeck, New York, February 25th, 1792. His ancestors were among the first immigrants from Holland to New Netherlands, in 1623. His early years were spent in commercial pursuits, but, becoming a subject of Divine grace when eighteen years of age, he studied for the ministry with Dr. Alexander Proudfit, of Salem, New York. His studies were, however, interrupted by his patriotism, which led him to volunteer in the War of 1812 against Great Britain. He witnessed Commodore McDonough's victory on Lake Champlain, September 11th, 1814. After the close of the war, he graduated at Union College, and competed his theological studies under Dr. John M. Mason, of New York. In 1818 he was called to the Presbyterian Church of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and installed the following year by the Presbytery of Carlisle. Thoug invited to settle elsewhere he preferred not to change. His ministry was highly successful, and the church, under his care, grew in numbers. In 1854 he felt the necessity of taking a colleague, Rev. T.H. Robinson, D.D., now his successor, and in 1865 was obliged to give up all active duties. Two years afterward, December 23d, 1867, he quietly breathed his last, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. The Rev. John DeWitt, of Lane Seminary was his son.

    Dr. Ebenezer Dickey (1772-1831)

    He was born near Oxford, Chester county, Pennsylvania, March 12, 1773. He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1792. He was settled over Oxford and Octorara churches by the Associate Reformed Presbytery, but in May, 1822, came into connection with the General Assembly, along with Dr. Mason, Dr. Junkin and others. He remained pastor of Octorara till 1800 and of Oxford, though tempted by other and more lucrative calls until his death, May 31st, 1831. He published little, only a tract, an essay and "Travels," in the Christian Advocate. Wife, Jane Miller, son John Miller Dickey, D.D. (1806-1878).

    Rev. James Henry Dickey (b. pre 1790)

    The Congregations of Buckskin, Concord and Pisgah of the Washington Presbytery of Kentucky and Ohio presented a call to him in November of 1810 while he was a licentiate of the Presbytery of West Lexington. He was elected stated clerk of the presbytery in 1817. He asked that presbytery should dissolve the relationship between himself and the church at Pisgah and the request was granted, October, 1817.

    Rev. William Dickey (1774-abt 1857)

    He was the son of Robert and Margaret (Hillhouse) Dickey, of York county, South Carolina. He was born December 6th, 1774. His parents removed to Kentucky, where he grew to manhood. With much self-denial and difficulty he obtained an education at Nashville, Tennessee, and, October 5th, 1802, was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Transylvania. He was soon after ordained and labored fourteen years with the churches of Salem and Bethany, in Kentucky. Upon the division of that presbytery in 1811, he fell under the jurisdiction of Muhlenburg Presbytery until he removed to Washington, Lafayette county, Ohio (within the bounds of Chillicothe Presbytery) in 1817. The Washington congregation divided in two parts that year, with the northern part retaining the name Washington and the southern part being called Bloomingburgh. Rev. Dickey settled in Bloomingburgh where he labored in the ministry exactly forty years. He organized the church there, November 22d, 1817, and preached his last sermon to it November 23d, 1857. Before removing to Ohio, and for some time after, he performed much missionary work, traveling through what was then the thinly-settled wilderness, to gather churches and preach the gospel wherever he found opportunity.

    Baxter Dickinson, D.D. (1795-1875)

    He was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, April 14th, 1795. He graduated from Yale College in 1817, and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1821. He was pastor of the Congregational Church at Longmeadow, Massachusetts, 1823-9; of the Third Presbyterian Church, Newark, New Jersey, 1829-35; Professor of Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Theology in Auburn Seminary, 1839-47, and acting professor at Andover Seminary in the same chair, in 1848. Subsequently, he was Agent and Secretary of the American and Foreign Christian Union, at Boston, Massachusetts, 1850-9. He resided at Lake Forest, Illinois, 1859-68, afterward in Brooklyn, New York, where he died December 7th, 1875. He wrote the "Auburn Declaration," and was Moderator of the General Assembly at Philadelphia in 1839. Rev. Richard Salter Storrs Dickinson was his eldest son (1824-1856)

    Jonathan Dickinson (1688-1747)

    He was the first president of the College of New Jersey, and was born in Hatfield, Massachusetts, April 22nd, 1688. He graduated at Yale, in 1706, and in 1708 was installed as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Of this church he was for nearly forty years the joy and glory. The charter of the College of New Jersey, which had never yet been carried into operation, was enlarged by Governor Belcher, October 22d, 1746, and Mr. Dickinson was appointed President. The Institution commenced at Elizabethtown, but it did not long enjoy the advantages of his superintendence, for it pleased God to call him away from life, October 7th, 1747, aged fifty-nine.

    His writings possess a very high degree of merit. The most important are his "Discourses on the Reasonableness of Christianity." and on the "Five Points" in answer to Whitby. An octavo volume of his works was published at Edinburgh, in 1793.

    James Dinsmore

    He was one of the first members of the Sessionof Bethel Church, in the Presbytery of Redstone, Pennsylvania. He was present at the firth and five subsequent meetings of Presbytery, and also many times at the Presbytery of Ohio, from 1793 onward. His place of residence was within what is now [1884] Bethany Church. Afterward he removed to Buffalo Church, where at an advanced age, he died and was buried. In his earlier life he had two sisters carried away by Indians.

    Cornelius Lansing Dirck, D.D. (1785-1857)

    He was born in Lansingburg, New York, March 3d, 1785. He was ordained pastor at Onandoga, New York, December, 1807; this relation continued eight years; Stillwater, 1814-16; Park Street Church, Boston, Massachusetts, 1816; Auburn First Church, 1817-29; Utica Second Church, 1829-22; Houston Street Presbyterian, New York, 1833-5. He resided at Auburn, 1835-8; in Illinois, 1838-9; he was pastor at Utica, Syracuse and Aubrun, 1839-46; of Chrystie Street Church, New York, 1846-8; of Clinton Avenue Church, Brooklyn, 1848-55; he was Trustee of Auburn Seminary, 1820-30 and 1835-57; Vice-President of the Board of Trustees, 1820-4, and President of Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Theology, 1821-6. He served without salary, and, as financial agent, raised large sums for the seminary. He died March 19th, 1857. Dr. Dirck published "Sermons on Important Subjects," 1825.

    Rev. Samuel Doak (1749-aft 1818)

    He was born within the bounds of the New Providence congregation, Virginia, in August, 1749; was admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Arts, in the College of New Jersey, in 1775; taught for a short time in the school of the Rev. Robert Smith, of Pequea, Pennsylvania, then became Tutor in Hampden Sydney College, where he remained about two years, pursuing the study of theology under the Rev. John Blair Smith, which he subsequently continued from some time under the Rev. William Graham. He was licensed to preach the gospel by the Presbytery of Hanover, October 31st, 1777, and having preached for some time in Washington county, Virginia, he removed to the Holston settlement, in what was then a part of North Carolina, but is now a part of East Tennessee. After residing in this settlement a year or two, he removed in the hope of finding a more promising field of usefulness, to the settlement on Little Limestone, in Washington county, and there purchased a farm, on which he built a log house for purposes of education and a small church edifice, and founded a congregation known as the "Salem Congregation." The literary institution which he established was the first that was ever established in the great Valley of the Mississippi, and he presided over it from the time of its incorporation, in 1785, till the year 1818, when he removed to Bethel, and opened a private school, which he called Tusculum Academy. Dr Doak organized a number of churches in the county in which he lived. His ministry was attended with no small success. His style of preaching was original, bold, pungent, and sometimes pathetic. He was eminently successful in training up young men for the ministry.

    See, students, Rev. John Rankin, Rev. Gideon Blackburn

    Rev. Robert B. Dobbins

    He was a member of the Presbytery of Washington (Kentucky and Ohio) in 1805 and accepted a call from the churches of Buckskin and Concord. He was installed October 3d, 1805. Rev. M.G. Wallace preached the ordination sermon and Mr. Kemper presided. He petitioned presbytery in 1808 to dissolve the pastoral relationship and his request was granted. When the congregations next applied for supplies, the presbytery instructed them to pay their arrears to Mr. Dobbins, who was still not fully paid in 1809. In 1818 the pastoral relation between him and the congregation of Smyrna was dissolved. In 1819, the relation between Mr. Dobbins and the church at Williamsburg was dissolved, and after this, though for a long time a member of Presbytery, he was not again installed as pastor of any of the churches. He was stated supply at Nevill for one year, for one quarter of the time and in 1826, he was permitted to supply White Oak for one year, for as much of his time as was convenient, and was made stated supply there in 1827 and continued there until he was dismissed to the Presbytery of Cincinnati in 1830. He was received again from that presbytery in 1834, and finally, in 1835 was dismissed to the Presbytery of Schuyler.

    Rev. Thaddeus Dod (1740-1793)

    He was born near Newark, New Jersey, March 7th, 1740 (O.S.), the son of Stephen Dod of Mendham, New Jersey. He graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1773; studied theology under the direction of the Rev. Dr. McWhorter, of Newark, and the Rev. Timothy Johnes, of Morristown; and was licensed to preach by the New York Presbytery in 1775. In March, 1777, he made a tour of the West as an evangelist. After preaching in parts of Virginia and Maryland he crossed the mountains, and visited the settlements of George's Creek, Muddy Creek and Dunlap's Creek, and proceeded thence to Ten-mile (or Amity, Washington Co., Pennsylvania), at which latter place there were a number of families who had removed from Morris county. After preaching for some time in that comparatively desolate region he returned to New Jersey. Being earnestly solicited by the people at Ten-mile to become their minister, he determined to yield to their wishes, and accordingly he was ordained by the Presbytery of New York, sine titulo, in October, 1777, with a view to finding his home in that then distant part.

    Arriving, November 10th, with his family, at Patterson's Creek, in Hampshire county, Virginia, and hearing of a then recent and formidable attack by the Indians on the fort at Wheeling, and of the consequent confusion and terror prevailing throughout the West, he remained a few days with his family, then left them, crossed the mountains alone, proceeded to Ten-mile, where he preached in the forts, and baptized the children, and after a week returned. For nearly two years he preached at Patterson's Creek, and in the adjacent counties in Virginia and Maryland, and his labors were attended with a manifest blessing. In September, 1779, he proceeded with his family, to Ten-mile, entered upon his labors there with great zeal and self-denial, and organized, August 15th, 1781, a church, consisting of twenty-five members. Under his ministrations, in the midst of the perils incident to frequent hostile demonstrations, and while the people, during part of the time were shut up in the fort, there was a revival of religion, as the fruits of which upwards of forty were admitted to the Church. The first house of worship was erected in the Summer of 1785.

    Mr. Dod opened a classical and mathematical school near his own dwelling in 1782, which was in operation about three years and a half. Through his influence, and that of Messrs. Smith and McMillan, an academy was instituted at Washington, Pennsylvania, of which he became Principal, April 1st, 1780, for a single year, at the same time preaching at Washington and Ten-mile. He died May 20th, 1793, in the full experience of the joys of salvation.

    He married Phebe Baldwin at Newark, soon after graduation from college; and had at six children, one of whom died and is buried somewhere on Patterson's Creek.

    Rev. Samuel Donald (d. aft 1802)

    He was marked absent at the first meeting of the Synod of Kentucky at Lexington, Kentucky in 1802 and was designated a member of the Transylvania Presbytery.
     

    Rev. Donaldson (b. pre-1733)

    He was a missionary sent to Virginia and North Carolina by the Synod of Philadelphia in 1753.

    George Duffield, D.D.(1732-1790)

    He was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, October 7th, 1732, and had Huguenot blood in his veins, the name having been originally Du Fielde. He was educated at Newark Academy, Delaware, and graduated at Nassau Hall, New Jersey in 1752. His theological studies were pursued under Dr. Robert Smith, of Pequea. After officiating for two years as Tutor at Princeton, he was ordained, September, 1759, over the united churches of Carlisle, Big Spring (now Newville,) and Monaghan (now Dillsburg). Carlisle was, at this time, a frontier town, and protected by a garrison, and the church at Monaghan was regularly fortified and watched by sentries, for fear of Indians. But Indian warfare was not the only warfare to which the young minister was exposed. He had warmly espoused the sentiments of the New Lights, and met with obstacles from the Old Side party, under the Rev. Mr. Steele. He encountered similarly opposition when he removed, in 1771, to Old Pine Street Church, Philadelphia, over which the First Church claimed to have some jurisdiction. To such a degree did the disturbance rise, that the aid of the civil magistrate had to be invoked, and the Riot Act read. In the end, however, he was allowed to exercise his functions unmolested.

    It is not to be supposed that a man of such a polemical turn would be quiescent during the Revolutionary war, and accordingly, besides serving as chaplain of Congress, he fearlessly shared the perils of the army and made himself so obnoxious to the enemy that a price was put upon his head. His death occurred after a brief illness, February 2d, 1790, at the age of fifty-seven.

    Dr. Duffield's excessive buoyancy in youth was never completely extinguished, and his ardent temperament made him, in riper years, an animated and popular preacher. He was the grandfather of the late Dr. George Duffield, of Carlisle and Detroit. The estimation in which he was held by his contemporaries may be inferred from the fact of his having been chosen the first Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, which post he held at the time of his death. His only published works were, "An Account of a Missionary Tour through Western Pennsylvania, in 1776," by order of Synod, and a "Thanksgiving Sermon on Peace," December 11th, 1783.

    George Duffield, D.D. (1794-1867)

    He was born July 4th, 1794, at Strasburg, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where his father's grandfather had purchased and settled a farm, as far back as 1730. He was of Huguenot and Scotch-Irish descent, and so of pious ancestry--his mother a truly godly woman, his father a merchant and elder in the Presbyterian Church, and his grandfather, of the same name, a graduate in the first class which received a diploma from Princeton College; a minister of the Presbyterian Church; an associate Chaplain with Bishop William White, of the Continental Congress of Philadelphia.

    At the precocious age of sixteen the subject of this sketch graduated in the University of Pennsylvania, and then studied theology under Dr. John M. Mason, in New York. He was licensed to preach before he had attained his twenty-first year, and before the expiration of that year (1815) he received and accepted a call from the Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In this charge he remained eighteen years and six months, gathering into his church during that time seven hundred persons by profession and two hundred by certificate. In March, 1835, Dr. Duffield resigned his pastorate at Carlisle, and after brief settlements in New York and Philadelphia, he was installed over the First Presbyerian Church in Detroit, Michigan, October 1st, 1838. In 1862, he was chosen Moderator of the General Assembly (New School), in Detroit. He remained in that city, where his labors were greatly blessed, till his sudden death in 1867 at the age of seventy-three. He died in the harness. He was delivering an address of welcome to the Young Men's Christian Association, when he was attacked by paralysis, and in a day or two breathed his last. Besides pamphlets and reviews on a variety of subjects, he published, in octavo form, a volume on "Regeneration," and a book entitled "Travels in Europe and the Holy Land."

    William Dunbar, M.D. (1793-1847)

    He was a distinguished citizen of Adams county, Mississippi, and was from many years an active and useful ruling elder in the Carmel Church, at one time a large and wealthy organization situated in a neighborhood of planters, about ten miles to the southeast of Natchez. He was the descendant of an ancient and noble Scotch family. His grandfather, was Sir Archibald Dunbar, of Elgin. His father, Sir William Dunbar, was educated first at Glasgow, and subsequently, at London. His ardor in the pursuit of mathematical and astronomical studies gained for him, in the latter city, the friendship of Sir William Herschell. In 1771 he was induced for the benefit of his health, to make a voyage to the North American colonies, and landed at Philadelphia in charge of a mercantile adventure. His business led him to Pittsburg, where he remained till 1773. In this year he formed a partnership with Mr. John Ross, a prominent Scotch merchant of Philadelphia, for the purpose of opening a plantation in the British Province of West Florida. Having purchased a force of negro laborers at Jamaica, he settled at a place in the vicinity of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and, after experiencing many fluctuations of fortune, finally, in 1792, removed to the neighborhood of Natchez and opened a plantation, which he called "The Forest." Upon the arrival of Governor Sargent, the first Governor of the Territory of Mississippi, he took the oath of allegiance to the United States. He held several important official trusts under the Government, was the correspondent of President Jefferson, Herschell, Rittenhouse, and other leading characters of the day, and contributed valuable papers to the American Philosphical Society. He is regarded as one of the most distinguished scholars in the annals of the Sourthwest. He died in 1810, leaving a large estate to his descendants.

    William, the subject of this sketch, was born at "The Forest," June 19th, 1793; was graduated at Princeton College in 1813; studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and received his degree of M.D. in 1818. Succeeding to the plantation and homestead of "The Forest," he devoted himself throughout life to the management of his estate. His government of his slaves was literally patriarchal. The domestic servants were daily gathered with his own household for family worship; a chaplain who resided in his family preached to the plantation negroes every Sabbath, and instructed their children in the Catechims and Scriptures. Many of these people were admitted as members to the Carmel Church. Dr. Dunbar was a decided Presbyerian, a zealous Christian, and a liberal promoter of religion in the region of country in which he lived. His prosperity, while it lasted, was used freely for the benefit of others; and when, in his later years, reverses darkened his lot, as they did in various forms, they were borne with the manly fortitude of a true Christian. He died on the 8th of December, 1847.

    James Dunlap, D.D. (b. abt. 1753-1818)

    He was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and, after graduating at Princeton College, in 1773, acted as Tutor for two years. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Donegal, some time between 1776 and 1781, and ordained by the Presbytery of New Castle, August 21st, 1781. Shortly after his ordination he removed to Western Pennsylvania, and settled first at Little Redstone and Dunlap Creek; afterwards he became pastor of Laurel Hill Church, where he remained until 1803, when he was elected President of Jefferson College. This post he held until 1811. Dr. Dunlap died in 1818.

    Rev. Samuel Dunlap (b. pre 1718-abt 1779)

    In 1738, George Clark, Lieutenant-Governor of the province of New York, granted a patent of 8000 acres of land, covering the site of the town of Cherry Valley, New York, to four proprietors, one of whom, John Lindesay, a Scotch gentleman, bought out his associates and went to settle upon it. While in New York, preparing for the removal of his family, he formed a friendship with Rev. Samuel Dunlap, a young Presbyterian minister of Irish birth, but educated at Edinburgh, who had traveled over the South, and was arranging for a tour through the North. He persuaded him to join in colonizing the land, and while he went with his family to make their home upon it, Mr. Dunlap went to Londonderry, New Hampshire, to persuade some of the Scotch-Irish, who in 1718 had immigrated there, to accompany him to it. In due time Mr. Dunlap and his party arrived, and distributing themselves about on the farms they selected, they became the fathers of the place. During the Revolutionary war, Cherry Valley was the site of a famous "massacre" in November of 1778. The venerable pastor of the church, with one of his daughters, was permitted to live, through the interposition of a Mohawk, but his wife was murdered, and her mangled arm, torn from her body, was tossed into an apple tree, which stood long after as the monument of the fiendish deed. His house was razed to the ground, and his library scattered, and himself carried away as a prisoner. Released in a few days, he made his way to New York, and about a year after sank under his sufferings, and laid down in the grave.

    Rev. John Dunlevy

    He came from Western Pennsylvania. He taught school for some time in Kentucky. He was ordained over Lee's Creek, Big Bracken and North Bracken, in Kentucky, November 8th, 1797. The two Bracken congregations being broken up by removals, he confined his attention to Lee's Creek, in 1798. He afterward came to Ohio. He was a minister affiliated with the Washington Presbytery in 1799, when his relationship with the church at Lee's Creek, Mason Co., Kentucky, was dissolved. He accepted a call from Eagle Creek, April 8th-10th, 1800, but no record of his installation. He went off with the New Lights during the Kentucky Revival. His work there and at Lee's Creek, must have been in addition to that at Red Oak, Ohio, with which his pastoral relation was dissolved in April, 1803, he having been pastor there before 1799. He attended the first meeting of the Synod of Kentucky in 1802. Davidson says of him: He was the exact opposite of Mr. McNemar by whose influence he was lead astray. He was one of the most gloomy, reserved, and saturnine men that ever lived; his sould seemed to be in harmony with no one lively or social feeling, and the groans which he continually uttered drove away all pleasure in his company. He was above the middle stature, and well proportioned, but of swarthy complexion, and dark, forbidding countenance. His manners were coarse, rough and repulsive. His talents were not above mediocrity; his knowledge was superficial; he was never regarded as a leading or influential man, nor was he a popular preacher. His favorite topics were those of terror, not consolation. He followed McNemar in all his vagaries, till they both landed in Shakerism. Fired with a passion for authorship, he published at the Shaker village of Pleasant Hill in Kentucky, in 1813, a dull and heavy octavo of five hundred and twenty pages, entitled "A Manifesto, or a Declartaion of the Doctrines and Practice of the Church of Christ," designed as an exposition and defense of the peculiarities of Shakerism, of which he professed to grow more and more enamoured."

    Hon. Williamson Dunn (1781-aft 1834)

    He was of Scotch-Irish descent, and born near Danville, Kentucky, December 25th, 1781. He removed to Indiana Territory in 1809, and settled in Jefferson county. He was appointed to a Judgeship in 1811, by Gen. William Henry Harrison, then governor of the Territory. During the war of 1812 he was captain of a company of rangers, an organization provided by Congress for the protection of the frontier settlement. He united with the Presbyterian Church at Charlestown, Indiana Territory, twenty-five miles distant, but the church was nearest to his abode. He was one of the original members and first ruling elders of the church organized in 1820, at Hanover, a village laid out on his farm. He was a member of the House of Representatives in the first three Legislatures of the State of Indiana, and was Speaker during his last two terms of service. In 1823, of an appointment by President Monroe, as Register of Land Office, for a recent extensive purchase of lands from the Indians, he removed to the wilderness, and, in connection with Major Whitlock, the Receiver, laid out the town of Crawfordsville. He was one of the first members and first elders of the Presbyterian Church at Crawfordsville.

    Returning to Hanover, he resumed his former relations with that church in 1829. He was one of the founders of Hanover College, and served as one of its Trustees for many years. He gave to Wabash College a tract of land, which formed the nucleus for its subsequent endowment, and was on its first Board of Trustees. After his return to Jefferson county he was elected to the State Senate, and also served another term on the Bench. He was a frequent delegate to the Presbyteries and Synods of the State, and was a member of the General Assembly in 1834. He was the father of Gen. William McKee Dunn (1814-aft 1884)

    Benjamin Woolsey Dwight, M.D. (1780-1850)

    He was the son of President Timothy Dwight, D.D. of Yale College, and great grandson of Jonathan Edwards, and was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, February 10th, 1780, and graduated at Yale in 1799. He studied medicine, but was compelled by ill health, to abandon early his much loved profession. He established himself, in the end, as a wholesale and retail merchant at Catskill, New York (1817-31). Here he was a most efficient elder in the Presbyterian Church. He gave Bible-class instructions to large classes of young men, took a prominent part in conference meetings, and frequently addressed the colored people on the subject of religion. He was always busy with his pen, as opportunity offered, for some good purpose. He published in The Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, in 1811, the first article ever published in this country on "Chronic Debility of the Stomach," which was much commended for its originality and excellence here, and republished in England.

    In 1831 Dr. Dwight removed to Clinton, Oneida county, New York, and was elected Treasurer of Hamilton College, in the duties of which office, and the pleasant life of a gentleman farmer, he spent the rest of his days, his death occurring in May, 1850. He was the father of Theodore William Dwight, LL.D. (b. 1822), the founder of Columbia University's Law School.