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 -- I-J

Back to the Index

Back to Presbyterian History Homepage

James Inglis, D.D. (1777-1820)

He was born in Philadelphia in 1777 of Scotch and Huguenot ancestry. He graduated at Columbia College, New York in 1795, at the age of eighteen, and commenced the study of the law with General Hamilton, but becoming a subject of divine grace, abandoned the law for theology, which he studied under Dr. Rodgers, of New York. In February, 1802 he succeeded Dr. Patrick Allison as pastor of the First Church of Baltimore, where he continued till his death, in 1820. He died in his bed, of apoplexy, on Sunday morning, while the congregation were waiting for him to commence the usual services. One of his sons was Judge John A. Inglis, Professor Commercial Law in the University of Maryland, and Chief Justice of the Orphan's Court of Maryland.

Dr. Inglis was a sound theologian and a good scholar. He was one of the most polished and elegant orators this country has ever produced, according to such judgments as those of Drs. Stanhope Smith, Dwight and Sprague. He used manuscript in the pulpit, but was not slavishly confined to it. His perorations were composed in a lofty style, and were particularly startling and impressive. His prayers were premeditated, and not less devout and solemn than his sermons. His manner was stately and not familiar. His published writings were several occasional discourses a posthumous volume of sermons, accompanied with forms of prayer. Dr. Inglis was Moderator of the General Assembly in 1814.

Rev. Nathaniel Irwin (1756-1812)

He was born at Fagg's Manor, Chester county, Pennsylvania, October 17th, 1756. He graduated at Princeton in 1770, along with James (afterwards President) Madison. He was ordained over Nashaminy Church, November 3d, 1774, and continued there till his death. A shrewd knowledge of human nature and an uncommon business tact, fitted him to exert a great influence in the Church courts; as proof of which he was Clerk of the old Synod, Moderator of the General Assembly in 1801, and the next year Permanent Clerk, till 1807. Though his manners in private life were stiff and unbending, he was forcible and pathetic in the pulpit. He was fond of music, and was a proficient on that unclerical instrument, the violin. He was of a scientific turn, and was John Fitch's first patron. He also took a lively interest in local politics, and laid himself open to animadversion on account of it. For several years he held the office of Register and Recorder of Bucks county. He had a powerful voice, and a long head, both physically and intellectually. His name is the first in the list of Moderators without a title.

Mr. Irwin's remains were deposited as he desired at the spot in the burying ground over which the pulpit in the original church of Nashaminy once stood, and on a horizontal marble tablet over his grave is the following inscription:

REV. NATHANAEL IRWIN
DIED MARCH 3D, 1812
Aged 65 years, 4 months, 15 days.
To this sad tomb, whoe'er thou art, draw near;
Here lies a frient to truth; of soul sincere,
Of manners unaffected and of mind
Enlarged, he wished the good of all mankind;
Calmly he looked on either life, for here
His peace was made, and nothing left to fear.

President Andrew Jackson (b 1767)

He was President of the United States from 1829 to 1837, and was born in South Carolina, 1767. His father was an Irish emigrate. At the age of sixteen he took part in the war of Independence, at the close of which he became a law student, and was thus enabled to fill efficiently some high legal offices in Tennessee, to which he was subsequently appointed. On the breaking out of the war with England, in 1812, he took vigorous measures for the defense of the menaces territory. In 1814, he was appointed Major-General, and, among other exploits, which raised him to the highest point of popularity, he gained the decisive victory over the English, January, 8th, 1815, at New Orleans, which put an end to the war. The same success attended his arms against the Creek tribes of Indians, whom he repeatedly subdued. In 1821 he was appointed Governor of Florida, and his gallant deeds being still fresh in his countrymen's recollection, he was brought forward by the Democratic party as a candidate for the Presidency, elected in 1828, and reelected in 1832. His period of office is chiefly remarkable for the extension of Democratic tendencies which then took place. He obtained from France the payment of an indemnity of twenty-five millions of francs, for injuries done to the commerce of the United States during the empire. His refusal to renew the charter of the United States Bank, in 1833, was followed by one of the most violent financial crises on record. General Jackson was endowed with inflexible will and an ardent patriotism. He loved his country intensely, faithfully, and fearlessly, labored for its welfare, and his name is justly enrolled among its greatest men, even those who did not agree with him in his political principles and official measures according to him strict and stern honesty of purpose in his administration of the affairs of the Government. After his Presidential career terminated he retired to "The Hermitage," near Nashville, Tennessee, and a short time before his decease made a profession of faith in the Presbyterian Church of that city.

The following extract from teh sketch by Dr. Foote, in his "Sketches of North Carolina," of the Sugar Creek Presbyterian Church, about three miles north of Charlotte, will here be read with interest.

After the fall of Charleston, the British army spread out over the country. Col. Buford, from Bedford, Virginia, moving along the Waxhaw, as he supposed, out of danger, was suddenly set upon by Tarleton, who had been upon his trail. . . The event of the battle is well known. Before night, the Waxhaw meeting-house was a hospital, and Buford's regiment killed, wounded, or dispersed. The females and children fled, to escape the ravaging torch of the relentless enemy. Mrs. Jackson took up her abode with her two children, in Sugar Creek congregation, with widow Wilson, and remained a part of the summer.

This brave woman, and two of her sons, perished in the war, and left her youngest son a solitsary member of the family. Her death was occasioned by a fever, brought on by a visit to Charleston, to carry necessaries to some friends and relations on board the prison-ship, whose deplorable sufferings she, with four or five other ladies was permitted to relieve. On her way home she was seized with the prison fever, and soon ended her days. Somewhere between what was then called "Quarterhouse" and the city of Charleston is he unknown grave. Men have often wondered how her son Andrew, in his most thoughtless days, always treated a faithful minister of the gospel so respectfully, and why, after encouraging his wife in a religious life, he himself should, in his age, become a member of the Presbyterian Church. His mother was a member of the Waxhaw congregation and he had seen and felt the influence of faithful ministers when a child.

Rev. Robert Wilson James (1793-1841)

He was born in Williamsburg District, South Carolina, June 3d, 1793. His father, Captain John, and grandfather, Major John James, were distinguished for their patriotism in the war of the Revolution and were also consistent members of the Presbyterian Church. He graduated at the South Carolina College in 1813. His theological studies which were commenced and prosecuted for a time under Rev. Dr. James W. Stephenson, and Rev. Dr. M. Wilson, were completed at Princeton Seminary, in 1817. On the 3d of June, of the same year he was licensed by Concord Presbytery, N.C. to preach the gospel, after which he labored for several months as a missionary within its bounds, in company with the venerable Dr. Hall. In May, 1819, he was ordained and installed over the churches of Indian Town and Bethel, in Williamsburgh District, South Carolina, where during a pastorate of nine years, the work of the Lord, to some extent was made to prosper in his hand, and particularly among the colored people, many of whom became hopeful subjects of grace under his ministry. He subsequently became pastor of Salem Church, in which relation he continued, faithful in labor, for over thirteen years. He died April 13th, 1841.

Hon. Samuel Shryock Jamison (1797-ca. 1875)

He was born at Martinsburg, Virginia in September, 1797. Two years after his parents removed to Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and in 1801, to what is now known as Conemaugh township, Indiana county. Here he grew up to man's estate, and became a member of the Presbyterian Church. Being one of the pioneer settlers of Indiana county, he was closely identified with its history and progress during the long period of nearly three quarters of a century; and no event of importance took place within its limits with which he was not perfectly familiar, whilst in most he took an active part. In 1818 he removed to Indiana, where, in partnership with the Hon. Joseph Thompson, he carried on the business of wheelwright and chairmaking. In this avocation he continued until 1826, when he removed to Saltsburg, having obtained a contract from General Lacock for the construction of a section of the Pennsylvania Canal. This work occupied his time and attention until 1829, when he received the appointment of Supervisor of the Western extension of the canal, extending from below Saltsburg-- "Tarr' Locks," --to Pittsburg, about half the entire length of the canal west of the mountains. He subsequently engaged in farming; then in the construction of two sections of the Northwestern now known as the Western Pennsylvania Railroad, in the vicinity of Saltsburg. Having removed to Council Bluffs, Iowa, after a short time he returned to the place of his former residence in Pennsylvania.

In 1836, Mr. Jamison was chosen Brigade Inspector of the military district comprising Armstrong, Clarion, Jefferson and Indiana counties. In 1843 he was a member of the convention called for the purpose of nominating three candidates for canal commissioners. In 1853 he was elected to the Senate of Pennsylvania. During his Senatorial career he was noted for his magnanimity and liberal spirit. He was the father of B.K. Jamison, the well-known banker of Philadelphia who is also a useful member of the Walnut Street Presbyterian Church.

Jacob J. Janeway, D.D. ( 1774-1858)

He was born in New York, November 20th, 1774. He graduated at Columbia College, in 1794, and studied theology with the celebrated Dutch divine, Dr. Livingston. He was ordained colleague of Dr. Green, in the Second Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, in 1799. For thirteen years they worked together with unbroken harmony. When Dr. Green was made President of the College of New Jersey, Dr. Skinner was chosen colleague to Dr. Janeway. In 1816, Dr. Skinner, with fifty of the members, parted, to build up a new enterprise, the Arch Street Church. In 1818, Dr. Janeway was elected Moderator of the General Assembly. In 1828 he accepted a Professorship in the new Theological Seminary at Allegheny, Pennsylvania, but relinquished it in a year, in consequence of property difficulties. In 1830 he was installed over the First Dutch Reformed Church, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, which position he held only two years, on account of ill health. In 1833 he was appointed Vice President of Rutgers College. This post he resigned on reuniting with the Presbyterian Church. From this time forward he took no heavier burdens on himself than serving in the Boards of the Church and of Princeton Seminary; and also as Trustee of Nassau Hall. His death occurred June 27th, 1858, in the eighty-fourth year of his age.

Rev. Jacob Jennings, M.D. (1744-1813)

He was born in Somerset county, New Jersey, in 1744. He studied medicine, and practiced it near Elizabethtown, New Jersey and subsequently in Readington township, Huntingdon county, with considerable reputation. His wife is buried there in Readington and he was there a member of the Dutch Reformed Church on the Raritan. He came to Moorefield, Virginia about 1784, and his catechetical instruction so pleased the people they asked him to take orders as a minister. So, when about forty years of age he turned his attention to theology, and was licensed and ordained to preach the gospel May 13, 1789 by the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church (also a Calvinist denomination.) as a missionary to Hardy county, which belonged to the Classis of New Brunswick, NJ. The field was unable to support him and his large family, so in 1791, in spite of Synod's desire to retain him for its own vacancies, he was granted a dismissal to the Presbyterian Church, and removed to Fayette Co., Pennsylvania. He was admitted to membership in the Presbytery of Redstone, April 17th, 1792, and accepted a call from the congregation of Dunlap's Creek, in Fayette County, of which he continued to be pastor until June 1811, when, on account of his increased infirmities, he asked and obtained a dissolution of the pastoral relation. He was also pastor of Muddy Creek congregation 1791-1797, he organized Little Redstone Church about 1797. He died, February 17th, 1813. He was the father of Rev. Obadiah Jennings, D.D., below, and of Rev. Samuel K. Jennings, M.D., Methodist Protestant Church, Baltimore, the grandfather of Rev. Samuel C. Jennings of Ohio Presbytery and Rev. Jacob Jennings of the M.P. Church. His wife was the grandmother of Henry Alexander Wise, governor of Virginia, 1856-60.

Obadiah Jennings, D.D. (1778-1832)

He was the fourth son of the Rev. Jacob Jennings, and was born near Basking Ridge, New Jersey, December 13th, 1778. He was educated at the Academy at Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1800, and practiced that profession at Steubenville, Ohio and Washington, Pennsylvania. Having determied to retire from the Bar, he commenced a course of theological reading in the Fall of 1816, was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Ohio, and shortly after received a unanimous call from the Church in Steubenville to become their pastor, which he accepted and was installed in the Spring of 1817. Here he continued laboring with great fidelity and a good measure of success, for six years. In the Spring of 1823 he was installed pastor of the Church in Washington, Pennsylvania. Here he remained five years.

He then received a call from the Church in Nashville, Tennessee, removing to that place in April, 1828. Here he exerted himself to the utmost of his ability, and, though the accessions to his church were not very numerous, his good influence was felt. In the year 1830 he was unexpectedly drawn into a public controversy with Alexander Campbell, on various points of Christian doctrine, in which he discovered great intellectual acumen and logical power. Dr. Jennings died January 12th, 1832. He published several occasional sermons, also various articles in the religious periodicals of the day.

William Jessup, LL.D. (1797-1868)

He was born at Southampton, Long Island, in 1797. He was of honored parentage. He was graduated from Yale College, in 1815. After leaving college, he settled at Montrose, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania. He was admitted to the Bar in 1820. He held several minor offices under the appointment of the Governor of the State in early life when he learned that eminent practicability which distinguished him, when coupled in the higher courts of the State with profound learning and at the Bar with convincing eloquence.

He was commissioned President Judge of the Eleventh Judicial District of Pennsylvania by Governor Ritner, and held that office, in different districts for thirteen years. In 1851 he was nominated for Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, by the Whig party, and shared with his distinguished compeers the defeat of his party by a small majority. He then returned to the practice of his favorite profession. One of his political opponents wrote of him, that "the style of his oratory at the Bar is perspicuous, pleasing and strongly impressive. One of his most brilliant forensic triumphs may be reckoned his defense of the Rev. Albert Barnes of Philadelphia upon the charge of heresy, before the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church."

Hamilton College conferred on Judge Jessup, justly, the degree of Doctor of Laws. He was a firm adherent of Temperance principles. He made a public profession of religion in 1825 and in 1829 was elected elder in the Presbyterian Church, which office he ever afterwards held.

He left as a legacy to the Church in its work, the missionaries Rev. Henry H. Jessup, D.D. and Rev. Samuel Jessup, who have spent so much of their lives in the Syrian Mission. He died September 11th, 1868. Paralysis affected his memory in the last years of his life, so that he would lose his way to his own home, but never to the house of God; he found this with unerring precision.

Rev. Timothy Johnes (1717-1794)

He was of Welsh descent, and was born at Southampton, Long Island, May 24th, 1717, and graduated at Yale in 1737. He was ordained at Morristown, New Jersey, February 9th, 1743. During the latter part of his ministry there, especially, his zealous labors were greatly blessed.

The American army passed the Winter of 1777 encamped near Morristown. It was a disastrous stage of our public affairs; sickness swept away the soldiers and the gloom was made horrible by the abounding profanity and the ceaseless games. Washington, as the communion drew nigh, asked Mr. Johnes if membership with the Presbyterian Church was required by him as a term of admission to the ordinance. He replied, "All who love the Lord Jesus are welcome." The services were held in the open air in a sheltered spot. The church was at that time occupied as a hospital, and often, in the morning, the dead were found lying in the pews. Mr. Johnes died September 19th, 1794.

Cyrus Johnston, D.D. (1797-1855)

He was born in Mecklenburg Co., North Carolina, December 23d, 1797. His parents, John and Mary (Crawford) Johnston, were of the Scotch-Irish stock, and in accordance with a pious custom of the age, set apart Cyrus, the oldest of the seven sons, to the ministry. He was prepared for college by Dr. John Makemie Wilson, was graduated with first honour at Hampden-Sydney College, in 1821, and studied theology under Rev. John Robinson, D.D. He was licensed by Concord Presbytery in 1823 and ordained by the same in 1824. For fifteen years he ministered to Bethesda, Cedar Shoals, and Mount Pleasant churches in South Carolina; returned to Concord Presbytery in 1839, and preached at Providence and Sharon churches until 1845, when he took charge of a female academy in Charlotte, North Carolina. He became pastor of the Charlotte First Church, May 23d, 1846, and spent the remainder of his days in serving that church.

Dr. Johnston was engaged in conducting classical schools during the most of his ministerial life. During his last years he gave up teaching, and devoted his whole time to his sacred calling. Revivals under his preaching, in his own and in neighboring churches, were frequent. He was a fine classical and mathematical scholar, a sound theologian, a skillful casuist, and an earnest, bold and powerful preacher. A member of his congregation once took offence at his fearless denunciation of certain prevalent vices, and declared that he would never hear him preach again. Upon being told of this, Dr. Johnston said that if he would return next Sabbath he would hear much severer things. Curiosity, or a better mind, induced him to return, and he was so impressed with the truth of the preacher's discourse that he became a firmer friend of Dr. Johnston than he was before.

Dr. Johnston died suddenly, of apoplexy, January 25th, 1855. Under his ministry the feeble village Church of Charlotte began a growth that has culminated in the strong and wealthy Charlotte First Church of today.

Rev. James Harvey Johnston (1798-1876)

He was born at Sidney Plains, Delaware county, New York, October 14th, 1798. He graduated at Hamilton College in 1820, with the first honor of his class; at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1824, and was licensed by teh Presbytery of Columbia, October 14th, 1823. He was pastor of the First Church, Madison, Indiana, then of the Second Church in that place until April 6th, 1843, when he became stated supply to Centre Church, Crawfordsville, Indiana, until 1851, at which date he became Principal of the Female Seminary in that town, occupying this position until 1854. Here he died March 8th, 1876, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.

Rev. Robert Johnston (1774-1861)

He was born in Sherman's Valley, Cumberland (now Perry) county, Pennsylvania, August 7th, 1774. In the year 1792 his father crossed the mountains, and, with his family, settled on a place near Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. In May, 1796, the son entered the Canonsburg Academy, and in the Autumn of 1801, having completed his studies there, commenced the study of theology with Dr. McMillan. On the 22d of April, 1802, he was licensed to preach the gospel, by the Presbytery of Ohio.

After traveling one year as a licentiate (chiefly in Ohio and Kentucky), Mr. Johnston was ordained by the Presbytery of Erie, October 19th, 1803, and installed pastor of the united congregations of Scrubgrass and Bear Creek. During this pastorate there was a powerful revival of religion, which resulted in the hopeful conversion of more than a hundred souls within the bounds of the congregation of Scrubgrass. In February, 1811, he became pastor of the congregation at Meadville and two others, Sugar Creek and Conneaut Lake, devoting half of his time to Meadville, and the balance to the other two. In the Spring of 1817 he took charge of the congregations of Rehoboth and Round Hill, on the forks of the Youghiogheny River, under the care of the Presbytery of Redstone. Here he remained until December, 1822. Subsequently he spent some time as Agent for the Board of Domestic Missions for the Western Foreign Missionary Society, and for the Western Theological Seminary. In the Spring of 1834, he became pastor of Bethel congregation, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, and continued in this relation to the relinquishment of the charge. After this time he preached frequently, as opportunity offered, assisting his brethren on Communion occasions, supplying their pulpits when they were necessarily absent, and occasionally supplying a vacant congregation. After a cheerful old age, he was called to his reward, May 20th, 1861, in the eighty-seventh year of his age.

Rev. Eliphalet Jones (1641-1731)

He was the pastor of Huntington, Long Island at least between 1722 and his death June 5, 1731 in his 91st year. His assistant was Rev. Ebenezer Prime, who succeeded him.

Hon. Joel Jones (1795-1860)

He was born in Coventry, Connecticut in 1795. He was graduated at Yale College, in 1817, and soon after settled in Philadelphia, in the practice of law. He was a man of large legal knowledge. When appointed, with Mr. Rawle and Mr. Wharton to revise the civil code of the State, those gentlemen expressed to their friends surprise that a man of so little prominence should have made such acquisitions in the law--little knowing how many wearisome years he had spent in his small office, in the northwestern corner of the public square, in studying the principles of jurisprudence. He did good service to the State as one of the revisers of its code, and some of the reports of the commissioners which make the most important suggestions were written by him. Some parts of the new system were remodeled and rewritten exclusively by him; as, for example, the disposition of the estates of intestates, and having been passed by the Legislature without the change of a work, they have scarcely been touched down to the present day. He was subsequently appointed an Associate Judge, and then President Judge of the District Court of Philadelphia, and his memory is yet cherished by the Bar of that city and the community, who remember the firm, impartial and dignified, but kindly manner in which the law was administered by him as a judicial magistrate.

Girard College never did a better thing than when it made Judge Jones its first President, and the career of usefulness on which that institution entered is largely due to the wise manner in which he interpreted the will of Mr. Girard and the legal provision enacted concerning it. In a few years he seemed to have found the office of President irksome, and returned to his favorite pursuit of studying and practicing the law. Immediately thereupon he was nominated as a candidate for Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, and was elected by a large popular vote. On retiring from this office he returned again to the law, and the force of his speech and his pen was frequently felt in the courts. He also wrote for the magazines of the day, on literary, philosophic and religious subjects. The volume published after his death, which he had modestly entitled "Notes on Scripture," will long attest the thought which he gave to the profoundest themes with which the human mind can become conversant. Judge Jones was a most exemplary Christian, and an active and useful member of the Presbyterian Church. He died, February 3d, 1860 at the age of 65.

Joseph Huntington Jones, D.D. (1797-1868)

He was brother of Judge Joel Jones and was born in Coventry, Connecticut August 24th, 1797. He graduated at Harvard University, in 1817. For a time he was employed as Tutor in Bowdoin College, Maine. He completed his theological studies at the Preinceton Theological Seminary; was licensed as a probationary, September 19th, 1822, by the Presbytery of Susquehanna, and was, by the same Presbytery, ordained as an evangelist, April 29th, 1824. On June 1st, 1824, he began his labors in the Presbyterian Church at Woodbury, New Jersey, and was shortly installed as pastor. Here he labored with very great success. At the same time he supplied the feeble Chruch at Blackwoodtown, which shared the blessing enjoyed by that of Woodbury. In 1825, he was installed pastor of the Presbyterian Church at New Brunswick, New Jersey. Here he remained thirteen years, proving himself to be "a workman that needeth not to be ashamed." His ministry was honored by at least three seasons of religious awakening. In 1838 he became pastor of the Sixth Church, Philadelphia, and continued so for twenty-three years, his efforts being crowned with a manifest blessing. From 1861 to 1868 he was Secretary of the Relief fund for Disabled Ministers, in which capacity he did a noble work, for which he deserves the lasting gratitude of the Church. He died December 23d, 1868.

Dr. Jones wa a gentleman of great urbanity of manner and suavity of disposition. Of his principal work, "The Effects of Physical Causes on Christian Experience," Dr. J.W. Alexander wrote, "It is a valuable and entertaining book." He also published a memoir of the Rev. Ashbel Green, D.D., a history of the revival at New Brunswick, in 1837, and several sermons.

Rev. Malachi Jones (d. 1729)

He was ordained in Wales, and admitted as a member of Presbytery, September 9th, 1714. He came to Abington, near Philadelphia, where a church was organized, in 1714, on the Congregational plan. It soon adopted the Presbyterian method. Mr. Andrews, in writing to a friend, March 7th, 1729, adds: "P.S.--Ten days ago, died Mr. Malachi Jones, an old Welsh minister. He was a good man and did good." Mr. Jones left three sons and four daughters. In his will, he provided for his widow two rooms and the little cellar, and charged his son Malachi to give her a comfortable maintenance, and to have her firewood cut and brought to her door, with five hogsheads of cider, whenever the plantation shall make so much. To each grandchild he gave a ewe and a lamb.

Rev. Benjamin Judd

He was a delegate to the meeting of the first General Assembly in Philadelphia in 1789. He represented the Presbytery of Dutchess County.

George Junkin, D.D., LL.D. (1790-1868)

He was born November 1st, 1790, near Carlisle, Pennsylvania. After graduating at Jefferson College, September, 1813, he studied theology with Dr. Mason, in New York. He filled missionary appointments for some time. October 17th, 1819, he was settled over the Associate Reformed Church at Milton, Pennsylvania. In 1822 he entered the Presbyterian connection, along with Dr. Mason and the great body of the Associate Reformed. In 1830 he took charge of a manual labor institution in Germantown. This brought him into the Presbytery of Philadelphia. In 1831 he was chosen Moderator of the Synod of Philadelphia. In 1832 he accepted the presidency of Lafayette College. In August, 1841 he was made President of Miami University, Ohio. In 1844 he was elected Moderator of the Old School General Assembly, and in the same year left Miami and resumed the presidency of Lafayette. In October, 1848, he accepted the presidency of Washington College, Virginia, whither twenty-six of his students followed him, and where he remained for twelve years. He died in Philadelphia, May 20th, 1868, aged 78 years.

Dr. Junkin was an able and voluminous author. His published writings were, "Baptism," "The Prophecies," "Justification," "Sanctification," "Sabbatismos," "The Tabernacle," "The Vindication," "Political Fallacies," besides Baccalaureate Addresses, Literary Addresses, Occasional Discourses, and a manuscript commentary on Hebrews, in seven hundred and fifty quarto pages, which was written after his seventy-fifty year.