Cruikshank, William

Cruikshank, William a Reformed (Dutch) minister, was born in 1798, at Salem, N.Y. He graduated from Union College in 1821, studied theology in New Brunswick Theological Seminary, entered the ministry in 1824, and was settled on Long Island, at Flatlands and New Lots (1825-34). In 1835 he founded the Reformed Church at Newburg, N.Y., and was its pastor until 1838. For several years thereafter he was without charge, on account of ill- health, and only served as stated supply in the retired church of Mamakating from 1849 until his death in 1854. Mr. Cruikshank was an eloquent and powerful preacher, of logical mind and impressive delivery, possessed of a voice of great power and flexibility, and graceful in appearance and manners. He was the author of a standard tract published by the American Tract Society, entitled David Baldwin, or, the Miller's Son, also of a printed sermon on the Intermediate State. While without pastoral care, he published a series of papers under the heading of Washington's Body-Guard. See Corwin, Manual of the Ref. Church in America, 3d ed. page 225. (W.J.R.T.)