Staughton, William, Dd

Staughton, William, D.D., a Baptist minister, was born at Coventry, Warwickshire, England, Jan. 4, 1770. He studied in the Baptist theological institution at Bristol, and emigrated to the United States in 1793, where he soon became pastor of the Baptist Church in Georgetown, S.C. Here he acquired great popularity, but the climate not agreeing with his health, he removed to New York in 1795. In 1797 he became principal of an academy at Bordentown, N.J., but at the close of the next year removed to Burlington, where he kept a large and flourishing school for several years. He was made D.D. by the College of New Jersey in 1801. In 1805 he became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia, and afterwards of the Samson Street Church in that city. In 1822 he became president of the newly organized Columbian College, D.C., and in consequence removed to Washington in the fall of 1823. During a journey South, undertaken for the purpose of raising funds for that institution, he was led to resign its presidency, and, returning to Philadelphia, he preached for a while to the New Market Street congregation, when he was chosen first president of the Baptist Literary and Theological Institution at Georgetown, Ky., which he accepted, but, during his journey there, he fell sick, and died Dec. 12, 1829. Dr. Staughton published a number of Discourses, Addresses, and Sermons. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 6, 334; Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s.v.