Guide to the George Junkin Papers

George Junkin was born in western Pennsylvania, near Carlisle. He studied at Jefferson College. In 1819 he was called to the Associate Reformed Church in Milton, PA. He left the Reformed denomination to become a Presbyterian in 1822. He married Julia Rush Miller of Philadelphia.

In 1831 Junkin was elected moderator of the Philadelphia Synod. The following year he assumed the presidency of Lafayette College. He left Lafayette temporarily in 1841 to accept an appointment to the presidency of Miami University in Ohio and to spend the year 1844 as General Assembly Moderator (Old School). He returned to Lafayette in 1845, leaving three years later to become president of Washington College in Virginia. He died in Philadelphia.