George Howard Duffield (April 9, 1854 — January 5, 1941) was a prominent American minister in New York City.
Early life
Duffield was born on April 8, 1854, in
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...
. He was the son of Dr. John Thomas Duffield (1823—1901), a professor of Mathematics at Princeton, and Sarah Elizabeth (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Green) Duffield. Among his siblings was Edward Dickinson Duffield (acting
president of Princeton University
Princeton University, founded in 1746 as the College of New Jersey, is a private Ivy League research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. The university is led by a president, who is selected by the board of trustees by ballot. The presi ...
); Helen Duffield; John Fletcher Duffield; and Henry Green Duffield.
His maternal grandparents were George Smith Green and Sarah Stewart (née Kennedy) Green and his uncle was Rev. Dr.
William Henry Green
William Henry Green (January 27, 1824February 10, 1900), was an American scholar of the Hebrew language. He was born in Groveville, New Jersey, Groveville, near Bordentown, New Jersey.
Green was descended in the sixth generation from Jonathan D ...
, a scholar of the
Hebrew language
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
. Through his mother's family, he was in the seventh generation from
Jonathan Dickinson
Jonathan Dickinson (1663–1722) was a merchant from Port Royal, Jamaica who was shipwrecked on the southeast coast of Florida in 1696, along with his family and the other passengers and crew members of the ship.
The party was held captive by Job ...
, the first president of the College of New Jersey (today known as
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
).
Duffield graduated from Princeton University in 1873, where he received the Junior Orator Medal, and the
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of ...
in 1877. In November 1888, he received an honorary
Doctor of Divinity
A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity.
In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...
from Princeton.
Career
Duffield was a
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
minister, first at Leacock Presbyterian Church in
Leacock Township, Pennsylvania
Leacock Township is a township in east central Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population of the township was 5,652, up from 5,220 at the 2010 census. The township has a large Amish and Mennonite population.
Accordin ...
, then the Presbyterian Church of
Beverly, New Jersey
Beverly is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 2,577, and finally in 1891 the Old First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan (founded in 1716), at 11th Street and
Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...
, which was merged with the Madison Square Presbyterian Church in 1918. Duffield "believed in the importance of the preached word and embraced the notion of an outdoor pulpit, allowing him in the summers to preach to crowd's on Old First's lawn." In 1916, which was also his twenty-fifth year in the pulpit, he published ''A Bird's Eye View of the Twelve Months' Work at the Old First Church: Reports of the Boards, Societies and Clubs of the Old First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York''.
Duffield was elected a member of the
Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York
The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York is a charitable organization in New York City of men who are descended from early inhabitants of the State of New York. Charles R. Mackenzie is the current president. The organization preserves ...
, an organization in New York City of men descended from early inhabitants of the State of New York. Beginning in 1922, he served two terms as the Society's 49th President, succeeding Alfred Wagstaff Jr.
Personal life
In May 1877, Duffield was married to Catherine Nash Greenleaf (1852—1936), a daughter of Thomas Greenleaf and Eleanor (née Leal) Greenleaf. Both Catherine and her brother
James Leal Greenleaf
James Leal Greenleaf (July 30, 1857 – April 15, 1933) was an American landscape architect and civil engineer. Early in his career, he was a well-known landscape architect who designed the gardens and grounds of many large estates in Connect ...
, a prominent landscape architect, were ''
Mayflower
''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...
'' descendants. Together, they lived at 36 Washington Square West and were the parents of:
* George Greenleaf Duffield, who died in infancy.
* Howard Leal Duffield (1879–1884), who died young.
* Eleanor Van Dyck Duffield (1880–1939)
* Douglas Greenleaf Duffield (1882–1884), a twin who died in infancy.
* Stuart Kennedy Duffield (1882–1944), a twin.
* Winifred Duffield (b. 1887)
Duffield died at his apartment in the Hotel Holley at 36 Washington Square West, on January 5, 1941. He was buried at the Princeton Cemetery in Princeton, New Jersey.
Princeton University Library
Princeton University Library is the main library system of Princeton University. With holdings of more than 7 million books, 6 million microforms, and 48,000 linear feet of manuscripts, it is among the largest libraries in the world by number of ...