William Staughton (Stoughton) (1770-1829) -- a respected Baptist clergyman, educator, and music composer -- was the first president (1821-1827) of Columbian College (later George Washington University). He was born to Sutton and Keziah Staughton on January 4, 1770 in Conventry, Warwickshire, England. He attended and graduated from Bristol Baptist College in 1792. In 1793 when Dr. John Ryland became president of Bristol Baptist College, William Staughton was offered Ryland's former church at Northampton. William Staughton, however, elected to emigrate to the United States. In the fall of 1793 he arrived in Charleston, South Carolina and shortly thereafter married Maria Hanson. For the next year and a half, he preached in Georgetown, South Carolina. During the summer of 1795 he moved to New York city and subsequently settled in Bordentown, New Jersey. While residing in Bordentown, he pastored the Baptist church, headed an academy, and was ordained a Baptist minister on June 17, 1797. Between 1797 and 1805, William Staughton served as pastor at Burlington, New Jersey. In 1801, he received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Princeton. In 1805 he was offered and accepted the pastorship of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia, a position which he held until the formation of the Sansom Street Church in 1811. In addition to his pastorate of the Sansom Street Church from 1811 until his resignation in 1822, William Staughton was the designated tutor of the Baptist Education Society of America of the Middle States founded in 1812, founder of the Philadelphia Bible Society (the first female biblical association in the world), an organizer and "corresponding secretary" of the Triennial Convention (Baptist General Convention for Missionary Purposes) from 1814 until 1826, and the principal of the theological department of the Triennial Convention in 1817. At this point, Reverand Luther Rice, a philanthropist and Baptist missionary who had returned from India, began advocating the establishment of an educational institution (college) in Washington, D. C. for training Baptist ministers. William Staughton supported Rice's idea of an educational institution. In 1819 Luther Rice and his associates founded an association, and later a tract of land was purchased on the outskirts of Washington, D. C. to be held by the convention and used for an educational facility. Two years later, the Congress of the United States granted a charter which established the Columbian College. In 1821 William Staughton was chosen to be president of Columbian College, and, on January 9, 1822, he formally opened the college. William Staughton was responsible for teaching courses in both the theological and classical departments of the college. His courses were "General History, Belles Lettres, Rhetoric, Moral Philosophy and Divinity and Pulpit Eloquence". In January 1823, William Staughtons wife died, and the students at the college wore black armbands for a month in memory of her. Four years later, William Staughton resigned as president of Columbian College because of the college's financial difficulties and differences of opinion among its trustees redgarding the theological and classical departments. During his presidency of Columbian College, he also served as chaplain to Congress during two sessions. In September 1829, William Staughton was chosen to be president of the Literary and Theological Institution (Georgetown College) in Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky. While enroute to his new position, William Staughton died in Washington, D. C. on December 12, 1829. He was buried in the District of Columbia's Episcopal cemetery. Approximately three years later, his body was exhumed, moved to Philadelphia, and reinterred in the Sansom Street Church cemetery.

Five months prior to his death, William Staughton had married James Peale's daughter, Anna Claypoole Peale, and she lived until 1878. William Staughton was also survived by three of his four children born during his first marriage -- Leonora, Elizabeth Ann and James Martin. Leonora Staughton was wedded to Reverand Samuel W. Lynd who later authored Memoir of the Rev. William Staughton, D. D. which was published in 1834. Elizabeth Ann Staughton was the wife of Dr. John Taylor Temple who subsequently served as a member of the Board of Trustess of Columbian College from 1832 to 1835. James Martin Staughton, bearer of a medical degree from the University of Pennyslvannia (1821), was Professor of Chemistry and of Surgery in the Columbian College's Medical School from 1821 to 1829.

William Staughton authored a "volume of Juvenile Poems" while a teenager and an occasional sermon and discourse, such as "Eulogium on Dr. Benjamin Rush", during his pastoral career. He was a regular contributor to The Latter Day Luminary. He also edited two works: The Words of Virgil. . .To Which is Added a Large Variety of Botanical, Mythological and Historical Notes and A Compendious System of Greek Grammar written by Edward Wetenhall. In addition, William Staughton was a recognized lyricist and hymnist. According to the Biographical Dictionary of American Music, he wrote "Strike the Cymbal" in 1812 to the music of an Italian tune. A number of his hymns are reportedly contained in the 1825 edition of the Baptist Hymn Book. In addition, several of Staughton's hymns reportedly appear in the 1819 and 1826 editions of Hymns compiled by John Rippon. William Staughton was also a member of the American Philosophical Society.

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