James Carnahan was born on November 15, 1775 in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States, where his ancestors had settled early in the eighteenth century. His father, for a time an officer in the state militia during the Revolution, met an untimely death in 1788.
James, after some years of study at the academy of Canonsburg, was admitted in 1798 to the junior class of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) whence two years later he was graduated with highest honors.
For more than a score of years Carnahan divided his time between preaching and teaching. In 1801-03 he was a tutor in the College of New Jersey; in 1804 he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick; in 1806-12 he served the united congregation of Utica and Whitesboro (N. Y. ). Resigning on account of ill health, he spent eleven years in conducting a classical academy at Georgetown, D. C. He became well known throughout the Presbyterian communion as a man of sound judgment and unflagging diligence. In May 1823 he was elected to the presidency of the College of New Jersey. For six years he had to contend with an evil heritage, as the institution was in the midst of a period of decline. Standards were low; discipline was lax; and divided counsels rent the administration. Frequent resignations from the faculty continued to undermine the reputation of the college. In 1828 the lowest ebb was reached; the enrolment had dropped from 120 to 70. The president was keenly discouraged and thought of recommending the closing of the institution. But at this juncture a young professor, John Maclean, possessed of tremendous energy and resource, put his shoulder to the wheel. Henceforth "the administration of Dr. Carnahan until his resignation in 1853 was a collegiate administration in which two colleagues labored as one man" (J. DeWitt, post, p. 647). Maclean advised an immediate strengthening of the faculty. The adoption of this policy inaugurated an era of prosperity. Men of the stamp of Albert Dod, Joseph Henry, and John Torrey enhanced the reputation of the college. When Carnahan retired in 1854 there were 250 students enrolled. New chairs were endowed; many scholarships were established; East and West Colleges and Clio and Whig Halls were erected. A law school flourished (for a short time), and ambitious plans for a medical school were afoot. From the time of his retirement until his death Carnahan served as a trustee of the college and as president of the board of trustees of the Theological Seminary.
His wife, Mary (Van Dyke) Carnahan, died five years before him in 1854.
