James Murray

January 27, 1827 (age 72)

From 1854 to 1861 Murray was pastor of the Congregational church at South Danvers, now Peabody, Massachusetts; from 1861 to 1865 pastor of the Prospect Street church in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts; and then became associate pastor with Dr. Gardiner Spring of the Brick Church (Presbyterian) in New York City. From 1873 to 1875 he was sole pastor of this church. During these years in the ministry he wrote many articles on literary subjects and gained a reputation for his wide acquaintance with English letters. In 1875 he was elected to the Holmes Professorship of Belles Lettres and English Language and Literature in the College of New Jersey (Princeton). His lectures at Princeton dealt principally with writers of the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries and were of a broad and human, rather than a narrowly scholastic kind. In the latter years of the administration of President James McCosh matters of internal administration fell more and more into Professor Murray's hands, and in 1883 he was appointed dean of the faculty. The office was at first a difficult one, for it included discipline and the enforcement of standards of scholarship; but Dean Murray soon obtained general good will without sacrificing just severity. He had an enthusiastic, impulsive, and affectionate disposition. In his teaching and his administrative methods he formed a link between the men of an older generation whose equipment consisted chiefly of general culture and the later generation of trained specialists. He was retained in the deanship by President Patton and died on March 27, 1899, in office at the dean's house.

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Rev. William Harris, Entered Into Rest March 23rd, 1885 (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from Rev. William Harris, Entered Into Rest March...)

Francis Wayland

Christian Hymnology: A Sermon Preached In The Brick Church, New York (1870)

(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

William Gammell, Ll. D.: A Biographical Sketch, with Selections from His Writings

(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

Moral Courage: A Sermon Preached in Marquand Chapel on Sunday Morning November 5, 1893

( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

Orations and Essays: With Selected Parish Sermons

(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

The Sorrow Of A Nation: A Sermon (1881)

(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

The Debt of Civilization to Literature,: An Address Delivered at the Annual Commencement of the University of Michigan, Thursday, June 28, 1883.

The Religious Belief of Shakespeare (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from The Religious Belief of Shakespeare Melanch...)

The Two Faiths

(This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

James Ormsbee Murray

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clergyman educator

Background

James O. Murray was born on November 27, 1827, at Camden, South Carolina, the son of James Syng Murray and Aurelia Pearce, of English descent, grand-daughter of William Blanding and Lydia Ormsbee, New Englanders.

James was eight years old when his father, being opposed to slavery, emancipated some of his slaves, provided for the emancipation of the others, and removed with his family to Springfield, Ohio.

Education

The boy was prepared for college in Springfield, Ohio. He entered Brown University with the class of 1848, but was obliged by ill health to drop back two years, graduating as valedictorian in 1850.

Murray spent the next year as instructor in Greek at Brown, then entered Andover Theological Seminary, where he graduated in 1854.

Career

From 1854 to 1861 Murray was pastor of the Congregational church at South Danvers, now Peabody, Massachusetts; from 1861 to 1865 pastor of the Prospect Street church in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts; and then became associate pastor with Dr. Gardiner Spring of the Brick Church (Presbyterian) in New York City.

From 1873 to 1875 he was sole pastor of this church. During these years in the ministry he wrote many articles on literary subjects and gained a reputation for his wide acquaintance with English letters.

In 1875 he was elected to the Holmes Professorship of Belles Lettres and English Language and Literature in the College of New Jersey (Princeton). His lectures at Princeton dealt principally with writers of the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries and were of a broad and human, rather than a narrowly scholastic kind.

In the latter years of the administration of President James McCosh matters of internal administration fell more and more into Professor Murray's hands, and in 1883 he was appointed dean of the faculty. The office was at first a difficult one, for it included discipline and the enforcement of standards of scholarship; but Dean Murray soon obtained general good will without sacrificing just severity. He had an enthusiastic, impulsive, and affectionate disposition. In his teaching and his administrative methods he formed a link between the men of an older generation whose equipment consisted chiefly of general culture and the later generation of trained specialists. He was retained in the deanship by President Patton and died on March 27, 1899, in office at the dean's house.

Achievements

James Ormsbee Murray was a noted clergyman and educator, who was the Dean of Princeton University for more than twelve years, and a Professor of English Literature.