2018 Special Edition 2018 Special Edition | Page 11

William and Maria Staughton’s Story
Dr. William Staughton was born on January 4,
1770, in Coventry, England. In 1792, he graduated
from Bristol Baptist College and then became a
preacher in Northampton. William was present
with William Carey at the formation of the Baptist
Missionary Society (Particular Baptist Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel Amongst the Heathen)
at Kettering, England, in 1792, which sent William
Carey to India. His zeal for foreign missions was
transplanted to America when he emigrated in 1793.
William married Maria Hanson, whom he knew
from England, shortly after his arrival in America.
Their loving marriage produced four children. Maria
had been a school teacher and was a great help
to her husband in his later educational work. He
preached in Georgetown, South Carolina from
1793-95. In 1795, they moved to York City and then
to Bordentown, New Jersey, where he preached
at a Baptist church, headed an academy, and was
ordained a Baptist minister on June 17, 1797. He
continued his educational studies at Princeton
University and received a Doctor of Divinity in 1801.
He was pastor of the First Baptist Church in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1805-1811) and the
founding pastor of the Sansom Street Church (1811-
1822). Both churches grew dramatically, the latter
to several thousand in weekly worship attendance.
Concurrently, William also acted as the designated
tutor of the Baptist Education Society of America
of the Middle States, and was one of the founding
members of the Bible Society at Philadelphia (now
known as the Pennsylvania Bible Society). Among
his students in Philadelphia was John Mason Peck,
missionary to the Missouri Territory and founder of
the American Baptist Home Mission Society. William
and Maria also ran a school for young women and
organized a women’s society to supply Bibles to poor
families during these years.
William wrote “The Baptist Mission in India” in 1811.
At First Baptist Church, Philadelphia, on May 18,
1814, the first General Missionary Convention of
the Baptist Denomination in the United States of
America elected Staughton as its first corresponding
secretary for the newly formed Baptist Board
of Foreign Missions, the first U.S. Baptist world
missions organization (now American Baptist
International Ministries). The purpose was to support
Adoniram and Ann Judson’s mission in Burmah.
Maria was the founding Director of the Sansom
Street Baptist Female Society formed later in 1814 to
support the Missionary Convention.
In 1822 William became the first President of
the Columbian College in Washington, D.C. The
Columbian College is the original college of the
present George Washington University. President
Staughton taught both theological and classical
courses at the College and formed a law school
and medical school. During these years he
simultaneously served as Chaplain of the United
States Senate for two sessions. He delivered the
memorial address to the U.S. Senate following the
deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in
1826.
Staughton’s beloved wife Maria died of typhus fever
in 1823. On August 27th, 1829, Staughton married
Miss Anna C. Peale. He died in Washington on
December 12th, 1829, being a little less than 60
years old.
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