Samuel Davies

Rev. Samuel Davies (1723-61) was originally from a family of Welsh Baptists who had emigrated to New Jersey. Davies followed his mother into Presbyterianism and Calvinist theology. He studied under Samuel Blair in Pennsylvania, and began preaching in Delaware in 1746. He was commissioned as an evangelist to Virginia in 1747, and ministered there until 1759. He was among the first dissenting preachers in Virginia, which was an Anglican colony for most of the 18th century. He helped found the Presbytery of Hanover and advocated for greater religious freedom and toleration in Virginia, including preaching to slaves, and authored several hymns and a book of poetry. He labored among several churches in Virginia, the most prominent being the Providence Presbyterian Church in Louisa County, Virginia. He visited England in 1753 for a fund-raising tour for the recently established College of New Jersey. During this time (11 months in England) he met the Doddridge family and many other evangelicals among the dissenting sects. He left Virginia in 1759 to become the 4th President of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), succeeding Jonathan Edwards. Davies only served in that capacity for two years before his death in 1761. He subscribed to Volume 5 of Doddridge's Family Expositor in 1756.