George Richard Crooks

Early career

George Crooks was born in Philadelphia, the son of George R. Crooks, Sr. and Mary M. Crooks. He graduated from Dickinson College in 1840 at the age of 18, and, according to his yearbooks, his family was then residing in Adams, Illinois. Following graduation he undertook missionary work as a circuit rider in Illinois. He soon returned to Dickinson, and in the 1841-2 Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Dickinson College, Crooks is listed as "Tutor in Languages and Mathematics."

George Crooks received his A. M. degree from Dickinson College in 1843. He then accepted a position as principal of the Dickinson-College Grammar school, and in his third year was listed as "Rev. George R. Crooks, A.M." In 1846 he was promoted to Adjunct Professor of Latin and Greek.

Family Life

Rev. George Crooks married Susan Frances Emory ("Fanny") of Baltimore on July 10, 1846. She was a daughter of Bishop John Emory, and sister to Robert Emory, who was president of Dickinson College. George and Susan Crooks had at least seven children. Their firstborn was George William Crooks, born in 1847, who died in 1853. After the death from tuberculosis of Robert Emory at age 33, their next child was named Robert Emory Crooks. He died as a young child in 1857. Mary Crooks, the oldest daughter, was born in Pennsylvania in 1851, married an Englishman, William Perry, and resided at Chiselhurst, Kent. Fanny Elizabeth Crooks, also married an Englishman, Harry Withers Chubb. Daughters Katherine ("Kate") Morgan and Nellie Crooks lived at home for many years and were unmarried. Kate became an English professor at Milwaukee-Downer College after her father's death.

The Methodist Conference

After completing his master's degree at Dickinson, Rev. George Crooks joined the Philadelphia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1843. He held thirteen positions as minister in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York, and spent five years in the role of supernumerary minister (1870–1875). His Church positions are shown below.

Publications

In 1860 Crooks became editor of The Methodist, a publication described by a colleague as "the doughty unofficial rival of the official weekly – The Christian Advocate." In conjunction with John McClintock, he prepared a series of "First Books" in Latin and Greek (1846–1847). In 1852 Crooks edited a republication of Butler's Analogy, for which he added an analysis, index, and biography. He wrote Life and Letters of Rev. Dr. John McClintock (1876), and Sermons of Bishop Simpson (1885).

Contributions to Church and Theology

In 1841 entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and became a missionary in Illinois. In 1848, having returned to the ministry, he was stationed successively at Philadelphia, Wilmington, New York City, and Brooklyn. Rev. George Crooks was appointed Professor of Historical Theology at Drew Theological Seminary from 1880 until his death. According to a commemorative volume, he was seen as one of five professors "whose teaching and leadership shaped the early Drew Theological Seminary."

Upon the death of Rev. Crooks, the Bible Society eulogized,

His rare linguistic attainments, his extensive knowledge of men, his profound interest in all wise efforts for the evangelization of the world, his reverent trust in the oracles of God and his uniform Christian courtesy combined to make him an influential and agreeable member of this Committee.