George Richard Crooks (1822-1897)

George Crooks was born on February 3, 1822, the son of George Richard Crooks, Sr. of Philadelphia. He was a member of the class of 1840, and graduated with the highest honors. Crooks served as an itinerant preacher first on the Canton circuit of Illinois in 1841, then on the frontier. He returned to his alma mater in the fall of 1841 as a tutor in the Dickinson Grammar School. In 1843, Crooks was promoted to principal of the Grammar School, a position that he filled until 1848. From 1846 to 1848, he also served as adjunct professor of Latin and Greek in the college.

Crooks resigned from the college in 1848 when his mentor, Professor John McClintock, resigned. He filled posts as a Methodist preacher for the Philadelphia Conference until 1857, when he transferred his affiliation to the New York East Conference. Crooks edited The Methodist from 1860 until 1875; one year later, he retired from the conference. In 1880 Crooks joined McClintock at the Drew Theological Seminary, teaching church history there until 1897. During his lifetime, Crooks received two honorary degrees from Dickinson College: the first in 1857 and the second in 1873.

He was a prolific author, often collaborating with others. With McClintock, he wrote A First Book in Latin (1846) and A First Book in Greek (1848). With Alexander Schem he wrote A New Latin-English School-Lexicon on the Basis of the Latin-German Lexicon of Dr. C.F. Ingerslev (1858) and with Bishop John Hurst he edited the Library of Biblical and Theological Literature. Alone he wrote the Life and Letters of Rev. Dr. John McClintock (1876) as well as a biography of Bishop Matthew Simpson in 1890.

In June 1846 he married Susan Frances Emory, daughter of Bishop John Emory. George Richard Crooks died on February 20, 1897.