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Samuel Merrill Woodbridge (1819–1905) was an American clergyman, theologian, author, and college professor. A graduate of New York University and the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, Woodbridge served several congregations in New York and New Jersey for sixteen years as a minister in the Reformed Church in America. His was the eleventh generation in a large family of English and American clergymen dating back to the late fifteenth century. After accepting a pastoral call in New Brunswick, New Jersey, he was appointed professor of ecclesiastical history and church government at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, where he taught for 44 years. He also taught for seven years as professor of "metaphysics and philosophy of the human mind" at Rutgers College (now Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey). Woodbridge later led the New Brunswick seminary as Dean and President of the Faculty from 1883 to 1901—both positions were equivalent to a seminary president. He was the author of three books and several published sermons and addresses covering various aspects of Christian faith, theology, church history and gov
Samuel Merrill Woodbridge was born 5 April 1819 in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He was the third of six children born to the Rev. Sylvester Woodbridge, D.D. (1790–1863) and Elizabeth Gould (died in 1851).[1][2]:p.140 According to a genealogical chart published in Munsey's Magazine in 1907, Woodbridge was in the eleventh generation of a family of clergymen dating back to the late 15th century.[3][4] The earliest clergyman in this ancestral line, the Rev. John Woodbridge (born in 1493), was a follower of John Wycliffe.[3][4]
Woodbridge attended New York University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) degree in 1838.[1] As an undergraduate student, Woodbridge was a member of the university's secretive, all-male Eucleian Society and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.[1] He was awarded a Master of Arts (A.M.) from the New Brunswick Theological Seminary in 1841