Siloam Presbyterian Church

The Pastors of Siloam · 1919–1947

George Shippen Stark

Pastor for about 27 years, a World War I chaplain and Princeton graduate, who brought Siloam to its present home at 260 Jefferson Avenue in 1944.

Rev. George Shippen Stark
Courtesy of Siloam Presbyterian Church

Pastor

At Siloam

Rev. Stark came to Siloam from Princeton and led the congregation for about 27 years. A history of Brooklyn published in 1925 lists Siloam, under the Rev. Dr. G. S. Stark, among the borough's Presbyterian churches with more than 500 members.

For most of his pastorate the church worshipped at 404–8 Lafayette Avenue. In April 1944 Siloam bought the former Central Presbyterian Church at Jefferson and Marcy Avenues, 260 Jefferson Avenue, which is still its home. Central's congregation had merged with Bedford Presbyterian Church, leaving the building free. That building had been rebuilt in 1936 after a fire. The church paid off the mortgage in October 1945, and a manse on Clifton Place was acquired during his years.

In 1938, according to the Chicago Defender, he conducted the funeral rites for Arthur A. Schomburg, for whom the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is named. Honorary pallbearers included Dr. Alain Locke and Dr. Charles S. Johnson.

He died suddenly in November 1947, while still pastor of Siloam. Find a Grave gives the date as November 13, 1947, and records his burial at The Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn. Princeton Seminary's 1992 history names him among its early Black graduates who rose to wide influence, as pastor of Siloam for many years.

Life and ministry

George Shippen Stark was born in 1876. He graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and from Princeton Theological Seminary, in the class of 1902. In 1906 he earned a master's degree at Princeton University. The Princeton & Slavery Project counts him among the university's first African American graduate students.

During World War I he served as regimental chaplain of the 367th Infantry, part of the 92nd Division. In that role he wrote to Lincoln University about the death of Lt. Thomas J. Bullock, the division's first officer killed in combat, in early September 1918.

Before Siloam he was pastor of Witherspoon Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey, according to Siloam's own history.

Sources (10)
  1. Siloam Presbyterian Church, "Our History," the church's earlier website (2026)
  2. Siloam Presbyterian Church, "The Pastors of Siloam," the church's earlier website (2026)
  3. "History," Siloam Presbyterian Church website, 2005 (Internet Archive capture of 11 May 2005)
  4. Find a Grave, memorial 135378184, "Rev George Shippen Stark," created 2014
  5. April C. Armstrong, "Erased Pasts and Altered Legacies: Princeton's First African American Students," Princeton & Slavery Project, Princeton University, n.d.
  6. William K. Selden, Princeton Theological Seminary: A Narrative History, 1812–1992, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1992
  7. "Portraits of War: Thomas J. Bullock," North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, 2017
  8. Henry Isham Hazelton, The Boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, Counties of Nassau and Suffolk, Long Island, New York, 1609–1924, vol. 3, Lewis Historical Publishing, 1925
  9. "Notables at Schomburg's Final Rites," Chicago Defender (national edition), 1938
  10. "Siloam Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, N.Y.," New York City Chapter, American Guild of Organists, n.d.