Ashbel Green

Ashbel Green (July 6, 1762 – May 19, 1848) was an American Presbyterian minister and academic.

Early life and education
Green was born in Hanover Township, New Jersey. He served as a sergeant in the New Jersey militia during the American Revolutionary War, and went on to study with John Witherspoon and graduate as valedictorian from the College of New Jersey, known since 1896 as Princeton University, in 1783.

U.S. House of Representatives Chaplain
Green later became the third Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives from 1792 to 1800.

Academic administration
From 1812 to 1822, he served as the eighth President of Princeton University. He also was a co-founder and the second president of the Bible Society at Philadelphia, now known as the Pennsylvania Bible Society, after having been one of its founding members in 1808.

In 1789, Green was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society. In 1814, he joined the American Antiquarian Society.

He emancipated his family's slave Betsey Stockton in 1817, taught her and recommended her as a missionary to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, making her the first single female overseas missionary. He also published Christian Advocate, a periodical.

Personal life
Green married Elizabeth Stockton on November 3, 1785. They had three children: Robert Stockton Green (1787–1813), Jacob Green (1790–1841), and James Sproat Green (1792–1862), the latter of whom served as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey and was the father of Robert Stockton Green (1831–1895), Governor of New Jersey.

After his first wife died in January 1807, he married Christina Anderson in October 1809. They had one child: Ashbel Green Jr. (b. 1811).

Death
Green died in Philadelphia, on May 19, 1848.

Archival collections
The Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia has a collection of Ashbel Green's original papers, including sermons and correspondence.