David Xavier (X.) Junkin (1808-1880)

Oil Painting of David (X.) Junkin (1808-1880) Portrait is in the posession of Preston Davis Junkin, 2003

C14 David Xavier (X.) Junkin, born January 8, 1808 in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, died April 22, 1880 in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Married Jane McCleery on 04/12/1835, born 1809, died 1887. Seven children.

A family legend states that since he was the tenth son, his parents choice the "X" denoting "ten", and then selected a name to fit. The name "Xavier" was to produce smiles and innuendos as Dr. Junkin became well-known in Presbyterian circles. From all reports, no one enjoyed the joke more than Dr. Junkin himself. A second family legend states that he was given no middle name or initial at birth, but when he went to college he ran up against a bureacracy that insisted he had to have a middle initial. He noted that he was the tenth son, so chose X. The story further states that the Xavier was added by a later generation.

Dr. X graduated from Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania in 1831; and from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1833. He accepted a call to Old Greenwich Presbyterian Church at Stewartsville, N.J. (1835-1851). He was called to be the Chaplain for the U.S. Naval Academy at Newport, R.I. where the Academy had been removed at the beginning of the Civil War. He also served (1862) as Chaplain of the battleship "North Carolina", and the steam frigate "Colorado".

In September 1863, Dr. Junkin was saddened by the loss of his son William McCleery Junkin who had died of Yellow Fever. William was serving as Asst. Paymaster aboard the Union ship "Potomac" and was buried at sea off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. Four months earlier, on May 18, 1863, Dr. Junkin had grieved the loss of his nephew-by-marriage, General Thomas Jonathon (Stonewall) Jackson. Bereaved as he was over the loss of Jackson, his grief was not of the same tender as that he suffered over his son Captain George Garnett Junkin's having chosen to serve the Confederacy as Aide-de-Camp to General Jackson. The pious General and his beloved son were described by Dr. Junkin as being "sorely misled and misguided". It was his firm conviction that God's interference by allowing General Jackson's death by the hands of his own men was the act that preserved the Union and allowed its ultimate victory.

From 1864-1866, Dr. Junkin served the Old North Presbyterian Church in Chicago, Illinois. It was during his pastorate there that Dr. Junkin returned to Hope Mills for a reunion with his brothers (William F., who lived on the old homestead; George, who had fled the presidency of Washington College; Matthew Oliver, who resided in Steubenville, Ohio; and Benjamin, who lived in Mercer County, PA.).

In May, 1866, Dr. Junkin moved to the First Presbyterian Church, New Castle, Pa., and remained until his retirement on July 1, 1879.

In 1871, Dr. X wrote The Reverend George Junkin, D.D., LL.D., a biography of his brother George. This rare book is one of the primary sources of information for the Joseph Junkin family history.

Children of David Xavier (X.) Junkin and Jane McCleery:

D1 Mary Eleanor Junkin, born February 7, 1836. married (1) John G. Mitchell. Married (2) George C. Hagan.

D2 George Garnett Junkin, born November 19, 1837, died February 22, 1895. Married November 5, 1862 Sarah Elizabeth "Betty" Montague. George enlisted in the "Montgomery Fencibles" 4th Regiment, Virginia Infantry, the first of four companies that formed the "Stonewall Brigade".

D3 Julia Miller Junkin, born 1839 in Martinsburg, (West) Virginia; Married Rev. Francis M. Woods.

D4 William McCleery Junkin, April 8, 1841, died August 29, 1863.

D5 John M. Junkin.

D6 Sarah Junkin, died May 7, 1843.

D7 Joseph Oliver Junkin, died September 6, 1847 Aged 1 yr and 3 days; Thee shall gather the faith with his arm.