DURIBIN, John Price, clergyman, born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1800; died in New York City, 17 October 1876. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker, and in 1819 entered the itinerant ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He studied at Miami University while preaching at Hamilton, Ohio, was graduated at Cincinnati College in 1825, and soon afterward was appointed professor of languages in Augusta College, Kentucky. He was elected chaplain of the U. S. Senate in 1831, and in 1832 was chosen professor of natural science in the Wesleyan University, and became editor of the "Christian Advocate and Journal," New York, in 1833. In 1834 he was elected president of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and during his incumbency made an extensive tour in Europe and the east. As member of the general conference of 1844 he was a prominent actor in the great contest on slavery which divided the Church. After retiring from his office in 1845 he was pastor of Churches in Philadelphia, and was also presiding elder of the Philadelphia district. He was secretary of the missionary society from 1850 to 1872, when he retired in consequence of physical infirmity. To his labors was largely due the establishment of missions in India, Bulgaria, western and northern Europe, and many parts of the United States, and the reinvigoration of those in China and elsewhere, while through his plans the annual contributions were increased from $100,000 to $600,000, In 1867 he visited Europe in the interest of missions. He was distinguished for his eloquence and administrative ability. Beside numerous contributions to periodical literature, Dr. Durbin published "Observations in Europe, principally in France and Great Britain " (2 vols., New York, 1844), and "Observations in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Asia Minor" (2 vols., 1845), and edited, with notes, Wood's " Mosaic History of the Creation " (1831).