MAGINNIS, John Sharp, clergyman, born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, 13 June, 1805 ; died in Rochester, New York, 15 October, 1852. His parents, who came originally from the north of Ireland, removed to Trumbull county, Ohio, when he was three years old. At the age of twelve he learned the carpenter's trade, but on 25 May, 1827, was licensed to preach as a Baptist. He then went to Waterville college, Maine, and to Brown, but left at the end of his second year on account of failing health. He afterward studied theology at Newton seminary, Massachusetts, and was pastor of churches in Portland, Maine, and Providence, Rhode Island He then accepted the professorship of biblical and pastoral theology at the Literary and theological institution (now Madison university) in Hamilton, New York In 1851 he became professor of the same branches in the new Theological seminary at Rochester, New York, and of philosophy in Rochester university. He received the degree of D. D. from Brown in 1844. He was a contributor to religious quarterlies.