George Nugent

NUGENT, George, philanthropist, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 3 May, 1809; d. in Atlantic City, N. J., 21 June, 1883. He was educated at Clermont academy, and removed with his father to Montgomery county, Pa., where he became a manufacturer. In 1832 he became a deacon in the Baptist church at Balligomingo, and he afterward officiated as such in Philadelphia and Germantown. In this capacity he was accustomed to visit the sick and the poor in their homes. This gave him the first idea of a home for such persons, and he was the founder of the Baptist home of Philadelphia, now a prosperous institution. After a successful business career he retired to Germantown and devoted his time to benevolent and charitable purposes. He was president of the Baptist home, treasurer of the Baptist historical society, and a member of the Baptist publication society and the Sunday-school union. He took great interest in the education of the young, and was a generous giver to churches and other religious societies. He was one of the founders of the 2d Baptist church of Germantown, and gave the greater part of the money to build the church edifice. His estate amounted to nearly half a million of dollars, and he gave by will nearly all of it to found a home for Baptist ministers, their widows, and members of Baptist and other evangelical churches. It has been chartered as "The George Nugent Home for Baptists," and is located at Germantown. Mr. Nugent wrote and published "The Baptist Home of Philadelphia, its Origin and History" (Philadelphia, 1880).

Source: Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, vol. 4. James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, eds., New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1888, p. 544.

Submitted by Nancy.