George, the son of Joseph Junkin, was the sixth of fourteen children born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

[1] In 1830, he became Principal of the Manual Labor Academy, at Germantown, Pennsylvania, one of the first institutions of the kind to go into operation in the United States.

[2] In 1841, he accepted the Presidency of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio remaining three years, when he again returned to Easton.

[4] Junkin remained at Washington College until May, 1861, when he resigned the presidency at the age of 71 and moved to Philadelphia amidst controversy regarding his pro-Union views and Virginia's secession from the United States.

[8] This controversy, which turned on theological differences and regional prejudices, eventually led the Presbyterian Church to split in 1838.

The Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has a collection of Junkin's correspondences, sermons and photographs[9] in its holdings.