George R. Lunn was born June 23, 1873, on a farm located near the small town of
Lenox, Iowa. His parents, Martin Adolphus Lunn and the former Martha Bratton, reared 6 surviving children, four boys and two girls, with three others dying in infancy. The son and grandson of farmers, Lunn was raised in a conservative religious household which strictly observed the
Sabbath and regarded the playing of musical instruments in church to be an unacceptable nod to secularity. The family relocated to the city of
Des Moines when George was just a boy, and he quit school at the age of 12 to work there as a
paperboy. He then made his way further west to
Omaha, Nebraska, where he worked as the driver of a delivery wagon. Although he had never preached before, church parishioners were not aware of this fact and Lunn accepted the position. However, near the end of his first year at Princeton the
Spanish–American War erupted.
Return to ministry Following his release from the military, Lunn enrolled at
Union Theological Seminary—an institution which he felt was less conservative and constraining than was the Princeton Seminary. He would remain there until 1904, at which time he was named the pastor of the
First Dutch Reformed Church of
Schenectady, New York. ==Political career==