Webster, Noah, 1758-1843

American lexicographer, textbook author, spelling reformer, word enthusiast, and editor; b. in Hartford, Conn.; attended Yale and taught school in the Hartford area; moved to New Haven, Conn., in 1798.

Noah Webster (1758-1843) was an American lexicographer, author and editor. He is best known for his spellers (early spelling textbooks) and his dictionaries, published in 1806 and 1828.

Webster's Compendious Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1806.

Lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and author.

American lexicographer, lawyer, teacher, author, and editor.

Lexicographer.

Born in Hartford, Conn., Oct. 16, 17558; grad. from Yale, 1778; taught school; studied law; admit. to the bar, 1781; wrote school books and books on English language; 1818, vocabulary words not found in any dictionary; 1828 publ. first ed. of his Dictionary of the English language; died in New Haven, Conn., May 28, 1843. (from Appleton's Cyclop. of American Biography) (blue index cards)

Lexicographer born in West Hartford, Conn. Graduated from Yale College; admitted to the bar in 1781. Devoted almost twenty years of his life to his An american dictionary of the English Language, published in 1825.

American lexicographer and author.

Born in Ireland, Mathew Carey spent most of his professional career in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he worked as a printer, publisher, and economist.

American lexicographer.

American lexicographer. His first dictionary, A compendious dictionary of the English language, was published in 1806. He is best known for the more comprehensive American dictionary of the English language, finished in 1825 and published in 1828.

Noah Webster was an American lexicographer, educator, lawyer, and editor. His first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, was published in 1806. He is best known for the more comprehensive American Dictionary of the English Language, finished in 1825 and published in 1828.

Noah Webster (1758-1843) was an American lexicographer, educator, lawyer, and editor. His first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, was published in 1806. He is best known for the more comprehensive American Dictionary of the English Language, finished in 1825 and published in 1828.

Noah Webster, influential American lexicographer, author and teacher, was born in 1758 in West Hartford, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale College in 1778, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1781. As a schoolteacher in New York State, he became dissatisfied with children's textbooks, which he felt ignored distinctive elements of American language and culture. In 1783 he published The American Spelling Book, the famed "Blue-backed Speller," a widely used and highly influential textbook that is still in print. Subsequent publications of a grammar (1784) and a reader (1785) formed, with the speller, Webster's three-part Grammatical Institute of the English Language. Webster's advocacy of spelling reform in this period was responsible for most of the differences that exist today between American and British spelling. After marrying Rebecca Greenleaf in 1789, Webster practiced law in Hartford until 1793. In New York City he then founded two newspapers, American Minerva (said to be New York's first daily newspaper) and The Herald, both of which he sold in 1803. He moved to New Haven in 1798, where he was active in local politics. In 1806 Webster published his Compendious Dictionary of the English Language. This work prepared the way for the achievement for which he is most famous, An American Dictionary of the English Language, containing over 70,000 entries and published in two volumes in 1828. (Later, George and Charles Merriam purchased the rights to this dictionary from Webster's estate.)

From 1812 to 1822, Webster and his family lived in Amherst, Massachusetts, where, living largely off the income from his published schoolbooks, he farmed, served in the Massachusetts legislature and continued work on his dictionary. In Amherst the Webster family lived in a house on Main Street, facing the Common. (This house was destroyed by fire in 1838.) As a trustee of Amherst Academy, he was involved in the founding of the Amherst Collegiate Institute, the precursor of Amherst College. In 1822 the family moved back to New Haven. Noah Webster died in New Haven in 1843.

Descendants of Noah Webster: The following is a partial listing of the descendants of Noah Webster who are represented in the Noah Webster Family Papers.

1. Noah Webster (1758-1843) m. Rebecca Greenleaf Daughter: 2. Eliza Steele Webster (1803-1888) m. Henry Jones (Oct 15, 1801-Nov. 7, 1878) Daughter: 3. Emily Ellsworth Jones (1827-1869) m. Daniel Jones Day Son: 4. Robert W. Day (b. 1854, Bridgeport Conn.; lived in Buffalo, N.Y.) Son: 5. Rodney W. Day (b. 1883)

Noah Webster (1758-1843) was an American lexicographer, educator, lawyer, and editor. His first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, was published in 1806. He is best known for the more comprehensive American Dictionary of the English Language, finished in 1825 and published in 1828.

Webster must be counted among the founding fathers of the United States. Historians continually note the wide sales of Webster's 'blue-back spellers,' and the monumental achievement of his American Dictionary published in 1828. Webster's Grammatical Institutes of the English Language, of which the speller was the first part and originally published in 1782, followed by the Grammar in 1785 and the Reader in 1786, sold some 15,000,000 copies before his death in 1843. With these and other literary and scientific efforts, Webster stimulated the educational programs of the early American republic. He is also remembered for his participation in the fight for an American copyright law, which he personally promoted in the thirteen original states, resulting in its incorporation in the Federal constitution.

A descendent, by his father of John Webster, Governor of Connecticut in 1656, and by his mother of William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth in 1621, Webster was born in Hartford, Connecticut, Oct. 16, 1758. He entered Yale College in 1774, and, after serving in the militia raised to oppose Burgoyne, graduated in 1778. He then pursued the study of the law in the intervals of school-teaching and, in 1781, was admitted to the bar.

In 1783 he published a series of papers in the Connecticut Courant, signed Honorius, in vindication of the Congressional soldier's pay-bill, and in the same year issued his First Part of the Grammatical Institute of the English Language, or Webster's Spelling Book. The profits from this publication, at less than a cent per copy, helped support Webster during the later stage of his career during which he compiled the American Dictionary. In 1785, he traveled the Southern States, and presented General George Washington with his Sketches of American Policy, an early proposal for a new Constitution of the United States.

Webster resided in Philadelphia and served as superintendent of the Episcopal Academy through November of 1787. From December of that year to November of 1788, he published the American Magazine in New York City. Webster married Rebecca Greenleaf in 1789 and resided in Hartford, CT until 1793, when he returned to New York City to bring out a magazine on behalf of the policies of George Washington's administration. The daily paper entitled the Minerva was begun in November of 1793, and was later accompanied by a semi-weekly paper entitled the Herald. The names were later changed to The Commercial Advertiser and The New York Spectator and continued under other editors.

From 1798 to 1812, Webster lived in New Haven, CT, pursued philological studies, and, in 1807, began the preparation of his American Dictionary of the English Language (first edition, 1828, 2 vol.) the improvement of which was his great endeavor and occupied the rest of his life. From 1812 to 1822, he resided at Amherst, MA, and played an instrumental role in the establishment of Amherst College. In 1822 he returned to New Haven, and, with the exception of a visit to Europe from June 1824 to June 1825, remained there until his death on May 28, 1843, his 85th year.