Lexicographer. Through his work, the American and British versions of the English language became separate, unique languages. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, to a colonial farm family of five children, he was a descendant of Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Colony. He began attending Yale College at age 16, then the only college in the British colony of Connecticut, graduating in 1778, after a short break to serve in the American Army during the Revolution. Unable to afford law school, he became a schoolteacher in Hartford, continuing his law studies part time. He eventually earned his law degree in 1781, and was admitted to the bar the same year. Dissatisfied with the school textbooks then in use, which were imported from Britain, Webster decided to write his own three-volume American book, consisting of a speller, a grammar, and a reader. For the next one hundred years, it would become the most popular American schoolbook of its time, selling more than one million copies every year. Proudly American and anti-British, he chose to ignore the common British pronunciation and spellings in favor of his native New England pronunciations and spellings. As a result, after American independence, Americans learned to speak and write differently from their British cousins despite a common origin. In 1789, Webster married Rebecca Greenleaf, and they would have eight children. In 1793, the Webster family moved to New York to be closer to the President and the country's new administration (initially, New York was the capital of the new United States). There Webster started New York's first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, and later, a weekly publication, The Herald. In 1798, he sold his interests and moved back to New Haven. In 1807, he began to write an expanded dictionary, "An American Dictionary of the English Language," which would reform the language again, drawing it closer to his New England roots and making it a unique American language. The dictionary was published in 1828, and was an instant best seller. The book was also unique in that it contained a large number of Biblical definitions, more than any previously published reference, because Webster believed that the Bible and Christianity should play an important role in the lives of a free people and its government. A second edition of the dictionary was published in 1840, and a few days after Webster had finished revising the appendix to the second edition, he died. Webster's influence, through his dictionary, has continued to this day.
Lexicographer. Through his work, the American and British versions of the English language became separate, unique languages. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, to a colonial farm family of five children, he was a descendant of Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Colony. He began attending Yale College at age 16, then the only college in the British colony of Connecticut, graduating in 1778, after a short break to serve in the American Army during the Revolution. Unable to afford law school, he became a schoolteacher in Hartford, continuing his law studies part time. He eventually earned his law degree in 1781, and was admitted to the bar the same year. Dissatisfied with the school textbooks then in use, which were imported from Britain, Webster decided to write his own three-volume American book, consisting of a speller, a grammar, and a reader. For the next one hundred years, it would become the most popular American schoolbook of its time, selling more than one million copies every year. Proudly American and anti-British, he chose to ignore the common British pronunciation and spellings in favor of his native New England pronunciations and spellings. As a result, after American independence, Americans learned to speak and write differently from their British cousins despite a common origin. In 1789, Webster married Rebecca Greenleaf, and they would have eight children. In 1793, the Webster family moved to New York to be closer to the President and the country's new administration (initially, New York was the capital of the new United States). There Webster started New York's first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, and later, a weekly publication, The Herald. In 1798, he sold his interests and moved back to New Haven. In 1807, he began to write an expanded dictionary, "An American Dictionary of the English Language," which would reform the language again, drawing it closer to his New England roots and making it a unique American language. The dictionary was published in 1828, and was an instant best seller. The book was also unique in that it contained a large number of Biblical definitions, more than any previously published reference, because Webster believed that the Bible and Christianity should play an important role in the lives of a free people and its government. A second edition of the dictionary was published in 1840, and a few days after Webster had finished revising the appendix to the second edition, he died. Webster's influence, through his dictionary, has continued to this day.
Bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson
Family Members
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Noah Webster
1722–1813
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Mercy Steele Webster
1727–1794
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Rebecca Greenleaf Webster
1766–1847 (m. 1789)
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Mercy Webster Belden
1749–1829
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Abraham Webster
1751–1831
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Jerusha Webster Lord
1756–1821
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Emily Scholten Webster Ellsworth
1789–1861
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Frances Juliana Webster Goodrich
1793–1869
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Harriet Webster Fowler
1797–1844
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Mary Webster Southgate
1799–1819
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William Greenleaf Webster
1801–1869
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Eliza Steele Webster Jones
1803–1888
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Henry Bradford Webster
1808–1809
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Louisa Webster
1808–1874
Flowers
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See more Webster memorials in:
Records on Ancestry
Noah Webster Jr.
North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000
Noah Webster Jr.
Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970
Noah Webster Jr.
Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography, 1600-1889
Noah Webster Jr.
Handy Book of American Authors, 1907
Noah Webster Jr.
Connecticut, U.S., Hale Collection of Cemetery Inscriptions and Newspaper Notices, 1629-1934
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