NOAH WEBSTER

Happy Birthday, Noah Webster!

If only this man were still around.. it's very humbling to read about people like mr. webster from long ago. He believed in his convictions and applied God's truth in everything, even government. wow! so different compared to some 'leader's' belief's in this day and age~

Noah Webster was born on October 16, 1758, in the West Division of Hartford (Connecticut). Noah's was an average colonial family. His father farmed and worked as a weaver. His mother worked at home. Noah and his two brothers, Charles and Abraham, helped their father with the farm work. Noah's sisters, Mercy and Jerusha, worked with their mother to keep house and to make food and clothing for the family.
So began the life of Noah Webster, the man often called "the father of the American dictionary."
Webster began writing his dictionary at the age of 43.

It took him more than 27 years to write it.

In this first "American" dictionary, Webster introduced distinctively American words such as "skunk" and "hickory" and "chowder." In addition, he introduced American spellings such as "color" and "music," derivations of the English spellings "colour" and "musick."

But not all Webster spellings from that first dictionary stuck! For example, "tung" (tongue) and "wimmen" (women) aren't used today -- even if they are more true to their pronunciation.

Webster married Rebecca Greenleaf (1766-1847) on October 26, 1789, in New Haven, Connecticut. They had eight children: Emily Schotten (1790-1861), who married William W. Ellsworth, named by Webster as an executor of his will[1][2]; Frances Julianna (1793-1869); Harriet (1797-1844); Mary (1799-1819); William Greenleaf (1801-1869); Eliza (1803-1888); Henry (1806-1807); and Louisa (b. 1808).

Webster liked to carry raisins and candies in his pocket for his children to enjoy!

Webster was a devout Christian. His speller was very moralistic, and his first lesson began "Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink ; nor for your body, what ye shall put on ; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things."

His 1828 American Dictionary contained the greatest number of Biblical definitions given in any reference volume. Webster considered education "useless without the Bible". Webster learned 20 different languages in finding definitions for which a particular word is used.

[Preface to the 1828 edition of Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language]

'In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.'

Webster released his own edition of the Bible in 1833, called the Common Version. He used the King James Version as a base, and consulted the Hebrew and Greek along with various other versions and commentaries. Webster molded the KJV to correct grammar, replaced words that were no longer used, and did away with words and phrases that could be seen as offensive.
All editions of Webster's Dictionary published in 1913 and earlier, along with the Webster Bible, and Dissertation on the English Language are available in the public domain.

The facts above are available in brief bios of Noah Webster that you can explore online on your own. Check out A Short Summary of Noah Webster's Life on the site connected to the Noah Webster House Museum in West Hartford, Connecticut, and Noah Webster and America's First Dictionary on the Merriam-Webster Online site. You'll find some historical information about Noah Webster's "Blue-Backed" Speller, the best-seller he wrote before his dictionary, on the Blackwell History of Education Research Museum site.