Samuel Wells Williams | |||||||||||
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.jpg) S. Wells Williams | |||||||||||
| Born | (1812-09-22)September 22, 1812 Utica, New York, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Died | February 16, 1884(1884-02-16) (aged 71) New Haven,Connecticut, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Education | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | ||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Linguist,missionary andsinologist | ||||||||||
| Years active | 1832-1884 | ||||||||||
| Relatives | Cornelia Williams Martin (cousin) | ||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Chinese | 衛三畏 | ||||||||||
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Samuel Wells Williams (September 22, 1812 – February 16, 1884) was alinguist, official,missionary andsinologist from the United States in the early 19th century.
Williams was born inUtica, New York, son ofWilliam Williams (1787–1850) and the former Sophia Wells, an elder of theFirst Presbyterian Church. Among his siblings were brothers William Frederick Williams (who worked with Dr. H. A. DeForest inBeirut, Lebanon)[1] and Henry Dwight Williams.[2] His father's Williams family moved from Massachusetts to Utica in 1800 where his father joined his uncle, William McLean, and assisted in publishing theWhitestown Gazette (today theObserver-Dispatch) andCato's Patrol (later renamed thePatriot after it was sold toJohn H. Lathrop in 1803). His became a partner in 1807, and later a master printer and journalist before serving in theWar of 1812.[1] Williams' cousin,Cornelia Williams Martin, was a prominent philanthropist and social activist in Auburn, New York, and helped support his missionary work in China.[3]
At age 8 he was impressed by the departure to Ceylon as a printing missionary of a James Garrett who was associated with his father's printing business. He studied atRensselaer Polytechnic Institute inTroy, New York. There he assisted in the writing of a botanical manual by Senior Professor and co-founderAmos Eaton, published 1833.[4]: 504–5 On graduation he was elected as a professor of the institute.
After a year's preparation, on June 15, 1833, just 21, he sailed for China to take charge of the printing press of theAmerican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions atGuangdong, China. He arrived at Whampoa, Canton, aboard theMorrison on October 25, 1833.[4]: 505 With the death of the pioneering missionaryRobert Morrison the next year, he andElijah Bridgman, who had arrived only three years ahead of Williams, were the only missionaries in the whole of China. He assisted Bridgman in the latter'sChinese Chrestomathy in the Canton Dialect, published in 1842,[5] andWalter Medhurst in completing hisEnglish-Chinese Dictionary of 1848, two early works of Chinese lexicography.[4]: 506
In 1837 he sailed on theMorrison to Japan. Officially this trip was to return some stranded Japanese sailors, but it was also an unsuccessful attempt to open Japan to American trade.[6]
From 1848 to 1851 Williams was the editor ofThe Chinese Repository, a leading Western journal published in China. In 1853, he was attached to CommodoreMatthew Calbraith Perry'sexpedition to Japan as an official interpreter.[7]
In 1855, Williams was appointed Secretary of the United StatesLegation to China. During his stay in China, he wroteA Tonic Dictionary Of The Chinese Language In The Canton Dialect (英華分韻撮要) in 1856. After years of opposition from theChinese government, Williams was instrumental in the negotiation of theTreaty of Tientsin, which provided for the toleration of both Chinese and foreign Christians.[8]
In 1860, he was appointedchargé d'affaires for the United States in Beijing. He resigned his position on October 25, 1876, 43 years to the day that he first landed atGuangzhou in 1833. Around 1875, he completed a translation of theBook of Genesis and theGospel of Matthew into Japanese, but the manuscripts were lost in a fire before they could be published.[6]
Williams returned to the United States in 1877 where he spent the last eight years of his life. Williams became the first Professor of Chinese language and literature in the United States atYale University as well as the president of theAmerican Bible Society on February 3, 1881. "He also revised his book,The Middle Kingdom. In his later years, he heavily corresponded with missionaries remaining in China, the American Bible Society and withScribners concerning the publishing ofThe Middle Kingdom."[9]
On November 20, 1845, Williams married Sarah Simonds Walworth (1815–1881), a daughter of Maj. John Walworth. Together, they were the parents of several children, including:
He died at his residence, 39 College Street inNew Haven, Connecticut, on February 16, 1884.[2][14]
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