Josiah Willard Gibbs, Sr.

Josiah Willard Gibbs Sr. (30 April 1790 – 25 March 1861) was an American linguist and theologian, who served as professor of sacred literature at Yale University. He is chiefly remembered today for his involvement in the Amistad case and as the father of theoretical physicist Josiah Willard Gibbs. Early life and education Josiah Gibbs was born in Salem, Massachusetts, into an old New England family with a scholarly tradition. His parents were Henry and Mercy (Prescott) Gibbs. Mercy was the sister of Rebecca Minot Prescott, wife of US Founding Father Roger Sherman. One of Josiah's ancestors, Samuel Willard, had served as acting President of Harvard College from 1701 to 1707. Josiah Gibbs graduated from Yale College in 1809 and was a tutor there from 1811 to 1815. He then moved to Andover, Massachusetts, where he pursued private studies in Hebrew and the Bible under the guidance of Moses Stuart. Gibbs returned to Yale in 1824 as lecturer in the Theological Institution of Yale College. He eventually was promoted to a professorship at Yale Divinity School's department of sacred literature, a position that he continued to occupy until his death. Academic career Gibbs was an ordained minister of the Congregational church and a licensed preacher, though he rarely appeared at the pulpit. His work increasingly focused on linguistics and was strongly influenced by the grammar of James Harris and by German scholars such as Wilhelm Gesenius and Karl Becker. He twice attempted to translate into English a new lexicon of Hebrew published in Germany, only to discover that another scholar had completed the task while he was still working at it. These experiences motivated him to learn other languages and to broaden his horizons as a linguist.