Samuel Wells Williams

Samuel Wells Williams (September 22, 1812 – February 16, 1884) was a linguist, official, missionary and Sinologist from the United States in the early 19th century. Early life Williams was born in Utica, New York, son of William Williams (1787–1850) and the former Sophia Wells, an elder of the First Presbyterian Church. Among his siblings were brothers William Frederick Williams (who worked with Dr. H. A. DeForest in Beirut, Lebanon) and Henry Dwight Williams. His father's Williams family moved from Massachusetts to Utica in 1800 where his father joined his uncle, William McLean, and assisted in publishing the Whitestown Gazette (today the Observer-Dispatch) and Cato's Patrol (later renamed the Patriot after it was sold to John H. Lathrop in 1803). His became a partner in 1807, and later a master printer and journalist before serving in the War of 1812. 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 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. There he assisted in the writing of a botanical manual by Senior Professor and co-founder Amos Eaton, published 1833. On graduation he was elected as a professor of the institute. China