Person:Samuel Williams (115)

NER 34:74-5 (Jan 1880) says DOB 22 Sep.

Colonial families of the United States of America: Volume 1 I. Samuel Wells Williams, b. 22d September, 1812; was a missionary at Peking, China, and later Secretary to the U. S. Legation; wrote "Middle Kingdom" and Chinese Dictionary; m. Sarah Simonds WALLSWORTH.

NER 34;74-5 states he sailed 15 June 1833 to China where he remained most of the time until 1876. He resided at Canton sec'ty of the Legation, and resided in Peking from 1862-76, acting as Charge d'affaires several times during that period. He is author of "Chinese Commercial Guide", Easy Lessons in Chinese", English and Chinese Vocabulary", "Tonic Dictionary", "Middle Kingdom", and "Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language" He received an LL.D. from Union College in 1848, and appointed Prof.of Chinese Language & Lit at Yale 1877. _______________________________________________ excerpt from NEWSLETTER OF THE AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY Number 21 May 1996 I. Thomas A. Tweed, ``Opening the Tomb of the Buddha: Buddhism and the Early Years of the American Oriental Society "Some of these missionaries who were affiliated with the AOS shaped the public discussion about Buddhism in important ways. Samuel Wells Williams (1812-84) did, through his popular book on China and his contributions to the "Chinese Repository"." (10). Samuel Wells Williams, "The Middle Kingdom: A Survey of the Geography, Government, Education, Social Life, Arts, Religion of the Chinese Empire". . ., 2 vols. (New York and London: Wiley and Putnam, 1848).

Williams, Samuel Wells - A HISTORY OF CHINA

Williams, Samuel Wells - ENGLISH AND CHINESE VOCABULARY IN THE COURT DIALECT Macao, 1844, 440pp.

Williams, Samuel Wells - MAP OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Williams, Samuel Wells - OUR RELATIONS WITH THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Williams, Samuel Wells - SYLLABIC DICTIONARY OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE 1874, Shanghai American Presbyterian Press, 1254pp, 28cm.

Williams, Samuel Wells - THE CHINESE COMMERCIAL GUIDE

Williams, Samuel Wells - THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF SAMUEL WELLS WILLIAMS

Williams, Samuel Wells - THE MIDDLE KINGDOM: A SURVEY OF GEOGRAPHY, GOVERNMENT, LITERATURE, SOCIAL LIFE, ARTS, AND HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE AND ITS INHABITANTS

Williams, Samuel Wells - TONIC DICTIONARY OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE In the Canton Dialect. Canton, 1856 _____________________________________________

excerpt from A NINETEENTH-CENTURY DIPLOMATIC INTERPRETER IN JAPAN Paper to the 5th Annual ConferenceCanadian Association of Translation StudiesCharlottetown, PEI, Canada May 24-26, 1992 Brian Harris, School of Translators & InterpretersUniversity of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, K1N 6N5 At Canton ... Commodore [Perry] acquired a valuable addition to his staff in the person of Samuel Wells Williams. As a young man he had come to China as printer for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the principal Protestant body then operating in China. He learned mandarin Chinese and on the ill-fated Morrison expedition[3] picked up Japanese from the castaways. His book The Middle Kingdom and other works on Chinese history, description and linguistics, gave him a well-deserved reputation as the leading American Sinologist. Williams felt complimented by Perry's invitation to be flag interpreter, but somewhat embarrassed since his knowledge of Japanese was very slim. But he consented to serve, with the stipulation that he would remain a civilian,[4] would be given "comfortable accommodations," and that the old naval slogan, "No sabbaths off soundings," would not apply to him. Perry accepted, and left [one of his fleet, the] Saratoga at Macao to bring the interpreter to Okinawa, where he joined the Squadron. As an amateur botanist, deeply interested in Oriental flora, Williams was of even greater assistance to Perry as a scientist than as an interpreter; communication with the Japanese would have been difficult, except for the efforts of a Dutch-Japanese interpreter named Antón Portman whom Perry engaged at Shanghai. (Morison 1967). [3] The Morrison was an Anglo-American ship that tried unsuccessfully to repatriate seven Japanese castaways in 1837 (Morison 1967). [4] He nevertheless appears as "Dr. S. Wells Williams, staff," with the rank of Chief Interpreter, in the "list of officers" appended to Perry's report (Perry 1856) The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans: Volume X W William, Seth page 423 WILLIAMS, Samuel Wells, sinologue, was born in Utica, N.Y., Sept. 22, 1812; son of Col. William (1787-1850) and Sophia (Wells) Williams: grandson of Deacon Thomas and Susanna (Dana) Williams, who removed to New Hartford, N.Y., 1790, and of Samuel and Dolly (Prentice) Wells, and a descendant of Robert Williams, who came from Norwich, England, and settled in Roxbury, Mass., 1637. His father was a publisher of the Utica Patriot and Patrol, 1810-24; The Elucidator, a weekly, 1830, and wrote "Light on Masonry" (1829). He also served in the war of 1812 and subsequently became a colonel in the Utica milita. S. Wells Williams learned printing in his father's office; attended Rensselaer Polytechnic institute, Troy, N.Y., 1831-33, and in the latter year, under the auspices of the A.B.C.F.M., went to Canton, China, where he printed and edited the Chinese Repository, 1833-51; removing to Macao in 1835 to finish the printing of Dr. W. H. Medhurst's Hokkeën dictionary. He also printed and contributed to Dr. Bridgman's "Chinese Chrestomathy," 1837-38, and having learned the Japanese language translated the books of Genesis and Matthew into that tongue. While residing in Macao, he published: Easy Lessons in Chinese (1842); English and Chinese Vocabulary in the Court Dialect (1844); Chinese Topography (1844), and Chinese Commercial Guide (1844). He returned to the United States in 1845; was married, Nov. 25, 1847, to Sarah, daughter of Major John and Catherine (Bailey) Walworth of Plattsburgh, N.Y., and until 1848 was engaged in lecturing on China throughout the country, in this manner obtaining sufficient funds for purchasing a full font of Chinese type. He returned to China in 1848, and until 1856 in addition to his charge of the mission press at Canton, was engaged upon his Tonic Dictionary of Chinese Language in the Canton Dialect, with the exception of his service as interpreter to Commodore Perry in Japan, 1853-54. He also served as secretary and interpreter to the United States legation in China, 1855-76, frequently officiating as chargé d'affaires. He was influential in arranging the treaty of Tientsin, 1858; visited America, 1861-62, and subsequently designed and erected at his personal expense the U.S. legation buildings at Peking. He made his final return to America, 1876, and in the following year was called to fill the especially created chair of Chinese language and literature at Yale, which he continued [p.423] to hold until his death, the chair being then discontinued. He received the honorary degree of M.A. from Yale in 1877 and that of LL.D. from Union in 1848, and served as president of the American Bible and Oriental societies. His son, Frederick Wells Williams. A.B., Yale, 1879, professor of modern Oriental history at Yale, 1800, is the author of "Life and Letters of S. Wells Williams, LL.D." (1888), and of contributions on Chinese and Russian questions to scientific periodicals. Dr. Williams published, in addition to the work already mentioned, The Middle Kingdom, lectures (2 vols., 1848) revised in collaboration with his son, 1883. The historical portion of this was brought down to date by the latter with the title The History of China (1897). His most important literary and scholarly work, the labor of twelve years, was the Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language (Shanghai, 1874). He died in New Haven, Feb. 16, 1884.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Samuel Wells Williams.