Henry Augustus Homes (March 10, 1812 – November 3, 1887) was a librarian, diplomat, and missionary.

Family background

His earliest New England ancestor was William Homes, a school teacher at Chilmark,

Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...

, from 1686 to 1692, and afterwards a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

clergyman. From this ancestor his line proceeded by Robert, William, William, to Henry, his father, who married Dorcas, daughter of Judge Samuel Freeman, of

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

Education

He was fitted for college at

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...

, and was graduated at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

in 1830. He then pursued a theological course at

and

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

Seminaries.

Career

Ordination In 1835 he was ordained to the work of the ministry in the city of

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, and from the years 1836 to 1850, held the position of a missionary of the American Board at

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, Turkey. He was an interpreter there and Charge des Affairs of the United States, from 1851 to 1853. Librarian In 1854 he was chosen librarian of the

New York State Library The New York State Library is a research library in Albany, New York, United States. It was established in 1818 to serve the state government of New York and is part of the New York State Education Department. The library is one of the largest ...

, at Albany, and came to be regarded as one of the foremost men in this department in this country. Editing and missionary work While connected with the mission work in Constantinople, he edited many volumes in the

Turkish language Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...

with the Armenian character. He was the editor of valuable books, and wrote many articles for the '' Bibliotheca Sacra'' and the '' American Biblical Repository''.

Personal life

He was married to Anna Heath, of

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton, A ...

, and by her had one child, a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Homes, Henry A. 1812 births 1887 deaths Phillips Academy alumni Amherst College alumni People from Boston American librarians American clergy American editors 19th-century American diplomats 19th-century American translators 19th-century American clergy