William Seymour Tyler (September 2, 1810 – November 19, 1897) was the

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 ...

, Massachusetts, historian during his tenure as professor of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, and

Greek literature Greek literature () dates back from the ancient Greek literature, beginning in 800 BC, to the modern Greek literature of today. Ancient Greek literature was written in an Ancient Greek dialect, literature ranges from the oldest surviving writte ...

from 1832-1893.

Biography

He was born September 2, 1810 in

Harford, Pennsylvania Harford is an unincorporated community located in Harford Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast ...

, the son of Joab and Nabby née Seymour Tyler. He matriculated at Amherst in 1829, graduated in 1830 (cf. external links below), and completed his

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in (1833). He tutored at Amherst from 1832–34 and in 1836. He was a professor of

and

at Amherst from 1836–47, and Professor of Greek from 1847-93. He was named Professor Emeritus in 1893 (1893–97). From 1835-36 he studied theology under Dr. Skinner in New York, and on September 4, 1839 he married Amelia Ogden, daughter of Mason Whiting of New York. They had four sons. He was ordained a minister in North Amherst, Massachusetts on October 16, 1859. He received the honorary DD degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

(1857) and two honorary

LL.D. Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...

degrees from Amherst (1871) and Harvard (1886). He died in Amherst on November 19, 1897. He edited many Greek and Latin texts, and was the author of ''History of Amherst College During Its First Half Century'' (1872) and ''History of Amherst College during the Administration of its First Five Presidents'' (1894). In the latter he claimed that Amherst was the first U.S. college to use

Latin honors Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

, although it appears that Harvard deserves that distinction. William Seymour Tyler was one of the original trustees of

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

and one of the residential houses on campus, Tyler House, was named after him. Tyler House, a dormitory building at Amherst College, was also named in his honor.

References

External links

* * * William Seymour Tyler is the 214th graduate of

a
noted in the record of the graduating class of 1830
at amherst.edu

at amherst.edu * ttp://www.smith.edu/sao/reslife/houses/tyler.php Tyler Houseat smith.edu * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tyler, William Seymour 1810 births 1897 deaths Amherst College alumni 19th-century American historians 19th-century American male writers American classical scholars American male non-fiction writers Historians from Pennsylvania People from Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania Amherst College faculty