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.''Yale Obituary Record 1860–1861''
pp. 28–9. 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 Rebecca Minot Prescott (1742–1813) was the second wife of United States Founding Father Roger Sherman. She was the daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca Minot Prescott from Salem, Massachusetts; the niece of Roger Sherman’s brother Rev. Josiah Sher ...

, wife of US Founding Father Roger Sherman. One of Josiah's ancestors,

Samuel Willard Samuel Willard (January 31, 1640 – September 12, 1707) was a New England Puritan clergyman. He was born in Concord, Massachusetts, graduated from Harvard College in 1659, and was minister at Groton from 1663 to 1676, before being driven out by ...

, 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. Muriel Rukeyser, ''Willard Gibbs'', (New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1942), ch. VI. 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 Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

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.Marina Fisher
"Amistad and Yale: The Untold Story"
''Yale Standard'', 3 Mar. 2012 Gibbs's most important work, ''Philological Studies'', appeared in 1857. He collaborated with

James Gates Percival James Gates Percival (September 15, 1795 – May 2, 1856) was an American poet, surgeon, and geologist, born in Berlin, Connecticut and died in Hazel Green, Wisconsin. Biography He was a precocious child, and a morbid and impractical, though v ...

on a revision of Noah Webster's dictionary, and he compiled vocabularies of Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, as well as several

American Indian languages Over a thousand indigenous languages are spoken by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. These languages cannot all be demonstrated to be related to each other and are classified into a hundred or so language families (including a large numb ...

. He also served as the librarian of Yale College from 1824 until 1843. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1826.American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
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Involvement in the ''Amistad'' case

Gibbs was an active abolitionist and he played an important role in the '' Amistad'' trials of 1839–40. By visiting the African passengers in jail and showing them piles of pennies, he was able to learn to count to ten in the language spoken by most of them, which turned out to be Mende. Gibbs then strolled around the harbors in New Haven and New York City, counting out loud from one to ten in the words he had learned from the Africans. In this way he eventually met two British sailors, James Covey and Charles Pratt, who recognized the words and could serve as interpreters. The sailors also taught some Mende to Gibbs and to fellow Yale professor George E. Day, enabling them to converse with at least 20 of the captives. Gibbs and Day testified as expert witnesses during the trial, establishing that the claim by the owners of the ''Amistad'' ship that the black passengers were slaves born in Cuba was patently false. Covey served as an interpreter for the Africans, allowing them to tell their story in court and to defend themselves from the charges of mutiny and murder.Douglas Linder
Biography of Prof. Josiah Gibbs
''Famous American Trials: Amistad Trial'' Gibbs later compiled and published vocabularies on Mende and other West African languages.

Personal life

Gibbs married Mary Anna Van Cleve in September 1830 and was the father of four daughters, and one son, the renowned scientist Josiah Willard Gibbs, Jr. Both father and son died in New Haven and are buried in

Grove Street Cemetery Grove Street Cemetery or Grove Street Burial Ground is a cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut, that is surrounded by the Yale University campus. It was organized in 1796 as the New Haven Burying Ground and incorporated in October 1797 to replace the ...

there. Although their official given names were the same, the father was generally known as ''Josiah Gibbs'' and the son as ''Willard Gibbs''. Josiah Gibbs's son-in-law,

Addison Van Name Addison Van Name (November 15, 1835 – September 29, 1922) was an American philologist and librarian, serving as University Librarian of Yale University from 1865 to 1904, and was made librarian emeritus in 1905. He himself attended Yale, gra ...

, served as the librarian of Yale University from 1865 until 1904.

In popular culture

Gibbs was portrayed by

Austin Pendleton Austin Campbell Pendleton (born March 27, 1940) is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and instructor. He is known as a prolific character actor on the stage and screen who has appeared in films including ''Catch-22'' (1970); '' W ...

in the 1997 film '' Amistad'', directed by

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbs, Willard 1790 births 1861 deaths American Congregationalist ministers American theologians Congregationalist abolitionists Linguists from the United States Yale University faculty People from Salem, Massachusetts Burials at Grove Street Cemetery American abolitionists Members of the American Antiquarian Society Yale Divinity School faculty Yale College alumni