Josiah Willard Gibbs Sr. (30 April 1790 – 25 March 1861) was an American

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingui ...

and

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...

, who served as professor of sacred literature at

Yale University 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 worl ...

.''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 Josiah Willard Gibbs (; February 11, 1839 – April 28, 1903) was an American scientist who made significant theoretical contributions to physics, chemistry, and mathematics. His work on the applications of thermodynamics was instrumental in t ...

Early life and education

Josiah Gibbs was born in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

, into an old

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

family with a scholarly tradition. His parents were Henry and Mercy (Prescott) Gibbs. Mercy was the sister of Rebecca Minot Prescott, wife of US Founding Father

Roger Sherman Roger Sherman (April 19, 1721 – July 23, 1793) was an American statesman, lawyer, and a Founding Father of the United States. He is the only person to sign four of the great state papers of the United States related to the founding: the Conti ...

. 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 Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

in 1809 and was a tutor there from 1811 to 1815. He then moved to

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in '' The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of t ...

, where he pursued private studies in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and the Bible under the guidance of

Moses Stuart Moses B. Stuart (March 26, 1780 – January 4, 1852) was an American biblical scholar. Life and career Moses Stuart was born in Wilton, Connecticut on March 26, 1780. He was brought up on a farm, then attended Yale University graduating with hi ...

Muriel Rukeyser Muriel Rukeyser (December 15, 1913 – February 12, 1980) was an American poet and political activist, best known for her poems about equality, feminism, social justice, and Judaism. Kenneth Rexroth said that she was the greatest poet of her "ex ...

, ''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 Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has ...

'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 i ...

and a licensed preacher, though he rarely appeared at the pulpit. His work increasingly focused on

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and was strongly influenced by the grammar of James Harris and by German scholars such as

Wilhelm Gesenius Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius (3 February 178623 October 1842) was a German orientalist, lexicographer, Christian Hebraist, Lutheran theologian, Biblical scholar and critic. Biography Gesenius was born at Nordhausen. In 1803 he became ...

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 Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5� ...

'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 numbe ...

. He also served as the librarian of Yale College from 1824 until 1843. He was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society i ...

in 1826.American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
/ref>

Involvement in the ''Amistad'' case

Gibbs was an active

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

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 New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, 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 Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, ...

n 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

, Jr. Both father and son died in

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

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, served as the librarian of

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. Sp ...

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