Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/McGuffey, William Holmes

McGUFFEY, William Holmes, educator, b. in Washington county, Pa., 23 Sept., 1800; d. at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va., 4 May, 1873. He was graduated at Washington college, Pa., in 1826, and immediately appointed professor of ancient languages in Miami university. He was licensed as a Presbyterian minister in 1829, and preached frequently during the remainder of his life. In 1832 he was transferred to the chair of moral philosophy. He became president of Cincinnati college in 1836, and in 1839 of Ohio university. In 1843-'5 he was a professor in Woodward college, Cincinnati. From 1845 till his death he occupied the chair of moral philosophy and political economy in the University of Virginia. While in Cincinnati he began the preparation of an “Eclectic” series of readers and spellers, which became popular, and have been many times revised and reissued.