Noah Webster

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Noah Webster (October 16, 1758 – April 28, 1843) was an American lexicographer, textbook author, spelling reformer, political writer, and editor. He has been called the "Father of American Scholarship and Education." His Blue-backed Speller books taught five generations of children in the United States how to spell and read, and in the U.S. his name became synonymous with "dictionary," especially the modern Merriam-Webster dictionary which was first published in 1828 as An American Dictionary of the English Language.
Noah Webster was born on October 16, 1758, in the West Division of Hartford, Connecticut to an established Yankee family. His father was a farmer and a weaver. His father was a descendant of Connecticut Governor John Webster; his mother was a descendant of Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Colony. Noah had two brothers and two sisters.
At the age of 16, he began attending Yale College. His 4 years at Yale overlapped with the American Revolutionary War, and because of food shortages, many of his college classes were held in Glastonbury, Connecticut. During the American Revolution, he served in the Connecticut Militia.
He graduated from Yale in 1778. He taught school in Glastonbury, Hartford, and West Hartford. He earned his law degree in 1781 but never practiced. Instead he tried teaching, setting up several very small schools that did not thrive.