William Holmes McGuffey – birth, Sep. 23, 1800

William Holmes McGuffey was born this date, 9/23/1800, in western PA.  Later his family moved to the Ohio frontier where he was raised.  He became a professor of languages at Miami University in Ohio.  McGuffey was a minister and an advocate of public education when it was in a much purer stage. 

 

He compiled six readers (in progressive levels which carried true moral tones. 

His McGuffey Readers may have sold as many as 120 million copies. 

Personal note – my dad, Clyde D. Bryan, used McGuffey’s Electic Spelling Book in Murry City, Ohio in 1912.  I possess that book with Dad’s childish signature.