James Morris Whiton

Born in Boston on April 11, 1833, James Morris Whiton Jr. was an American teacher, linguist, lexicographer, and clergyman. He graduated from Boston Latin School as valedictorian and later earned a PhD in classics from Yale in 1861, making him one of the earliest people to receive that degree from an American university.

Whiton's career crossed several fields. He taught and worked in language scholarship, but he also became known as a Congregational minister and a religious writer. His books include works on the Gospel of Matthew and on questions of Christian doctrine, written in a style aimed at thoughtful general readers rather than specialists alone.

He died on January 25, 1920. What makes Whiton interesting today is the mix of roles he carried at once: schoolman, man of letters, and preacher, all brought together in a life devoted to learning and public religious discussion.