Background

Benjamin Greenleaf was born on September 25, 1786 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, a descendant of Edmund Greenleaf who came to America from England in 1635 and settled in what is now Newburyport, Massachusetts. His parents were Caleb and Susanna (Emerson) Greenleaf, the latter born in Methuen, Massachusetts, July 2, 1761, being the daughter of William and Abigail Emerson.

Education

Obliged to work upon his father’s farm as a boy, he had so little schooling that at fourteen he did not know the multiplication table. Soon, however, an eagerness for knowledge dwarfed almost every other interest.

He procured books wherever he could, and read them by fire-light and candle-light.

Not until he was nineteen did he begin to prepare for college. During the next five years he studied for a time at the academy in Atkinson, New Hamphire, and taught school. In 1810 he entered the sophomore class of Dartmouth College where he distinguished himself in mathematics. He graduated in 1813.

Career

In 1813 Benjamin became principal of the grammar school in his native town, but the following year he was appointed preceptor of Bradford Academy, Bradford, Massachusetts. This school, which during the eleven years of its history had maintained a precarious existence under numerous principals, now became a popular and efficient institution.

He taught the classics faithfully, if not with enthusiasm : his interest was in mathematics and the natural sciences. After more than twenty years as preceptor, he resigned in 1836, and the academy became a school for girls.

In 1837, 1838, and 1839, he was a member of the Massachusetts legislature, where he advocated the establishment of normal schools, and was chairman of a committee that recommended geological and natural history surveys of the state, which were later made. In 1839 he founded and became the head of the Bradford Teachers’ Seminary, which position he held until 1848. His later years were spent in work upon his text-books, in making calculations for almanacs, and in general activities in behalf of education.

Achievements

• His influence as an educator extended far beyond his classroom. He was among the first to give popular illustrated lectures on subjects in chemistry, physics, geology, and astronomy; and although he dispensed with such aids himself, his experience in teaching enabled him to prepare a series of text-books in arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, which had wide and long popularity. The earliest and perhaps the most famous of these, the National Arithmetic, appeared in 1836.

Works

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  • The National Arithmetic, on the Inductive System, Combining the Analytic and Synthetic Methods: Forming a Complete Course of Higher Arithmetic (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The National Arithmetic, on the Inductive Sy...)

  • A Key to Greenleaf's Algebra: Designed for the Use of Teachers Only (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from A Key to Greenleaf's Algebra: Designed for t...)

  • Introduction to the National Arithmetic: On the Inductive System; Combining the Analytic (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Introduction to the National Arithmetic: On ...)

  • Elements of Plane and Spherical Trigonometry; With Practical Applications

    ( About the Book Study Guides are books can be used by st...)

  • A Key to the Intellectual Arithmetic

    ( About the Book Study Guides are books can be used by st...)

  • Mental Arithmetic, Upon the Inductive Plan: For Beginners (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Mental Arithmetic, Upon the Inductive Plan: ...)

  • Indroduction to the National Arithmetic ...

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The National Arithmetic On the Inductive System: Combining the Analytic and Synthetic Mathods, Forming a Complete Course of Higher Arithmetic

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Introduction to the national arithmetic

    (Introduction to the national arithmetic, on the inductive...)

  • A Practical Treatise on Algebra, Designed for the Use of Students in High Schools and Academies

    (A Practical Treatise on Algebra, Designed for the Use of ...)

  • A Key to the Elementary Algebra

    ( About the Book Books about Teaching Methods discuss th...)

  • A Key to the National Arithmetic, Exhibiting the Operation of the More Difficult Questions in That Work; For the Use of the Teacher Only

    (Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part...)

  • New Primary Arithmetic, Embracing Mental and Written Exercises, for Beginners

    (New Primary Arithmetic, Embracing Mental and Written Exer...)

  • Mental Arithmetic Upon the Inductive Plan

    (Mental Arithmetic Upon the Inductive Plan by Benjamin Gre...)

Views

Quotations: “If ever I offered up an earnest prayer, ” he is reported to have said, “it was for rainy days, that I might betake myself to my books”.

Personality

A man of originality and progressive tendencies, Greenleaf also displayed marked peculiarities. He was careless in his dress, and indifferent to the ordinary rules of politeness. Some portion of his body was always in motion, so nervous and restless was he; a fact that gave to his utterances a certain dramatic quality.

He had long black hair which he braided behind into a queue. His discipline, according to a pupil, was “an odd mixture of ridicule, sarcasm, and moral suasion, with a wholesome seasoning of corporal punishment”. When he inflicted the latter it was with whatever instrument was nearest at hand. His essential goodness and ability, however, caused him to be respected and liked, and made him eminently successful as a schoolmaster.

Connections

Benjamin was married, November 20, 1821, to Lucretia Kimball, by whom he had nine children.

Father:

Caleb Greenleaf

Mother:

Susanna (Emerson) Greenleaf

Spouse:

Lucretia Kimball