The Village Reader: Designed for the Use of Schools
(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.
Charles Merriam descended from Joseph Merriam who came to America in 1638, settling near Concord, Massachusetts. He was born on November 31, 1806, at West Brookfield, Massachusetts, and was the second of nine children of Dan and Thirza (Clapp) Merriam. In 1797 his father and uncle founded a newspaper in that village and under the firm name of E. Merriam & Company continued until 1823 to do miscellaneous printing and publishing. Among their books were several editions of William Perry's Royal Standard English Dictionary (1801, 1806, 1809), and thus the Merriam name was associated with the publication of dictionaries from an early date.
Education
During his boyhood, Charles attended district school and worked on his father's farm. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a printer in Hartford, Connecticut, where he remained until the death of his father in 1823. After completing his apprenticeship in the shop now conducted by his uncle and his elder brother, George (January 19, 1803 - June 22, 1880), he spent a year in the academies at Monson and Hadley, taught school through the next winter, worked in Philadelphia for a few months, and then for several years in Boston as journeyman and foreman in the well-known printing shop of T. R. Marvin.
Career
On the receipt of an invitation from Rev. Samuel Osgood to come to Springfield and start a newspaper, Merriam left Boston, and with his brother George went to Springfield to look over the prospects. The time did not seem to be propitious for a newspaper, but the two brothers with another relative established a printing house and bookshop in 1831, which in 1832 became G. & C. Merriam. A third brother, Homer, became a member of the firm in 1856. Although all three brothers connected with the firm as partners were exceptionally capable, Charles appears to have had the greatest literary bent. In the early days he was in charge of the bookstore, and in later years concerned himself with the publishing end of the work, even trying his hand at writing verse. The firm was successful from the start, but its great fortune came after the death of Noah Webster in 1843, when it purchased from J. S. & C. Adams of Amherst the unsold copies of Webster's two-volume American Dictionary of the English Language and the right to publish it in the future. Securing the editorial services of Dr. Chauncey Allen Goodrich of Yale, Webster's son-in-law, the Merriams had the book revised along more conservative lines, printed it in one volume, and reduced the price to six dollars. Extensive advertising and large sales of the Unabridged helped promote the sales of the various abridged editions and the firm quickly bought up the rights of these also. Charles Merriam himself read the complete proof of one edition. The firm also published school books, law books, Bibles, and other volumes, but the business connected with the dictionary became so great that they eventually withdrew from their bookstore and general printing. Charles retired from active participation in the firm at the age of seventy and sold his interest in the business in 1877. Although his main interest was in the publishing venture, he was also a director of the Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance Company and of the old Springfield Bank. When the government of the city of Springfield was organized in 1852, he was a member of the Common Council.
(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
Religion
An ardent and strictly orthodox Congregationalist, Merriam taught a Bible class for many years and was one of the founders in 1842 of the South Church of Springfield. He gave liberally to the church and church institutions, particularly to home and foreign missions.
Views
In the Springfield library Merriam took a lively interest, serving as one of the first members of the association and using his best efforts to establish a free system.
Membership
a member of the Common Council
Personality
Merriam was a man of intense and unremitting industry, of unassuming demeanor, and of simple and scholarly tastes.
For his native town of West Brookfield Merriam built a public library and endowed it.
Connections
Merriam was married twice: on August 11, 1835, to Sophia Eleanor Warriner, who died April 26, 1858; and on May 8, 1860, at Detroit, Michigan, to Rachel White (Capen) Gray, a widow. By his first marriage he had three daughters and two sons, one of whom died in infancy; by his second marriage he had one daughter.