Background
Samuel Greene Wheeler Benjamin was born on February 13, 1837, in at Argos, Greece. He was the son of Nathan B., American missionary, and Mary Gladding (Wheeler), poetical writer.
880 Main St, Williamstown, MA 01267, United States
Benjamin studied at Williams College, and in 1859, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Samuel Greene Wheeler Benjamin was born on February 13, 1837, in at Argos, Greece. He was the son of Nathan B., American missionary, and Mary Gladding (Wheeler), poetical writer.
Benjamin studied at Williams College, and in 1859, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree.
In 1861 Samuel Greene Wheeler Benjamin settled into a position as a librarian in New York State. During this period, Benjamin also wrote articles for various journals and papers, and he published a volume of poems called Constantinople, the Isle of Pearls, and Other Poems (1860) - but he seems to have suffered from a sort of land-locked despair. He finally resigned his post after a three-month attack of nervous prostration; from that time forward, Benjamin stayed in motion.
In order to continue to support his family while traveling, Benjamin published accounts of his adventures. Toward the end of Benjamin’s career, in 1883, he was appointed the first minister to Persia (later Iran) by President Chester A. Arthur. Even after Benjamin returned from his post, he continued to write about Persia for the curious public. Two of his best-selling volumes, Persia and the Persians (1886) and The Story of Persia (1887), drew on his experiences as a diplomat.
Following this stay in Persia, Benjamin finally headed ashore to live in Burlington, Vermont. Nevertheless, he kept busy by writing about his travels in articles and memoirs, recreating for himself the sea he loved. Benjamin continued to write until his death in 1914.
Quotations: “If I have failed of achieving the position which can be reached generally only by concentration of effort, on the other hand I have touched life at more points.”
Mr Benjamin was Vice President of the Society of American Authors, a Member of the Sons of the Revolution, a Member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Member of Boston Art Club, The American Free Art Society, The American Forestry Association, The Society of Colonial Wars and the Navy League of the United States.
Benjamin’s early life was spent on the move from one exotic city to another. For the most part, Benjamin seems to have learned from looking and listening: he sketched ruins, talked to old sailors, poked through libraries and museums, and asked a lot of questions.
Moreover, he learned numerous languages early on, including Armenian, Turkish, modern and ancient Greek, Latin, and some French. But he particularly enjoyed life on the water; in his autobiography, The Life and Adventures of a Free Lance, Being the Observations of S. G. W. Benjamin (1914), he recalls his delight at a voyage to the States in which he witnessed icebergs and the Straits of Gibraltar.
Benjamin was an able painter, and he was able to exhibit and sell much of his work in the 1870s.
Benjamin’s books and his travels provided many readers with an exhilarating impression of the sea-faring life - the life Benjamin enjoyed throughout his career.
Quotes from others about the person
“Benjamin worked as a journalist to support his need for travel; he remarks in his autobiography that he lacked an ambitious nature and never desired fame. Benjamin’s best artistic endeavor was life itself.” - Taimi Olsen
“Benjamin's autobiography may prove worth reexamination simply as the source of information about an adventurous man. Despite hasty organization and occasional dull reminiscences of famous people, Benjamin conveys the excitement of his travels very well. His prose manages to translate events and places with a remarkable sense of immediacy.” - Taimi Olsen
Benjamin married Clara Stowed in 1861, but she died, in about 1880. Then he married Fannie Nichols Weed, on November, 1882.
From his first marriage Benjamin had one daughter, as well as from the second.