William Woodbridge (educator)

William Woodbridge (September 14, 1755 – March 27, 1836) was an American educator and the first preceptor of Phillips Exeter Academy. He was especially interested in female education.[1]

William Woodbridge
1st Preceptor of Phillips Exeter Academy
In office 1783–1788
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Benjamin Abbot
Personal details
Born	September 14, 1755 Glastonbury, Connecticut, British America
Died	March 27, 1836 Franklin, Connecticut, U.S.
Alma mater	Yale University

William Woodbridge was born in Glastonbury, Connecticut to British immigrants on September 14, 1755.[2] He worked on his father's farm until he resolved to join the ministry at the age of 21, and entering school which he paid for by working and teaching in his spare time. During his senior year in college, he taught a young ladies school for three months in New Haven County, Connecticut.[1] After graduating from Yale College in 1780, he went on to make a living as a teacher, though he was also qualified to be a minister. In 1783, he was chosen to be the first preceptor of the newly created Phillips Exeter Academy.[2] In 1789 he opened and became principal of a female academy in Medford, Massachusetts which was the first Female Seminary in New England, where he worked for seven years. In 1799 he was president of an association for the improvement of common schools in Middletown, Connecticut. In November 1835, he took charge of a school for girls in Franklin, Connecticut.[1]

Over his lifetime, he authored textbooks on grammar and writing, and following his time at Exeter, contributed to the Annals of Education, a journal owned by his son.[2] He also contributed to the Juvenile Rambler, a children's paper published in Boston, and wrote a book for children entitled The Dead Bird.[1]

He married first in 1784 to Elizabeth Brooks, with whom he had twin daughters.[3] Elizabeth died at age 27 in December 1787.[4] He then married Ann Channing with whom he had a son, William Channing Woodbridge, a geographer, educational reformer, and textbook author.[2][3] He then married Sarah Stiles, and finally Abigail (Wolcott) Butler.[3] He died February 27, 1836, in Franklin, Connecticut of apoplexy.[1]

References

1. Mortuary Notice, Boston Recorder (Boston, Massachusetts), Friday, March 11, 1836, Volume: XXI, Issue: 11, Page: 43
2. Bell, Charles Henry (1883). Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire: A Historical Sketch. W. B. Morrill, printer. p. 50. William Woodbridge exeter.
3. White, James Terry. The national cyclopaedia of American biography. JT White, 1900, p104
4. Mortuary Notice, Massachusetts Gazette (Boston, Massachusetts), Friday, December 7, 1787, Volume: VII, Issue: 389, Page: 3