Samuel Williams (minister)

Working as a priest in Bradford, Massachusetts, he continued his astronomic and scientific inquiries and regularly featured in the Salem newspaper. In 1780 he dedicated himself full time to scientific pursuits, trading his pastorate in Bradford for a post as Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard. His teaching was commemorated by the likes of John Quincy Adams, a pupil of his, and his papers were published by the APS and American Academy of Arts and Sciences.^[3]

Like many of his contemporaries, his writing and lectures spanned various fields and topics, ranging from astronomy, heat, electricity, air, magnetism, earthquakes, eclipses, and weather phenomenon. He earned honorary LL.D. degrees from Yale and Edinburgh, and election to the Meteorological Society of Manheim. Despite such high honors, Williams’ career came crashing down when he was accused of mishandling funds, spending too much money on his wife, and worst of all, forgery. This caused him to leave Harvard in 1788, and, now an outcast, he resigned to the village of Rutland in Vermont. He took up priestly duties once again, only returning to academia to give lectures at the University of Vermont. Meanwhile, he also founded and edited the Rutland Herald, continued his activity with the APS, published his sermons, and documented the landscape and history of Vermont.^[4][3]

He died of a brief illness in his home in Rutland, Vermont. He is buried at the North Main Street Cemetery.^[5]