Homer, William Bradford

Homer, William Bradford A Congregational minister, was born in Boston Jan. 31, 1817. He was educated at Amherst College, from which he graduated in 1836, and immediately entered on a course of theological study at Andover. While in the middle year of his course he declined the offer of a tutorship in Amherst College. He was ordained pastor of South Berwick, Me., Nov. 11, 1840, where he died, March 22, 1841. The remarkable development of Homer's intellect was a matter of great surprise to all of his instructors. When only eleven years old he was already thoroughly conversant with the Latin, the Modern Greek, and French languages. The last two he is said to have spoken with fluency. At Andover he closed the exercises of his class by an essay so scholarly in its bearings that he was requested to publish it.

An oration of his, delivered on leaving the president's chair of the Porter Rhetorical Society of the Theological Seminary, was also printed. His "writings" have been published, with an Introductory Essay and a Memoir, by Prof. Edward A. Park, of Andover Theological Seminary (2nd ed. Boston, 1849, 8vo). See also the Christian Review (May, 1849). — Sprague, Annals, 2. 753 sq.