McGuffey, William Holmes (1800-1873), was an American educator and clergyman. From 1836 to 1857, he published illustrated reading books. More than 120 million copies of his Eclectic Readers were sold, and for many years nearly all American schoolchildren learned to read from them. The books did much to form American moral ideas and literary tastes in the 1800’s.
McGuffey was born on Sept. 23, 1800, in Washington County, Pennsylvania. He became a Presbyterian minister in 1829. He taught at Miami University in Ohio and at the University of Virginia. He was president of Ohio University from 1839 to 1845. He died on May 4, 1873.
