Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Noyes, George Rapall

NOYES, George Rapall, clergyman, b. in Newburyport, Mass., 6 March, 1798; d. in Cambridge, Mass., 3 June. 1868 He was graduated at Harvard in 1818, studied divinity there, was licensed to preach in 1822, served as tutor in 1823-'7, and in the latter year was ordained pastor of the 1st Unitarian society of Petersham, Mass. From 1840 until his death he was professor of Hebrew literature and other oriental languages, and lecturer on biblical literature at Harvard, where he received the degree of D. D. in 1839. Dr. Noyes was an eminent Greek and Hebrew scholar, and proficient in sacred literature. He devoted many years to the translation of the Old and New Testaments, to which he added copious notes. His works, which are chiefly in the department of Hebrew philology, are “An Amended Version of the Book of Job” (Cambridge, 1827; 2d ed., Boston, 1838); “The Psalms” (1827); “The Prophets” (1843; 3d ed., 2 vols., 1866); “Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Canticles” (1846); “Theological Essays, Selected from Various Authors” (1856); and “New Translation of the Old Testament,” published after his death (1869). — His son, Stephen Butterick, librarian, b. in Brookfield, Mass., 28 Aug., 1833; d. in Deland, Fla., 8 March, 1885, was graduated at Harvard in 1853, removed to Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1857, and was in charge of the Athenaeum library, out of which grew the Mercantile library, and subsequently the Brooklyn library. He was congressional librarian in Washington. D. C., in 1866-'8, but in the next year returned to his post at the Brooklyn library, where he labored for ten years in the preparation of its catalogue (1881). This work is unrivalled in its system of cross-reference, and is used in other libraries as well as in that for which it was prepared. During his occupation of the office of librarian the Brooklyn library grew from 3,000 to 83,000 volumes.