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Eugene Schuyler
Eugene Schuyler (February 26, 1840 – July 16, 1890) was a nineteenth-century American scholar, writer, explorer and diplomat. Schuyler was one of the first three Americans to earn a Ph.D. from an American university; and the first American translator of Ivan Turgenev and Leo Tolstoy. He was the first American diplomat to visit Russian Central Asia, and as American Consul General in Istanbul he played a key role in publicizing Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria in 1876 during the April Uprising. He was the first American Minister to Romania and Serbia, and U.S. Minister to Greece.
Schuyler was born in Ithaca, New York, on February 26, 1840. He was the son of Matilda (née Scribner) Schuyler and George W. Schuyler, a drugstore owner in Ithaca, New York, who later was elected New York State Treasurer and served as a member of the New York State Assembly. Schuyler's siblings included Walter S. Schuyler, a U.S. Army brigadier general. His sister Martha was the mother of Major General Walter S. Grant.
His father's ancestors, of Dutch descent, included Philip Schuyler, a general in George Washington's army and a U.S. Senator. His mother was the half-sister of Charles Scribner, the founder of the famous American publishing house.
At the age of fifteen, Schuyler entered Yale College, where he studied languages, literature and philosophy. He graduated with honors in 1859 and was a member of Skull and Bones. In 1861, Schuyler earned a PhD in psychology and philosophy at Yale, and in doing, along with Arthur Williams Wright and James Morris Whiton, became the first Americans to earn the PhD degree from an American university. The topic of his dissertation is up for debate, though one theory is that it was titled "Wedgwood on English Philology," later published in Bibliotheca Sacra in 1862.
In 1860, Schuyler became an assistant to Noah Porter, a prominent linguistician and literary figure, in the revision of Webster's Dictionary, the first dictionary of American English. In 1862, Schuyler began to study law at Yale Law School, and received his law degree, in 1863, from Columbia Law School. He began practicing law in New York, but did not find it very interesting. Instead he began to write, becoming a contributor to The Nation magazine. He continued to write for The Nation until the end of his life.
In September 1863 a Russian naval squadron made a long stay in New York harbor, hoping to escape capture by the British Navy in the event of a war between Britain and Russia over the Polish Uprising of 1863. Schuyler met some of the officers of the Russian flagship, the Alexander Nevsky, which inspired him to study Russian. He learned Russian well enough to translate the novel of Ivan Turgenev, Fathers and Sons, which was published in 1867, the first translation of Turgenev to appear in the United States. The same year Schuyler studied Finnish, and completed the first American translation of the Finnish national epic, Kalevala. The translation had been begun by John Addison Porter, a professor at Yale who died in 1866.
In 1864, Schuyler applied for a diplomatic post in the State Department. The State Department took three years to consider his application, and then offered him the position of consul in Moscow, then the second city of Russia. En route to his post, Schuyler stopped in Baden-Baden to meet Turgenev, who gave him a letter of introduction to Lev Tolstoi. Schuyler began his diplomatic tour in Moscow in August 1867.
In the spring of 1868 he made his first trip to the edge of Central Asia, traveling with a Russian merchant, Vasilii Alekseich, by steamboat down the Volga to Samara, then by carriage to Orenburg, which at the time was the base for Russian military operations The Russians had occupied the Khanate of Bukhara in 1866 and were advancing toward Samarkand. In 1868, Schuyler was a guest of Tolstoi for a week at his estate at Yasnaya Polyana, at the time when Tolstoi was finishing War and Peace. He helped Tolstoi rearrange his library, and went hunting with him. Tolstoi, who was interested in public education in the United States, asked Schuyler for copies of American primers and school textbooks. Schuyler received Tolstoi's permission to translate his novel The Cossacks into English. In 1869, the new Administration of President Ulysses Grant removed Schuyler from his post in Moscow and replaced him with a political appointee. Schuyler was able to obtain a post as consul to the Russian port of Reval (now Tallinn). In November, 1869, President Grant appointed a new Minister to Russia, Andrew Curtin, a former Governor of Pennsylvania who knew nothing of Russia. Curtin was impressed by Schuyler and appointed him as the secretary of the American legation in St. Petersburg, a post which Schuyler held until 1876.[citation needed]
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Eugene Schuyler
Eugene Schuyler (February 26, 1840 – July 16, 1890) was a nineteenth-century American scholar, writer, explorer and diplomat. Schuyler was one of the first three Americans to earn a Ph.D. from an American university; and the first American translator of Ivan Turgenev and Leo Tolstoy. He was the first American diplomat to visit Russian Central Asia, and as American Consul General in Istanbul he played a key role in publicizing Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria in 1876 during the April Uprising. He was the first American Minister to Romania and Serbia, and U.S. Minister to Greece.
Schuyler was born in Ithaca, New York, on February 26, 1840. He was the son of Matilda (née Scribner) Schuyler and George W. Schuyler, a drugstore owner in Ithaca, New York, who later was elected New York State Treasurer and served as a member of the New York State Assembly. Schuyler's siblings included Walter S. Schuyler, a U.S. Army brigadier general. His sister Martha was the mother of Major General Walter S. Grant.
His father's ancestors, of Dutch descent, included Philip Schuyler, a general in George Washington's army and a U.S. Senator. His mother was the half-sister of Charles Scribner, the founder of the famous American publishing house.
At the age of fifteen, Schuyler entered Yale College, where he studied languages, literature and philosophy. He graduated with honors in 1859 and was a member of Skull and Bones. In 1861, Schuyler earned a PhD in psychology and philosophy at Yale, and in doing, along with Arthur Williams Wright and James Morris Whiton, became the first Americans to earn the PhD degree from an American university. The topic of his dissertation is up for debate, though one theory is that it was titled "Wedgwood on English Philology," later published in Bibliotheca Sacra in 1862.
In 1860, Schuyler became an assistant to Noah Porter, a prominent linguistician and literary figure, in the revision of Webster's Dictionary, the first dictionary of American English. In 1862, Schuyler began to study law at Yale Law School, and received his law degree, in 1863, from Columbia Law School. He began practicing law in New York, but did not find it very interesting. Instead he began to write, becoming a contributor to The Nation magazine. He continued to write for The Nation until the end of his life.
In September 1863 a Russian naval squadron made a long stay in New York harbor, hoping to escape capture by the British Navy in the event of a war between Britain and Russia over the Polish Uprising of 1863. Schuyler met some of the officers of the Russian flagship, the Alexander Nevsky, which inspired him to study Russian. He learned Russian well enough to translate the novel of Ivan Turgenev, Fathers and Sons, which was published in 1867, the first translation of Turgenev to appear in the United States. The same year Schuyler studied Finnish, and completed the first American translation of the Finnish national epic, Kalevala. The translation had been begun by John Addison Porter, a professor at Yale who died in 1866.
In 1864, Schuyler applied for a diplomatic post in the State Department. The State Department took three years to consider his application, and then offered him the position of consul in Moscow, then the second city of Russia. En route to his post, Schuyler stopped in Baden-Baden to meet Turgenev, who gave him a letter of introduction to Lev Tolstoi. Schuyler began his diplomatic tour in Moscow in August 1867.
In the spring of 1868 he made his first trip to the edge of Central Asia, traveling with a Russian merchant, Vasilii Alekseich, by steamboat down the Volga to Samara, then by carriage to Orenburg, which at the time was the base for Russian military operations The Russians had occupied the Khanate of Bukhara in 1866 and were advancing toward Samarkand. In 1868, Schuyler was a guest of Tolstoi for a week at his estate at Yasnaya Polyana, at the time when Tolstoi was finishing War and Peace. He helped Tolstoi rearrange his library, and went hunting with him. Tolstoi, who was interested in public education in the United States, asked Schuyler for copies of American primers and school textbooks. Schuyler received Tolstoi's permission to translate his novel The Cossacks into English. In 1869, the new Administration of President Ulysses Grant removed Schuyler from his post in Moscow and replaced him with a political appointee. Schuyler was able to obtain a post as consul to the Russian port of Reval (now Tallinn). In November, 1869, President Grant appointed a new Minister to Russia, Andrew Curtin, a former Governor of Pennsylvania who knew nothing of Russia. Curtin was impressed by Schuyler and appointed him as the secretary of the American legation in St. Petersburg, a post which Schuyler held until 1876.[citation needed]