# Caleb Alexander

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**Caleb Alexander**, [D.D.](/source/D.D.) (1755 – April 1828), a native of [Northfield, Massachusetts](/source/Northfield,_Massachusetts), and a graduate of [Yale University](/source/Yale_University) in 1777, was ordained at [New Marlborough, Massachusetts](/source/New_Marlborough,_Massachusetts), in 1781, and dismissed in 1782. He was again settled at [Mendon, Massachusetts](/source/Mendon,_Massachusetts), and dismissed in 1803.

After an ineffectual attempt to establish a college at [Fairfield, New York](/source/Fairfield,_New_York), erecting buildings, which later became part of the [medical school](/source/Fairfield_Academy), he took the charge of the academy at [Onondaga Hollow](/source/Onondaga_Hollow), where he died in April 1828.

He published *An Essay on the Real Deity of Jesus Christ: To which are Added Strictures on Extracts from Mr. Emlyn's Humble Inquiry Concerning the Deity of Jesus Christ*, 1791; a Latin grammar, 1794; an English grammar, and grammatical elements, the *Columbian Dictionary of the English Language* (1800), and *Young Ladies and Gentleman's Instructor.*

Scholar [Peter Martin](/source/Peter_Martin_(professor)) named the *Columbian Dictionary of the English Language* the second US-published dictionary in English. His 550-page dictionary contained many words unique to the United States. Despite advertising "many new words peculiar to the United States", Martin writes that it was largely taken from [Samuel Johnson Jr.](/source/Samuel_Johnson_Jr.)'s American dictionary that had been published two to three years prior. While it was more commercially successful than Johnson and [Noah Webster](/source/Noah_Webster)'s contemporary dictionaries, it faced similar critical criticism; one reviewer described the dictionary as "disgusting collection" of words from "the boors of each local jurisdiction in the United States."[1]

## References

1. Martin, Peter (2020-09-08). [*The Dictionary Wars: The American Fight Over the English Language*](https://books.google.com/books?id=zkjWDwAAQBAJ). Princeton University Press. pp. 29, 46–47, 296. ISBN 978-0-691-21017-9.

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