Force of will, force of mind, force of character; these were the three predominant qualities in Ebenezer Webster.

His life forms the necessary introduction to that of his celebrated son, and it is well worth study, because we can learn from it how much that son got from a father so finely endowed, and how far he profited by such a rich inheritance.
By his first wife, Ebenezer Webster had five children.

By his second wife, Abigail Eastman, a woman of good sturdy New Hampshire stock, he had likewise five.

Of these, the second son and fourth child was born on the eighteenth of January, 1782, and was christened Daniel.

The infant was a delicate and rather sickly little being.