Samuel Williston (September 24, 1861 – February 18, 1963) was an American lawyer and law professor who authored an influential treatise on contracts.
Contents
Early life, education and family
Williston was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to a family prosperous from the mercantile trade but whose fortunes declined during his youth, which he recalled, "served as a spur to endeavor."
He graduated from Harvard College in 1882 and worked for three years as a survey assistant for a railroad and teaching at a boarding school. An aunt's bequest enabled him to enroll in Harvard Law School, where he thrived. He was an editor of the first volume of the Harvard Law Review, and in 1888 he graduated first in his class with LL.B. and A.M. degrees.
On September 12, 1889, he married Mary Fairlie Wellman, who died in 1929. They had two daughters: Dorothea Lewis Williston (Mrs. Murray F. Hall), and Margaret Fairlie Williston (Mrs. Chester B. McLaughlin, Jr.).