BIO:William Carey 1761-1834 The father of modern missions. 

   William Carey was born at Northamptonshire, England, and became 
a cobbler at the age of 14. He studied privately on his own, and 
mastered Dutch, French, Greek and Hebrew before he was 20 years of 
age. Two years later, at the age of 22, he joined the Baptist church, 
and began preaching immediately, mostly on the theme of missions. 
He helped organize the English Baptist Missionary Society and was one 
of its first missionaries to India. His services there were remarkable 
for their range and depth. In addition to soul-winning, Carey founded the
Serampore College, and, with the aid of other linguists, he translated
the Bible into 44 languages and dialects. Through his efforts, the
Bible was made available to 300,000,000 people before the American
Civil War. He was also instrumental in developing grammars and
dictionaries in Bengali, Sanskrit, and other native tongues.
