Missionary, born at New Providence, NJ, on the 19th of November 1810. He graduated at Amherst College, MA, in 1829, and at Andover Seminary in 1832. While here he prepared some Chaldee textbooks. He was then sent by the American Board of Missions to Greece, and in 1838 transferred his work to Smyrna. In 1853 he removed to Constantinople, where he remained, except when visiting the United States in the interest of his work. In 1857 he came to New York to have his translation of the Bible into the modern Armenian language stereotyped, and during his stay taught Hebrew in the Union Theological Seminary. He translated the Bible also into the Bulgarian language and prepared a Bible Dictionary and Harmony of the Gospels in that language. The translation of the Bible into modern Turkish, having been thoroughly revised by a committee of which he was a member, was issued in 1886. Dr. Riggs has also prepared grammatical works on the Armenian, Turkish, and Bulgarian languages, and published tracts and hymns in those tongues. He also published suggestions of emendations for the English Old Testament (1873) and modifications of the revised version of the New Testament (1883).
