William M. Thomson (1806–1894) was educated at Miami University and Princeton Theological Seminary. He began missionary work in Beirut, Syria, in 1833. In 1835 he opened a school, a church, and a seminary for boys. In 1843, the school was moved to the village of Abeih in Mount Lebanon for safety, and he resumed teaching, preaching, and making extended missionary tours in Syria and Palestine despite the dangers they entailed. He took a two-year respite in the United States and then returned to Beirut in 1859, where he remained for the next 17 years. His actual connection with the mission in Syria covered a period of 43 years and 5 months.