Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/343

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ward vetoed by the governor, to establish in Massachusetts a society for propagating the gospel among the Indians, similar to that in London, of which he was a member. He took an active part in upholding the Congregational system against the Episcopalians, and published occasional discourses and a volume of sermons (1774). He also sent to a friend in England, in 1768, an account of the effects of the dispute between the colonies and the mother country, which was praised for its candor and moderation. — His son, John, clergyman, b. in Boston, Mass., 31 May. 1754; d. there, 14 Feb., 1813, was graduated at Harvard in 1772, began to preach in 1776, and was for a short time chaplain of a Boston regiment. On 3 Nov., 1779, he was ordained as his father's successor in the pastorate of the New north church, where he remained until his death. Pie received the degree of D. D. from Edinburgh university in 1797, and was chosen a member of the Harvard corporation in 1804. Dr. Eliot was intimately associated with Jeremy Belknap in the formation of the Massachusetts historical society, and was a principal contributor to its collections and to its library of rare books. Besides numerous articles in the Historical society's collections, and various sermons, he published a "Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Characters in New England " (Salem and Boston, 1809). — Another son, Ephraim, was graduated at Harvard in 1780. and became a druggist in Boston. He published "Historical Notices of the New North Religious Society. with Anecdotes of Rev. Andrew Eliot and John Eliot" (1822).


ELIOT, Charles, author, b. in Boston in 1791; d. in 1813. He was graduated at Harvard in 1809, and studied divinity, but gave up preaching on account of failing health. His first writings appeared in the "General Repository," a Boston periodical, and he was specially interested in the preparation of Scheusner's "Lexicon." His " Miscellaneous ' Writings " were edited by Andrews Anton (Cambridge, 1814). — Charles's nephew, Samuel, author, b. in Boston. Mass., 22 Dec, 1821, was graduated at Harvard in 1839, spent two years in a Boston counting-house, and four years in foreign travel and study. On his return he took private pupils, organized a charity-school for vagrant children, and instructed classes of young working-men gratuitously. He was professor of history and political science in Trinity college, Hartford, Conn., in 1856-'64, its president in 1860-'4, and lecturer on constitutional law and political science in 1864-'74. He also lectured at Harvard in 1870-'3, was head master of the girls' high-school in Boston in 1872-'6, and superintendent of Boston public schools in 1878-'80. He was an overseer of Harvard in 1866-72, and in 1868-'72 was president of the American social science association, by which the first movement in favor of civil service reform was organized in 1869. He became a member of the Boston school committee in 1885, and is president of various charitable and educational institutions. Columbia gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1863, and Harvard in 1880. He has published "Passages from the History of Liberty" (Boston, 1847), and "The Liberty of Rome " (2 vols., New York, 1849 ; revised ed., entitled "The Ancient Romans " Boston, 1853). This forms Part I. of a "History of Liberty," of which Part II. is entitled "The Early Christians " (2 vols., 1853). The plan of the work embraces five parts, of which the three remaining are to treat of the "Papal Ages," the "Monarchical Ages," and the "American Nation." Dr. Eliot has also published a " Manual of United States History between the Years 1792 and 1850" (Boston, 1856 ; revised ed., 1873); three volumes of selections for public schools, entitled ' Poetry for Children "(1879); "Stories from the Arabian Nights" (1879) ; and "Selections from American Authors " (New York, 1879) ; and many reviews, essays, and addresses, issued in pamphlet form.


ELIOT, John, first styled “the Indian apostle” by Thomas Thorowgood in 1660, a designation so appropriate that it has secured universal and perpetual acceptance, b. probably in Widford, Hertfordshire, England, as there is a record of his baptism in that parish on 5 Aug., 1604; d. in Roxbury, Mass., 21 May, 1690. His father, Bennett, a yeoman, was a landholder in the parishes of Ware, Widford, Hunsdon, and Estweeke, in the county of Hertford, and elsewhere, and he bequeaths in his will, made 5 Nov., 1621, the profits of these lands, to the amount of 8 annually, to “Trusty and well-beloved friends,” for the maintenance of his son John in the University of Cambridge, “where he is a Schollar.” He had matriculated as a “pensioner” (i. e., one who pays his own expenses) at Jesus college, 20 March, 1619, and the degree of A. B. was conferred upon him in 1622. The only record of his life during the next nine years is that he was employed as a teacher in a grammar-school at Little Baddow, near Chelmsford, England, established by the Rev. Thomas Hooker, the illustrious pastor of the church that, first established at Cambridge, Mass., was removed to Hartford, Conn. In Anderson's “History of the Colonial Church” (London, 1856) is the following statement respecting Mr. Eliot: “That he had entered into holy orders in the Church of England before he left home is evident from the insertion of his name in the list given by Neal of the emigrant clergy.” The Church of England was then dealing rigorously with those who did not conform to her doctrines and ordinances. Imprisonment awaited those who were bold in their opposition, and many hastened to the New World as a refuge from persecution. John Eliot landed at Boston, Mass., 4 Nov., 1631. Three brothers and three sisters accompanied him, or came a few years later. In his record he writes, “ he adjoyned to the church at Boston, and there exercised, in the absens of Mr. Wilson, the pastor of yt church, who was gone back to England.” His labors gave the greatest satisfaction, as is evident from a passage in his record: “ The next summer Mr. Wilson returned, and by yt time the church at Boston was intended to call him to office.” But, he says, he was “foreingaiged” to friends who had crossed the ocean and settled at Roxbury. The record of Gov. Winthrop is: “Though Boston laboured all they could, both with the congregation of Roxbury and with Mr. Eliot himself, alleging their want of him and the covenant between them, etc., yet he could not be diverted from accepting the call of Roxbury.” Here he became the “teacher” of the church, with which he retained a life-long connection, having Mr. Weld,