Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/346

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ELIOT
ELIOT

in the Lenox library. “Indian Logick Primer” (Cambridge, 1672), in the library of the British museum. “The Harmony of the Gospels” (Boston, 1678), in the Lenox library. “Brief Answer to a Book by John Norcot against Infant Baptism” (Boston, 1679). The copy in the Lenox library is the only one known. “Dying Speeches of Several Indians” (Cambridge, about 1680). But one copy is known, which is in the Lenox library. Many of these have been reprinted separately, in the collections of the Massachusetts historical society and elsewhere. —His grandson, Jared, b. in Guilford, Conn., 7 Nov., 1685; d. in Killingworth (now Clinton), Conn., 22 April, 1763, was the son of Rev. Joseph Eliot, who was graduated at Harvard in 1658. Immediately after his graduation at Yale in 1706, Jared was appointed school-master of his native town, and numbered among his pupils Samuel Johnson, first president of Kings (now Columbia) college. In March, 1707, he accepted a call from the church at Killingworth, to become the successor of Rector Abraham Pierson, whose favorite pupil he had been while at Yale. He retained this charge till his death, and while discharging in full measure the duties of his office he found time to make himself eminently useful and famous as a physician, an agriculturist, a scientific investigator, and an author. In 1747 he writes in the preface to his “Essays upon Field Husbandry”: “Having spent more than Thirty years in a Business that required a great deal of Travel, altho' it did not much hinder Reading and Study, it gave me an opportunity to see much of the Country, of making many Observations, and of being acquainted with very many Persons of Worth and Ingenuity, both Farmers and Others.” This manner of life brought him into intimate relations with Benjamin Franklin, and others who at that early day took delight in scientific pursuits. Franklin writes to him in 1755: “I remember with Pleasure the cheerful hours I enjoyed last winter in your Company, and would with all my heart give any ten of the thick old Folios that stand on the shelves before me for a little book of the stories you then told with so much propriety and humor.” In Sparks's edition of Franklin's works are eleven letters to Mr. Eliot. His high standing as a clergyman is attested by the fact that he was several times moderator at the meetings of the General association of Connecticut. As a physician, his ability gave him the highest rank. Not only in his own but in neighboring colonies, his skill was frequently in demand, some of his medical pupils afterward becoming distinguished physicians. He received the degree of A. M. from Harvard in 1709; he was elected a trustee of Yale in 1730, in which capacity he rendered valuable services to that college during life, besides making himself in his will the first contributor to its library fund, and in 1756 or 1757 was unanimously chosen a fellow of the Royal society, London. His publications include sermons entitled “The Right Hand of Fellowship” (Boston, 1780); “Religion Supported by Reason and Divine Revelation” (New London, 1736); “Give Cæsar his Due” (New London, 1738); “The Blessings Bestowed on Them that Fear God” (New London, 1739); “God's Marvellous Kindness,” preached on the occasion of a general thanksgiving to commemorate the capture of the city of Louisbourg (New London, 1745); “Repeated Bereavements Considered and Improved ” (New London, 1748); and “A Discourse on the Death of Rev. William Worthington ” (New Haven, 1757); “An Essay upon Field Husbandry in New England” (Boston, 1760); and an “Essay on the Invention or Art of Making Very Good, if not the Best, Iron from Black Sea-Sand” (New York, 1762). The accompanying illustration is a copy of a medal awarded to the Rev. Jared Eliot in 1762, by the London Institute, “for producing malleable iron from the American black sand.”


ELIOT, Samuel Atkins, mayor of Boston, b. in Boston, Mass., 5 March, 1798; d. in Cambridge, Mass., 29 Jan., 1862. He was graduated at Harvard in 1817, became a merchant in Boston, served several terms in the state legislature, and was mayor of the city in 1837-'9. During his administration a riot took place, caused by a collision between a volunteer fire company and an Irish funeral procession. The disturbance was suppressed by the promptness of Mayor Eliot, who was on the ground at the first alarm, and immediately took measures for calling out the militia. The result of this affair was the establishment of a paid fire department and a day police. Mayor Eliot was elected to congress as a whig, to fill the vacancy caused by the appointment of Robert C. Winthrop to the U. S. senate, and served from 22 Aug., 1850, till 3 March, 1851. He was treasurer of Harvard college in 1842-'53. He published a “Sketch of the History of Harvard College and of its Present State” (Boston, 1848), and edited selections from the sermons of Dr. Francis W. P. Greenwood, with a memoir (2 vols., Boston, 1844). —

His son, Charles William, educator, b. in Boston, Mass., 20 March, 1834, was fitted for college at the Boston Latin-school, and was graduated at Harvard in 1853. In the following year he was appointed tutor in mathematics, and studied chemistry with Prof. Josiah P. Cooke. In 1858 he was made assistant professor of mathematics and chemistry, but in 1861 was relieved of his work in the mathematical department, and taught chemistry in Lawrence scientific school. In 1863 he went to Europe and spent two years in the study of chemistry and in the examination of the systems of public instruction in France, Germany, and England; and on his return in 1865 was appointed professor of analytical chemistry in the Massachusetts institute of technology. In that year an important revolution occurred in the government of Harvard university. The board