ELDER. ELLIS. 199 He has written much for magazines and the general press. He possesses a pure taste for lyric poetry, and has written many hymns that appear in the Hymnal of the M. E. church, besides fugitive poems prepared for literary and festive occasions. Mr. Ela was married in Lowell, April 20, 1S58, to Louisa 1!., daughter of William and Naomi (Smith) Sargent. Of this union were five children : Paul Francis, Clara Louisa, Grace Ednah, Emma Torsey and Elizabeth Ela — the two latter deceased. Mr. Ela is a clergyman widely known and respected outside the confines of his own denomination — a man of original thought, pleasing address, one calculated to build up and unify the various interests of the society over which he is placed. ELDER, SAMUEL JAMES, son of James and Deborah 1). (Keene) Elder, was born in Hopeville, R. I., January 4, 1850. His early educational advantages were the public schools of Lawrence, Mass., where he fitted for college, and he gradu- ated from Yale in the class of 1873. He studied law with John H. Hardy, now associate justice of the municipal court of the city of Boston. He was admitted to the bar and began practice in 1875, in Boston, where he still remains actively engaged in his profession. Though employed in general practice, he has given especial attention to copy- right law, and was selected by the Inter- national Copyright League to act with it before the United States Senate on the international copyright bill. Mr. Elder was married at Hastings- upon-Hudson, N. Y., May 10, 1876, to Lilla, daughter of Cornelius W. and Mar- garet J. (Wyckoff) Thomas. Of this union are two children : Margaret M. and Fanny A. Elder. Mr. Elder was representative to the lower branch of the General Court in 18S5, from the 14th Middlesex district (Win- chester and Arlington), but declined re- election. He has been treasurer of two manufacturing corporations for several years. He is a member of William Park- man Lodge, F. & A. M., Winchester, where he has resided since 1877. ELIOT, Charles William, son of Samuel Atkins and Mary (Lyman) Eliot, was born in Boston, March 20, 1834. He was prepared for college at the Boston public Latin school ; entered Har- vard College and was graduated there- from in the class of 1S53. In 1854 he was appointed tutor in mathematics, and continued the study of chemistry under Prof. J. P. Cooke. In 1858 he was promoted to be assistant professor of mathematics and chemistry, and in 1S61 was placed in charge of the chemical department of the Lawrence scientific school. For two years, during 1863, '64 and '65 he studied chemistry in Europe, and spent some time in examining the systems of public instruction in France, Germany and England. In 1865 he was appointed pro- fessor of analytical chemistry in the Mas- sachusetts Institute of Technology. In i867-'68 he was again in Europe for a year. Professor Eliot was called to the presi- dency of Harvard University, May 19, 1869, which office he still holds. He was first married in Boston, October 27, 1858, to Ellen Derby, daughter of Ephraim and Mary Jane (Derby) Peabody. Of this union were four children, of whom two survive : Charles and Samuel Atkms Eliot. His second marriage was with Grace Mellen Hopkinson of Cambridge, October 30, 1877. Miss Hopkinson was the daughter of Thomas and Corinna Aldrich (Prentiss) Hopkinson. During President Eliot's administration, the elective system has supplanted the old- fashioned prescribed curriculum, and Har- vard has come to resemble in its methods the great European universities. It has doubled in number of teachers and stu- dents, and more than trebled in wealth. President Eliot received the degree of LL. D. from Williams and Princeton in 1S69, and from Yale in 1870. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the American Philosophical Society, and a member of many literary and scientific bodies. His public addresses are noted for terseness and strength. Be- sides chemical memoirs, essays on educa- tional topics and economic questions of the hour, and his annual reports as presi- dent of Harvard, he has written two text- books on chemistry. President Eliot is an independent thinker and an efficient executive officer. While not inclined to mingle in party politics, he is an outspoken defender of civil service reform and of the theory of free trade as against protection. ELLIS, George Edward, son of Da- vid and Sarah (Rogers) Ellis, was born in Boston, August 8, 1814. He was graduated at Harvard in 1833, and at the divinity school in 1836, and after study and travel in Europe, was or-
