Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/437

 ELIOT

ELIOT

eleven hundred converts. His missionaiy district extended from the Meri-iinack river to Martha's Vineyard, and from the coast west to the Connect- icut river. His visits were violently opposed by the sachems, who were fearful of losing their authority and they threatened him with every evil if he did not desist from his labors. In spite of this opposition he continued his fortnightly pilgrimages and made his long journeys on foot in all conditions of the weather, without neglecting his home parish. In the Indian revolt of 1675 which threatened to exterminate the white set- tlers, the disciples of Eliot were loyal to their teacher and the religion he taught. The " pray- ing Indians " saved the colonists from extinction, at the expense of their own people and villages. When the war ended ruin stared them in the face, and after Eliot's death they gradually became ex- tinct. When he had reached the age of four- score years he desired to be liberated from his office as pastor of the church at Roxbury, and he gave his last years to teaching negro servants and Indian youths at his home. He gave by deed in 1689 about seventy- five acres of land for " the maintenance, support and encouragement of a school and schoolmaster at that part of Roxbury commonly called Jamaica, or Pond Plain, for teaching and instructing the children of that end of the town, together with such Indians and negroes as shall or may come to the said school, etc. ' ' His practice was to devote most of his sal- ary to the needy Indians. Previous to his leav- ing England he betrothed himself to Hanna Mumford, sometimes written in the church docu- ments Ann Mountfort, who followed him to New England and their marriage took place at Roxbury, Sept. 4, 1632. Of their six children^, five sons and a daughter, only one, the Rev. Joseph Eliot of Guilford, Conn., Harvard, 1658, survived his parents, and from him descended all of John Eliofs posterity. His monimients in the vicinity of Boston in 1899 were : The Eliot school, Jamaica Plain, and the Latin school, Roxbury, both founded by him ; the Eliot monument in the In- dian burying ground at South Natick, and the Eliot oak, under which he preached at that place ; a granite watering trough, at Ponkapoag, Canton, Mass. ; a memorial structure on the supjaosed site of Waaubon's wigwam on Nonantum hill, New- ton, Mass. ; the grave of John Eliot in Eustis street burying ground, and the First church, Roxbury, on the site of Eliot's church. The first book printed in the British colonies in America was the " Bay Psalm-Book " with the following quaint title: "The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre. Whereunto is prefixed a discourse declaring not only the law- fulhiess, but also the necessity of heavenlj^ Ordi- nance of singing Scripture psalmes in the churches

of God. Coll. in. Let the word of God dwell plenteously in you, in all wisdome, teaching and exhorting one another in Psalmes, Himnes and Spiritual Songs, singing to the Lord with Grace in your hearts. James V. If any be afflicted let him pray, if any be merry, let him sing psalmes. Imprinted 1640." The book was translated from, the Hebrew into metric English by Jolm Eliot, Thomas Weld and Richard Mather. It was re- printed in 1647 and again in 1651, and extensively used in New England and in England and Scot- land. A limited edition of fifty-six copies was reprinted in Cambridge in 1862. A copy of the original edition in the Lenox library. New York, was purchased for $1200. His catechism, proba- bly the first book in the Indian language, was printed at Cambridge in 1653 or 1654, and another edition was printed in 1662. The books of Gene- sis and Matthew were printed in the Indian lan- guage in 1665, and a translation of a few of the Psalms in metre in 1658. The New Testament was printed in the Indian language at Cambridge in 1661. There were other portions of both the Old and New Testaments and the Psalms in metre printed about this time and subsequently. His published books in the English language include: The Christian Comma nivealth (London, 1659) ; Tlie Communion of Churches (Cambridge, 1665) ; Indian Dialogues (Cambridge, 1671) ; Indian Lofjick Primer (Cambridge, 1672) ; The Harmony of the Gospels (Boston, 1678) ; Brief Ansiner to a Book by John Norcot Against Infant Baptism (Boston, 1679) ; Dy- ing Speeches of Several Indians (Cambridge, about . 1680). Many of these have been reprinted sepa- rately in the collections of the Massachusetts His- torical Society and elsewhere. His wife died in 1687, and on May 21, 1690, John Eliot, the apostle to the Indians, "calmly fell asleep" in the eighty-sixth year of his age.

ELIOT, Samuel, merchant, was born in Bos- ton, Mass., in 1739; son of Samuel Eliot, a book- seller ; grandson of Andrew and Ruth (Symonds) Eliot, and nephew of Andrew Eliot, clergv-man. He was a merchant in Boston and acquired a fortune amounting to nearly §1,000,000. For sev- eral years he was president of the Massachusetts bank. He was married to Catherine Atkins of Boston. Two of his daughters were married, respectively, to Professors Andrews Norton and George Ticknor of Harvard in 1814. Mr. Eliot presented anonymously to Harvard §20,000 to found a professorship of Greek literature. The name of the donor was not discovered until his death, when the chair was named the Eliot pro- fessorship of Greek literature. He died in Bos- ton, Mass., Jan. 18, 1820.

ELIOT, Samuel, educator, was born in Boston, Mass., Dec. 22, 1821; son of William Howard and Margaret (Bradford) Eliot; grandson of Samuel