14. JARED' ELIOT, SON OF JOSEPH, (4) D. D. and M. D., minister at Killingworth, (Clinton.) He graduated at Yale Coll. 1706; received the honorary degree of A. M. from Harvard College; and was a member of the Corporation of Yale College, from 1730 to 1762. While on his death bed, Rev. Abraham Pierson, minister of Killingworth, and rector of Yale College, earnestly advised his parishioners to procure Mr. Jared Eliot, who had been educated under him, to be his successor in the pastoral office, whom he judged likely to become a pious, steady, and useful minister. The advice was followed, and Mr. Eliot was called the next June, (1707,) though from a diffidence in his abilities to discharge so great a trust, he was not ordained till two years after, (Oct. 26, 1709.) Rev. Dr. Field, in his History of Middlesex county, says of him "He was the eldest son of the Rev. Joseph Eliot, a worthy minister of the neighboring town of Guilford, whose pious and pithy letter to his brother at Roxbury,* recently published in several periodical works, has brought his excellencies afresh to remembrance; and grandson of the famous John Eliot, of Roxbury, whose holy evangelical labors, particularly among the Indians, secured to him the title of the apostle John. The subject of this sketch possessed a liberal portion of those excellencies by which his ancestors were distinguished, while in some respects he evidently surpassed them. "His early progress in literature was not rapid, but what he once acquired he never lost; and the solid rather than brilliant qualities of his mind, accompanied by the goodness of his disposition and the regularity of his life, induced his sagacious instructor to form the opinion of his future excellence, which has been related. As he applied himself more and more to study, his mind improved in quickness of apprehension, as well as in strength, and he at length acquired a greatness and excellence rarely surpassed, at least in our country. He had the singular talent of applying himself to a variety of employments, to divinity, to physic, and to various branches of literature, without disorder, * See page 59. and though his acquisitions in nothing were as great as they probably would have been, if his attention had not been thus divided, yet they were very respectable, and in some things eminent. "There are three points of light in which Mr. Eliot may be advantageously viewed: as a divine, a physician, and a scholar. "As a divine, he possessed enlarged views of the system of religion contained in the Scriptures, and held the doctrines generally believed by the divines of New England. In his preaching, he was plain and familiar, happy in allusions to Scripture, and abounding in original and laconic expressions. "As a physician, he was well versed in the science of medicine, and very extensively employed, not only in his own town, but for many years in the neighboring places; and such was his reputation, that he was sometimes called out of the colony. In attending the sick, he was careful not to lose the character of a minister in that of a physician, but intermingled with prescriptions for the body, advice and instruction for the soul. "The standing of Mr. Eliot as a divine and physician, pre-supposes an extensive acquaintance with literature. In history, natural philosophy, botany, and mineralogy, he excelled. Nor did his knowledge rest in speculation; he was eminently a practical man. practical man. By several small treatises, he labored to improve the agriculture of his country. Some considerations had led him to believe that the black sand, which appears occasionally on the beach of the Sound, might be wrought into iron. He made an experiment upon it in the year 1761, and succeeded. For this discovery, he was honored with a medel, by the Society instituted in London for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. "Mr. Eliot was fond of society; and by a pleasant and sociable temper, connected with his various talents, was eminently qualified to secure and entertain friends. His acquaintances and correspondents were numerous. Among these were Dr. Franklin, and Dr. Berkley, Bishop of Cloyne. By his representations, and those of a few others, the latter gentleman was led to make extensive benefactions to that institution, whose instruction Mr. Eliot had shared, and with which, for thirty-two years, he was connected in the capacity of a trustee. "In charities he abounded. Much of his practice was performed gratuitously. But while he scattered, he increased. Wise in his calculations, he acquired a large landed estate, which laid the foundation for the wealth of a numerous family. "Notwithstanding his numerous avocations and employments, he was preserved by the blessing of God upon a firm constitution to a good old age, steadily advancing the happiness of all around him. For more than forty years, he never failed of preaching at home or abroad a part of every Sabbath. He died in 1763." 66 Horace William Eliot adds :-" Jared Eliot was contemporary and on intimate terms with Benjamin Franklin; who, as I have heard my father say, made it a point to call and stay over night at his house, in his frequent journeys between Philadelphia and Boston, when philosophical subjects are discussed. "I have, as a sort of heir-loom, a gold medal of about the weight of thirty or five-and-thirty dollars, granted to him by the Royal Society of London, for the discovery of 'Making Malleable Iron from American Black Sand,' dated 1762.* "Jared Eliot was one of the seven who presented a paper to the clergy and others assembled in the College Library, on the day after Commencement in 1722, in which they declare-That some of us doubt of the validity, and the rest are more fully persuaded of the invalidity, of Presbyterian ordination in opposition to Episcopal.' Mr. Eliot was one of the latter; and the only one who changed his opinion, and remained in communion with the Congregational churches." He m. Oct. 26, 1710 Elizabeth, dau. of Samuel Smithson,+ of Guilford. She died Feb. 18, 1761, aged 68. Children 24) I. Elizabeth', b. Oct. 20, 1711; d. April 11, 1713. 25) п. Hannah', b. Oct. 15, 1713; m. June 6, 1739, Benjamin GALE, M. D., of Killingworth, (Clinton.) Dr. Gale d. May 6, 1790, aged 75. Mrs. Hannah d. Jan. 27, 1781. Issue, 1. Elizabeth, b. Dec. 3, 1740; d. Nov. 1817, unmarried. 2. Catharine, b. June 21, 1742; m. April 1780, Jeremiah Atwater, of New Haven; and d. June 19, 1794, without surviving issue. 3. Mary, b. Feb. 8, 1744; m. March 31, 1784, Dr. John Redfield, of Guilford, and had sons, John and Jared. Dr. Gale studied and became much interested in the prophetical parts of the Bible, on which he wrote largely. He died in 1790, aged 75, in the full faith, it is said, that he would rise again in 1804. 4. Juliana, b. Nov. 4, 1746; m. Leverett Hubbard, son of Dr. Leverett Hubbard, and had a son Leverett, of Middletown. 5. Hannah, b. April 12, 1748; d. Nov. 26, 1797, unmarried. 6. Mehitabel, b. Dec. 13, 1749; m. Archibald Austin; d. 1812, without issue. 7. Samuel, b. Dec. 9, 1751; d. Dec. 27, 1751. 8. Benjamin, b. Feb. 23, 1755; d. March 27, 1755. 26) ш. Samuel, b. March 9, 1716; graduated at Yale Coll. in 1735; was a physician; and d. Jan. 1, 1741, while on a voyage to Africa for his health, unmarried. 27) Iv. Aaron', b. March 15, 1718; d. Dec. 30, 1785. 29) VI. Joseph, b. Jan. 8, 1723; d. Aug. 1, 1762. 15. ABIAL' ELIOT, SON OF JOSEPH, (4) Farmer in Guilford, m. in 1726, Mary, dau. of John Leete, of Guilford, and great granddau. of William Leete, Governor of Connecticut. Mary was born Feb. 8, 1701, and died Jan. 13, 1778. Children 35) 1. Nathanial', b. Aug. 15, 1728; d. April 24, 1804. 36) п. Wyllys, b. Feb. 9, 1731; d. Sept. 20, 1777. 37) ш. Rebecca', b. Sept. 8, 1733; m. May 27, 1750, Nathaniel GRAVES, of Guilford. She d. July 27, 1820. He d. Nov. 29, 1799. Issue,— 1. Nathaniel, b. Feb. 12, 1757; d. July 22, 1832, unmarried. 2. Sarah, b. April 8, 1762. 38) iv. Timothy', b. Oct. 23, 1736; d. April 17, 1809. 39) v. Levi, b. Nov. 1, 1739; d. March 21, 1765. 40) vi. Margery', b. March 19, 1742; m. Oct. 26, 1771, Theophilus MERRIMAN, of Wallingford. Issue, 1. Ruth. 2. Mary. 3. Eliot. 4. Sarah. 22. JOHN ELIOT, SON OF JOHN, (9) Graduated at Harvard College in 1737; resided in New Haven till 1760; when he took up his residence in Spencer, Mass., a gentleman of affluence and distinction, and remained there about ten years. His subsequent history is unknown. He m. March 7, 1730, [an evident error of the record,] Lydia, daughter of Mr. Jeremiah Atwater, whose wife was Lydia, dau. of Mr. Richard Rosewell, all of New Haven. Children 41) 1. Mary', b. Jan. 19, 1743. 42) п. John3, b. April 22, 1745. 43) ш. Sarah, b. Nov. 30, 1750. 44) IV. Richard Rosewell, b. Oct. 8, 1752; d. Oct 21, 1818. 45) v. Hannah, b. Aug. 25, 1755. 46) vi. William', b. July 29, 1757. 27. AARON ELIOT, SON OF REV. JARED, (14) Deac., Col., and physician in Killingworth, (Clinton ;) member of the General Assembly nine sessions. He m. Feb. 14, 1745, Mary, dau. of Rev. William Worthington, of Saybrook, (Westbrook.) Temperance, another dau. of Mr. Worthington, was the wife of Rev. Cotton Mather Smith, of Sharon, and mother of John Cotton Smith, Governor of Connecticut, President of the American Bible Society, &c. Mrs. Mary died June 28, 1785. |