Eliot family
Encyclopedia
The Eliot family is the American branch of one of several British families to hold this surname. This branch is based in Boston
but originated in East Coker
, Yeovil
, Somerset
. It is one of the Boston Brahmins, a bourgeois family, whose ancestors had become wealthy and held sway over the American education system. All are the descendants of two men named Andrew Eliot, father and son, who emigrated from East Coker to Beverly, Massachusetts
between 1668 and 1670. The elder Andrew (1627-March 1, 1703/04) served the town and colony in a number of positions and in 1692 was chosen as a juror in the Salem witch trials
. His son Andrew (1651-September 12, 1688) married Mercy Shattuck in 1680 in Beverly and died by drowning after falling off a ship.
The ranks include several college presidents, one Nobel prize winner, and presidents of American professional associations. Charles W. Eliot transformed Harvard from a college to a research institution, a model which many American Universities have followed. William G. Eliot founded one of American’s major universities, Washington University in St. Louis. The poet T. S. Eliot
moved to England and his ashes were interred in East Coker, England. He wanted to be laid to rest in the original birthplace of his first American ancestor and other Eliot ancestors.
Another branch of the American Eliot family descend from Rev. John Eliot
of Roxbury, Massachusetts, known as the “Apostle to the Indians.”
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
but originated in East Coker
East Coker
East Coker is a village and civil parish in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England. Its nearest town is Yeovil, which is situated two miles north from the village. The village has a population of 1,781...
, Yeovil
Yeovil
Yeovil is a town and civil parish in south Somerset, England. The parish had a population of 27,949 at the 2001 census, although the wider urban area had a population of 42,140...
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
. It is one of the Boston Brahmins, a bourgeois family, whose ancestors had become wealthy and held sway over the American education system. All are the descendants of two men named Andrew Eliot, father and son, who emigrated from East Coker to Beverly, Massachusetts
Beverly, Massachusetts
Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 39,343 on , which differs by no more than several hundred from the 39,862 obtained in the 2000 census. A resort, residential and manufacturing community on the North Shore, Beverly includes Beverly Farms and Prides...
between 1668 and 1670. The elder Andrew (1627-March 1, 1703/04) served the town and colony in a number of positions and in 1692 was chosen as a juror in the Salem witch trials
Salem witch trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693...
. His son Andrew (1651-September 12, 1688) married Mercy Shattuck in 1680 in Beverly and died by drowning after falling off a ship.
The ranks include several college presidents, one Nobel prize winner, and presidents of American professional associations. Charles W. Eliot transformed Harvard from a college to a research institution, a model which many American Universities have followed. William G. Eliot founded one of American’s major universities, Washington University in St. Louis. The poet T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
moved to England and his ashes were interred in East Coker, England. He wanted to be laid to rest in the original birthplace of his first American ancestor and other Eliot ancestors.
Another branch of the American Eliot family descend from Rev. John Eliot
John Eliot (missionary)
John Eliot was a Puritan missionary to the American Indians. His efforts earned him the designation “the Indian apostle.”-English education and Massachusetts ministry:...
of Roxbury, Massachusetts, known as the “Apostle to the Indians.”
Andrew Eliot's Descendants
Well-known descendants of Andrew Eliot include:- Andrew Eliot, prominent Boston Congregational minister during the Revolutionary War and one of the few ministers to stay in Boston during the siegeSiege of BostonThe Siege of Boston was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War, in which New England militiamen—who later became part of the Continental Army—surrounded the town of Boston, Massachusetts, to prevent movement by the British Army garrisoned within...
, and father to John Eliot. One of the main characters in Erich Segal'sErich SegalErich Wolf Segal was an American author, screenwriter, and educator. He was best-known for writing the novel Love Story , a best-seller, and writing the motion picture of the same name, which was a major hit....
The Class is named after him. Reverend Andrew Eliot was married to a cousin of Aaron Burr and, in a series of weekly letters from January 1777 to August 1778, he detailed the extent of spy participation by Thaddeus Burr (the first cousin of Aaron Burr). These missives were inherited by noted Long Island television and radio personality Bernadine Fawcett. - Charles Eliot, landscape architect and son of Charles William Eliot, uncle of Thomas H. Eliot
- Charles Eliot NortonCharles Eliot NortonCharles Eliot Norton, was a leading American author, social critic, and professor of art. He was a militant idealist, a progressive social reformer, and a liberal activist whom many of his contemporaries considered the most cultivated man in the United States.-Biography:Norton was born at...
, American scholar and man of letters. He was the first cousin to Charles William Eliot. - Charles William EliotCharles William EliotCharles William Eliot was an American academic who was selected as Harvard's president in 1869. He transformed the provincial college into the preeminent American research university...
President of Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, son of Samuel Atkins Eliot - Rev. Christopher Rhodes Eliot
- Edward Cranch Eliot President of the American Bar AssociationAmerican Bar AssociationThe American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
- Henry Ware EliotHenry Ware EliotHenry Ware Eliot was an American industrialist and philanthropist who lived in St. Louis, Missouri.-Early life and education:...
, President of the Academy of Science, St. LouisAcademy of Science, St. LouisThe Academy of Science - St. Louis is a non-profit organization in St. Louis, Missouri, dedicated to science literacy and education. It was founded in 1856 by a group of scientists and businessmen in St. Louis, including George Engelmann and James B. Eads, the Academy has been involved in many...
. Son of William Greenleaf Eliot. - John Eliot, the co-founder of the Massachusetts Historical SocietyMassachusetts Historical SocietyThe Massachusetts Historical Society is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history...
with Jeremy BelknapJeremy BelknapJeremy Belknap was an American clergyman and historian. His great achievement was the "History of New Hampshire", published in three volumes between 1784 and 1792. This work is the first modern history written by an American, embodying a new rigor in research, annotation, and reporting.Jeremy was...
, the first such Historical SocietyHistorical societyA historical society is an organization that collects, researches, interprets and preserves information or items of historical interest. Generally, a historical society focuses on a specific geographical area, such as a county or town or subject, such as aviation or rail. Many historical...
of its kind. - Martha May EliotMartha May EliotMartha May Eliot was a pediatrician and specialist in public health, an architect of New Deal and postwar programs for maternal and child health. Her first important research, community studies of rickets in New Haven, Connecticut, and Puerto Rico, explored issues at the heart of social medicine....
, was a granddaughter of Thomas H. EliotThomas H. EliotThomas Hopkinson Eliot was a lawyer, politician, and academic, serving as chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis and in the US House of Representatives from Massachusetts....
. A pediatrician and expert in public healthPublic healthPublic health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
, she served as director of the Children’s Bureau’s Division of Child and Maternal HealthMaternal and Child Health Bureau- Key Facts :• HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau administers programs that serve more than 34 million women, infants and children each year. About 60 percent of U.S. women who give birth receive services through HRSA-supported programs....
in the 1920s and 1930s, and is credited with drafting language on women and children in the Social Security ActSocial Security (United States)In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
. Mary Martha Eliot lived a quiet but public life as a lesbian with her life-long domestic partner, Ethel Collins Dunham. - Samuel Atkins EliotSamuel Atkins Eliot (politician)Samuel Atkins Eliot , was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts....
, politician who served in the United States House of RepresentativesUnited States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, Massachusetts House of Representatives, Massachusetts Senate and was also mayor of Boston and treasurer of Harvard University. He is the father of Charles William Eliot. - Samuel Atkins Eliot IISamuel Atkins EliotSamuel Atkins Eliot, A.M., D.D. was an American Unitarian clergyman, son of Charles W. Eliot and grandson of Samuel Atkins Eliot, the politician. For more on his lineage see the Eliot family....
, Unitarian minister, son of Charles William Eliot - Samuel EliotSamuel EliotSamuel Eliot was a historian, educator, and public-minded citizen of Boston, Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut.-Biography:...
, historian, educator, trustee of Massachusetts General Hospital, Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Massachusetts Historical Society. He was the cousin of Charles Eliot Norton. - Samuel Atkins Eliot, Jr.Samuel Atkins Eliot, Jr.Samuel Atkins Eliot, Jr. was an American author, born in Denver, Colo. and educated at Harvard. He was the son of Samuel Atkins Eliot, a prominent Unitarian clergyman, and the grandson of Charles W. Eliot, a president of Harvard University. Samuel Eliot Jr. wrote books on the theatre and made...
, American novelist, grandson of Charles William Eliot - Samuel Eliot MorisonSamuel Eliot MorisonSamuel Eliot Morison, Rear Admiral, United States Naval Reserve was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history that were both authoritative and highly readable. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and taught history at the university for 40 years...
, historian, Rear Admiral, United States Naval Reserve. He was the grandson of Samuel Eliot. - Thomas H. EliotThomas H. EliotThomas Hopkinson Eliot was a lawyer, politician, and academic, serving as chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis and in the US House of Representatives from Massachusetts....
Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis, U.S. Congressman, grandson of Charles William Eliot, great grandson of Samuel Atkins Eliot - Rev. Thomas Lamb EliotThomas Lamb EliotReverend Thomas Lamb Eliot was an Oregon pioneer, minister of one of the first churches on the west coast of the U.S., president of the Portland Children's Home, president of the Oregon Humane Society, a director of the Art Association, and director of the Library Association.Thomas Lamb Eliot was...
, Regent and Trustee of Reed CollegeReed CollegeReed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness... - Thomas Stearns Eliot (better known as T. S. EliotT. S. EliotThomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
) Nobel prize winner, poet, playwright, literary critic and publisher. Son of Henry Ware Eliot. - Theodore Lyman Eliot I, president of San Francisco Art InstituteSan Francisco Art InstituteSan Francisco Art Institute is a school of higher education in contemporary art with the main campus in the Russian Hill district of San Francisco, California. Its graduate center is in the Dogpatch neighborhood. The private, non-profit institution is accredited by WASC and is a member of the...
, grandson of Charles William Eliot, brother of Thomas H. Eliot and Samuel Atkins Eliot Jr, father of Theodore Lyman Eliot II. His brother-in-law was Albert BigelowAlbert BigelowAlbert S. Bigelow was a pacifist and former United States Navy Commander, who came to prominence in the 1950s as the skipper of the Golden Rule, the first vessel to attempt disruption of a nuclear test in protest against nuclear weapons.-Peace Movement:Prior to his involvement in the peace...
, the peace activist. - Theodore Lyman Eliot IITheodore L. Eliot, Jr.Theodore Lyman Eliot, Jr. was the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan . He is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy....
(United States Ambassador to AfghanistanUnited States Ambassador to AfghanistanThe United States Ambassador to Afghanistan is the official representative of the President of the United States to the head of state of Afghanistan....
, 1973–1978), nephew of Thomas H. Eliot and Samuel Atkins Eliot Jr, great grandson of Charles William Eliot, great-great grandson of Samuel Atkins Eliot. Charles Eliot, the landscape architect, is his great uncle. - William Greenleaf EliotWilliam Greenleaf EliotWilliam Greenleaf Eliot was an American educator, Unitarian minister, and civic leader in Missouri. He is most notable for founding Washington University in St. Louis, but also contributed to the founding of numerous other civic institutions, such as the St...
Co-Founder and third chancellor of Washington University in St. LouisWashington University in St. LouisWashington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...