Person:Jared Eliot (1)

"14) … Jared³ (Eliot), b. Nov. 7, 1685; minister of Killingworth, (Clinton,) d. April 22, 1763."
"14. Jared³ 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."

"Eliot: Jared, s Reverent Mr. Joseph, b 7 Nov 1685 [29]"

"Elliott, … Jared, Rev., d. Apr. 22, 1763 [2:71]"

JARED ELIOT was born in Guilford, Connecticut, November 7, 1685. He was the grandson of the Rev. John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians, and the fifth child, and the eldest by his second marriage, of the Rev. Joseph Eliot (Harv. Coll. 1658), who was from 1664 till his death in 1694 the minister of Guilford. His mother was Mary, daughter of the Hon. Samuel and Ruth (Haynes) Wyllys, of Hartford. His father's will directed that one or both of his two sons should be trained up to learning, to be preachers, and in pursuance of this direction the elder was thus educated.

Immediately upon graduating he was appointed (September 27, 1706) schoolmaster of his native town for the ensuing year. In March, 1707, his former instructor, Rector Pierson, was suddenly removed by death from the pastorate of the adjoining township, and it is the current tradition that on his death-bed he recommended his people to make this favorite pupil his successor. Accordingly, as appears by the church records, Mr. Eliot “entered and engaged in the ministeriall office in the church of Killingworth, June the 1st, 1707.” He was not, however, released from his engagement in Guilford until September 16, 1707, and his ordination in Killingworth (now Clinton) did not take place until October 26, 1709. A year later (October 26, 1710), he was married to Hannah (not Elizabeth, as often stated), daughter of Samuel Smithson, of Guilford. Mr. Smithson was a recent emigrant, with his family, from England, and to his copy of the English Prayer-Book, Samuel Johnson (born in Guilford and a pupil there of Eliot) traced in part the change of convictions which carried him afterwards into the Episcopal Church. With this affiliation, it is not strange that Eliot was inclined in the same direction, and that we find him among the seven who signed the memorable declaration before the Trustees, in October, 1722; but his difficulties yielded to the arguments of his Congregational brethren and we hear no more of any wavering on his part.

He died in Killingworth, April 22, 1763, in the 78th year of his age, having outlived every pastor in the Colony who had been earlier ordained, and all who had graduated at the College before him. His estate was appraised at upwards of £18OO.

His wife died February 19, 1761, in the 68th year of her age. Their children were two daughters and nine sons. Of the daughters, the only one who survived infancy became the wife of Dr. Benjamin Gale (Y. C. 1733), of Killingworth. Three sons were graduated at this College (Samuel, Augustus, and Joseph) in 1735, 1740, and 1742, respectively,–all of whom predeceased their father. The Discourse preached at his funeral, by the Rev. Thomas Ruggles (Y. C. 1723), of Guilford, was published (New Haven, 1763. 4°, pp. 30). It contains an elaborate sketch of his character and endowments, noticing particularly his activity (“idleness was his abhorrence”), his earnestness, his unusual conversational powers, the utility of his manifold knowledge, his executive abilities, and the breadth of his religious and human sympathies. His attainments in science and in medicine are also dwelt on. “As his principal natural talent was for physic, so he by study and reflection, by a long, extensive and successful practice became, at least one of the ablest physicians in his day.” Dr. Thacher says of him: “He was unquestionably the first physician of his day in Connecticut, and was the last clerical physician of eminence probably in New England. He was an excellent botanist, and was equally distinguished as a scientific and practical agriculturist. He introduced the white mulberry into Connecticut, and with it the silk worm.” In 1762 the London Society of Arts unanimously voted him their gold medal for proving that the common black sand of our coast could be wrought into iron. In 1756 or 7 he was unanimously elected a member of the Royal Society, “an instance of unanimity,” writes Peter Collinson, “Lord Macclesfield told me he never before saw.”

Among his regular correspondents and visitors was Benjamin Franklin, eleven of whose letters to him (1747–55) are printed in Sparks's edition of Franklin's Works. The Library of Yale College has portions of Dr. Eliot's manuscript correspondence with Dr. Franklin, John Bartram (the eminent American botanist), Peter Collinson, Richard Jackson, William Logan, Joseph Chew, Thomas Fitch, Peter Oliver, Ezra Stiles, Noah Hobart, and others. In September, 1730, he was chosen a Trustee of the College (being the first of its graduates to hold that office), and retained the position until his death. In the prevailing theological controversies, he was an “Old Light”; and when President Clap proposed to set up a separate church within the College walls, Dr. Eliot was one of the Fellows who opposed him with earnestness. He was said at the time (see a letter of the Rev. Noah Hobart to him, dated September 28, 1756) to contemplate offering his resignation of his office as trustee to the General Assembly, with the possible view of invoking their interference in College politics. His affection towards the institution, however, remained firm ; and in his will (dated March, 1761) he left a donation of £10 to the President and Fellows, the interest of which is applied to the purchase of books for the Library. This was the beginning of the Library Fund. He commanded the respect of his ministerial brethren in an unusual degree, and four times between 1747 and 1761 was the moderator of their General Association. -

His portrait is preserved in the family.
His publications were: ...