Jacob Eliot family papers

This collection contains a wealth of information about the Eliot Family of Lebanon, Guilford, and New Haven, Connecticut. The members of the family trace their lineage back to John Eliot, "the Apostle to the Indians". The descendants of John Eliot refer to themselves as the "South End Eliots" to distinguish them from the "North End Eliots" associated with Harvard College and science in the nineteenth century. The chief figure in this collection is the Reverend Jacob Eliot, 1700-1766, Harvard College, class of 1720, and after 1730 the minister of the Third or Goshen Society of Lehanon, Connecticut. Eliot distinguished himself as an "Old Light" during the Great Awakening.

The second major figure in this collection is the second Doctor Ellsworth Eliot, 1864-1945, Yale College, class of 1884, who practiced medicine in New York City. Aside from his medical duties he was the author of The Patriotism of Joseph Reed, West Point in the Confederacy, and Yale in the Civil War.Part of this collection is material Dr. Eliot collected for these works.

Also represented are many brothers named Eliot during the nineteenth century, the sons of the Reverend Jacob Eliot II, 1734-1785, also of Lebanon, Connecticut.

There are also some letters from Roger Sherman, S.F.B. Morse, Eli Whitney, and Fitz Greene Halleck to various people, as well as a number of legal documents relating to Nathan and Sarah Camp, who probably were Dr. Ellsworth Eliot's parents-in-law and the parents of Walter Camp, the Yale football coach.

The first box in the collection contains the correspondence of the people mentioned above from 1700 to 1870. It is followed by various by legal papers relating to the estate of Jacob Eliot I his wife, and his son, 1734-1814. The legal papers relating to Nathan and Sarah Camp follow, filling the years, 1870-1885, and the last items in the box are papers collected by Dr. Ellsworth Eliot, including photographs of Jacob Eliot's Diary and congratulatory letters Dr. Eliot received from the people to whom he had sent complimentary copies of The Patriotism of Joseph Reed.

Also in box one is a scrap book kept by Whitney Elliott, 1823-1909, from 1875 to 1882. The book contains genalogical notes on the Eliot family especially in relation to the gathering in 1875 of the descendants of "Apostle" John Eliot at Guilford, Connecticut. The items are mainly newspaper clippings and poems.

Box 2 contains three bound books. The earliest two comprise the diary of the Reverend Jacob Eliot written in almanacs for the years 1716, 1721, 1723, 1724, 1726, 1737, 1741, 1742 and in the second volume 1745, 1746, 1747, 1749, 1752, 1754, 1757, and 1764. The daily entries are weather reports, but at the bottom of the pages and in the margins are notices of people in Boston and Lebanon, most every preacher of note in the eighteenth century, as well as information on books, sermons, and meetings of the General Association of Ministers in Connecticut. A great many notes refer to the Trumbull and Williams families. The most interesting entries concern the Great Awakening, the excesses of which Eliot strongly opposed. The most important entries have already been published in the Historical Magazine of America, 2d Series, volume V, 1891, pages 33-35.

Also in this second box is account book kept by Jacob Eliot I from 1754 to 1766 and continued by his son from 1768 to 1783. Besides financial matters the book contains notes of family marriages, lists of townspeople, and other minor items.

The third box contains a typed manuscript of Dr. Ellsworth Eliot's unpublished book on West Point graduates in the Union Army during the Civil War, a sequel to his West Point In the Confederacy, published by Yale in 1943.

Members of the Eliot Family Who Appear in this Collection:

Other People of Note in the Eliot Family Collection:

This collection contains approximately 200 items in three boxes, including diaries, letters, and legal papers by and about Jacob Eliot, 1700-1766, of Lebanon, Connecticut, and his descendants, spanning the years 1916-1945 and including Revolutionary and Civil War material gathered by Dr. Ellsworth Eliot, 1864-1945.

The gift of Dr. Ellsworth Eliot and William Inglis Morse, 1942-1946.