Jared Eliot

Born: Guilford; November 7, 1685
Died: Killingworth; April 22, 1763

Entry by Bruce P. Stark

Jared Eliot, clergyman and physician, was graduated from the Collegiate School in 1706. Upon graduation he was appointed schoolmaster in Guilford, but in 1707 following the sudden death of Abraham Pierson (1645-1707), rector of the Collegiate School and minister in Killingworth, Eliot was chosen to succeed him in ministerial office. Ordained in 1709, he served in that position until his death. In 1722 Eliot was one of a group of seven men, including Timothy Cutler (1684-1765) and Samuel Johnson (1696-1772), to question Congregational orthodoxy and to confess an attachment to the Anglican way. Eliot, however, was persuaded to change his opinion and remained a loyal Congregationalist for the rest of his life. He was an eminent scholar who gave the Connecticut election sermon in 1738 and who published eight other works. A supporter of paper money emissions, he was the unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate of that faction in 1740.

In addition to his long and distinguished service in the ministry, Jared Eliot was considered the leading physician of his day and was regarded as a natural scientist of eminence. In his long medical career, Eliot traveled widely throughout Connecticut and became concerned about the deplorable farming practices he observed. He studied farm methods, experimented with possible improvements, and published the results of his labors in An Essay upon Field Husbandry in New-England in six parts between 1748 and 1759. He corresponded with many eminent scientists; was a botanist; is credited, along with Ezra Stiles (1727-1795), of introducing silk culture into the American Colonies; and was unanimously elected a member of the Royal Society, one of a handful of Americans to be so honored. Eliot became interested in the black sand seen on Connecticut beaches. It proved to be iron ore, and he published his findings in an Essay on the Invention, or Art of making very good, if not the best Iron, from block Sea-Sand (1762). He subsequently received a gold medal from the Royal Society.

Jared Eliot was an eminent Connecticut minister and physician, his studies of agriculture and iron earned him an international reputation as one of the finest American scientists of his era.

For Further Reading

Thoms, Herbert. Jared Eliot: Minister, Doctor, Scientist, and His Connecticut. Hamden, Connecticut, 1967.

* Entry under revision.