Samuel Eliot (businessman)

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Samuel Eliot

Samuel El (l) iot (born August 25, 1739 in Boston , Province of Massachusetts Bay , † January 18, 1820 ibid) was a businessman and philanthropist from Boston, Massachusetts.

Life

Samuel Eliot's father was also named Samuel Eliot and was a bookseller in Boston. The son attended the Boston Latin School , where he particularly enjoyed classes in classical Greek . He received commercial training from Nathaniel Appleton, among others, and became a successful businessman, from 1769 on his own account. With the start of the American Revolutionary War, Eliot moved briefly to Marblehead , Massachusetts, but returned to Boston in March 1776. Here he made a considerable fortune. From 1798 to 1803 he was President of the Bank of Massachusetts .

In 1814 he anonymously donated a professorship for Classical Greek to Harvard University , which was only named after him after his death. The tenth and so far last Eliot Professor of Greek Literature was Albert Henrichs until 2017 . Eliot also donated significant sums of money to the Massachusetts General Hospital . Other charitable foundations can be traced back to Eliot, but they were usually made anonymously.

In 1768 Eliot was elected to the American Philosophical Society , 1804 to the Massachusetts Historical Society and 1806 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Samuel Eliot was one of the so-called Boston Brahmins , the most influential Boston families. In 1765 he married Elizabeth Barrell († 1783), a daughter of the well-known businessman Joseph Barrell . Two of the three children from this marriage died young. In 1786 Eliot married Catherine Atkins (1758–1829). From this marriage there were seven children, including Samuel Atkins Eliot (1798-1862). He became Treasurer of Harvard University and Mayor of Boston and represented the state of Massachusetts in the US House of Representatives . His son Charles William Eliot was long-time President of Harvard University. Samuel Eliot's grave is on the Granary Burying Ground in Boston. The value of his estate was estimated at $ 1.2 million.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kathleen M. Coleman : Albert Henrichs, known for his Manichaeism tract, dies at 74. In: Harvard Gazette. April 26, 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2019 (American English).
  2. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter E. (PDF; 477 kB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Retrieved May 4, 2019 .
  3. ^ Samuel Eliot in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved May 4, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Eliot, Samuel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Elliot, Samuel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American banker and philanthropist
DATE OF BIRTH August 25, 1739
PLACE OF BIRTH Boston , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH January 18, 1820
Place of death Boston , Massachusetts