Rev. John "The Apostle to the Indians" Eliot

Other Events and Attributes:

• General Information: Daniel Gookin, the first Indian Commissioner says of him, "the truth is, Mr. Eliot engaged in this great work of preaching unto the Indians upon a very pure and sincere account ; for I being his neighbor and intimate friend, at the time when he first attempted the enterprise, he was pleased to communicate unto me his design and the motives that induced him thereunto."
• Living: From 1606 to 1618, Nazeing, Essex, England; From 1606 through 1618 he was living in Nazeing, Essex, England.
• Education: 20 Mar 1618, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England; On 20 Mar 1618 he entered as pensioner at Jesus College, Cambridge University. A pensioner is defined as a student who pays his expenses.
• Other Will: 5 Nov 1621, Nazeing, Essex, England; His father wrote his will on 5 November 1621 providing for the maintenance of his son, John, at Cambridge University where he is a scholler.
• Graduation: About 1623, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England; About 1623 he graduated from Jesus College of Cambridge University. He was distinguished for his love of the languages, Greek and Hebrew especially, of which he acquired a sound, thorough, and discriminating knowledge. He became well versed in the general course of liberal studies, and was particularly skillful in theological learning. It is recorded that he had a partiality for philological inquiries, and was an acute grammarian.
• Occupation: About 1623, Little Baddow, Essex, England; About 1623 he taught in the school of Thomas Hooker at Little Baddow, Essex, England.
• Miscellaneous: About 1630, Little Baddow, Essex, England; About 1630 he gathered a group around him, mainly from Nazeing, Essex, England, and agreed to be their teacher, guide and associate in the hazards, privations and difficulties of securing a retreat and home, and in organizing their community, in the wilderness of New England, .."that we might afflict ourselves before God to seek of him a right way for us and for our little ones, and for all our substance."
• Immigration: 1631; Rev. John' Eliot, the apostle, and his brothers, Jacob and Phillip, came across the ocean on board the Lion, Capt. Pierce master, and landed at Boston, 3 November 1631.
• Religion: 1632, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; After his arrival, he ministered to the First Church Boston, in the temporary absence of their pastor, the Rev. Mr, Wilson, who was in England; an engagement which occasioned some difficulty to his Roxbury friends about a year after, in July, 1632, when they had became sufficiently nutritious to organize as a church, and were ready to fulfill the engagement made in England. The struggle between the Boston and Roxbury churches, to secure the ministry of Eliot, furnishes evidence of the early appreciation of his excellence.
• Religion: 1632, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; In 1632 he was admitted to membership in the Boston Church as member number 110.
• Freeman: 6 Mar 1632, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; He was admitted a freeman along with his brother Jacob on 6 March 1632.
• Religion: Oct 1632, Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; In October 1632 he took up the ministry of the Roxbury Church.
• Religion: 16 Oct 1633, Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; On 16 October 1633 the church in Roxbury and six other churches "kept a day of thanksgiving for the mercies granted to the country".
• Miscellaneous: 28 Oct 1646; He soon conceived a strong passion for christianizing and improving the condition of the Indians, of whom there were a large number within the limits of the English plantations. He commenced his labors among them at Nonantum in Newton, on the 28th of October, 1646.
• Miscellaneous: Sep 1661, Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; He executed several translations into the Indian language, the most noted of which is the Indian Bible. The New Testament was published at Cambridge, in September, 1661, under the auspices of the Society for Propagating the Gospel. Three years after, the Old Testament was added; and the whole Bible, with a Catechism and the Psalms of David in metre, was thus given to the Indians in their own language, in forty years after the settlement of the country.
• Petition: 13 Jun 1675; In the Massachusetts archives is an original petition, in the hand-writing of the Apostle Eliot. [note that “y” is a substitute for “th”. To the Honor^ble Gov & Council siting at Boston, this- 13^th of the 6^th, '75, the humble petition of John Eliot, sheweth That the terror of selling away such Indians, unto the Hands for ppetual slaves, who shall yeild up y^e selves to your mercy, is like to be an efectual plongation of the warre & such an exaspation of y^m as may pduce we know not what evil consequences, upon all the land. Christ hath saide, blessed are the mercyfull for y shall obtaine mercy. This useage of y^m is worse yⁿ death—the destine of christ in these last dayes, is not to extirpate nations, but to gospelize y^m —his Sovraigne hand & grace hath brought the gospel into these dark places of the earth—when we came, we declared to the world, & it is recorded, yea we are ingaged by or letters Parent fro the kings Majesty, that the indeavour of the Indians conversion, not their extirpation, was one great end of our enterprize, in coming to these ends of the earth. The Lord hath so succeeded y^t work, as that (by his grace) they have the holy Scriptures & sundry of themselves able to teach theire countrymen, the good knowledge of God. And however some of y^m have refused to receive the gospel, &; now are incensed in their spirits unto a warre against the English: yet I doubt not but the meaning of Christ is, to open a dore for the free passage of the gospel among y^m —my humble request is. y^t you would follow Christ his designe in this matter, to p mote the free passage of Religion among y^m not to destroy y^m —to sell soules for money seemeth to me a dangerous merchandize, to sell y^m away from all meanes of grace w^th Christ hath p vided meanes of grace for y^m is the way for us to be active in the destroying theire Soules : deut. 23, 15, 16, a fugitive servant fro a Pagan Master, might not be delivered to his master, but be kept in Israel for the good of his soule, how much less lawfull is it to sell away soules fro under the light of the gospcll, into a condition where theire soules will be utterly lost, so far as appeareth unto man. all men (of reading) condemne the Spaniard for cruelty upon this poynt in destroying men, & depopulating the land, the country is large enough, here is land enough for them & us too. p. 14, 28, in the multitude of people is the kings hono^r it will be much to the glory of Christ, to have many brought in to worship his great name. I desire the honor' Council to pardon my boldnesse. & let the case of conscience be discussed orderly, before the King be asked, cover my weaknesse, & weigh the reason &c religion y^t laboreth in this great case of conscience.
• Charter/Grant/Gift: say 1680, Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; Eliot's charity was a very prominent trait in his character, and he frequently gave more than he could afford, for his own family often suffered for the necessaries of life. The treasurer of the parish, on paying him his annual salary, and knowing well his lavish expenditures for the relief of others, put the money in a handkerchief, and tied it in as many hard knots as possible, in hopes thus to compel him to carry it all home. On his way thither he called to see a poor sick woman, and on entering he gave the family his blessing, and told them that God had sent them some relief He then began to untie the knots, but after many efforts to do so, and impatient at the perplexity and delay to get at his money, he gave the whole to the mother, saying with a trembling accent—"Here, my dear, take it; I believe the Lord designs it all for you."
• Charter/Grant/Gift: 1689, Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; He was anxious to promote the cause of education as well as religion; and in 1689, the year previous to his death, conveyed an estate of about seventy-five acres of land to certain persons and their heirs as trustees, for "the maintenance, support, and encouragement of a school and school-master at that part of Roxbury, commonly called Jamaica or the Pond Plains, for the teaching and instructing of the children of that end of the town, (together with such Indians and negroes as shall or may come to the said school,) and to no other use, intent, or purpose whatever." This was the origin of the Roxbury "Eliot School Fund."
• Last Full Review: 10 Jun 2020

Notes:

Contents: The above are highlights as I see them. Click on the "John Eliot" button to read the Wikipedia article. There is a much more detailed list of John Eliot's activities in Emerson's Genealogy of the Descendants of John Eliot, "Apostle to the Indians," 1598-1905.

Name:

Died:
His last words being "welcome joy!"

John married Ann Mumford (Mountfort) on 4 Sep 1632 in Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Ann was born in 1604; died on 22 Mar 1687 in Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]