Samuel Atkins Eliot (politician)

Samuel Atkins Eliot
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 1st district
In office
August 22, 1850 – March 3, 1851
Preceded by Robert C. Winthrop
Succeeded by William Appleton
Member of the Massachusetts Senate
In office
1843–1844
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
In office
1834–1837
7th Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts
In office
1837–1839
Preceded by Samuel T. Armstrong
Succeeded by Jonathan Chapman
Personal details
Born (1798-03-05)March 5, 1798
Boston, Massachusetts
Died January 29, 1862(1862-01-29) (aged 63)
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Political party Whig
Children Charles W. Eliot

Samuel Atkins Eliot (March 5, 1798 – January 29, 1862) was a member of the notable Eliot Family of Boston, Massachusetts who served in political positions at the local, state and national levels. [1]

Eliot was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1798, and was the son of banker Samuel Eliot and Catherine Atkins Eliot and was related to Thomas Hopkinson Eliot. He attended the Boston Latin School; graduated from Harvard University in 1817 and from Harvard Divinity School in 1820. His father had wanted to see him become a minister, but he died the year of his graduation and Samuel stopped short of the pulpit. Electing instead to travel Europe for two years and gaining great knowledge in music, singing, and interests in parks and playgrounds. [2]

In 1826 he married Mary Lyman the daughter of Theodore Lyman (1753-1839) born in York Maine, and his second wife Lydia Pickering Williams of Salem Massachusetts, the daughter of George Williams and the niece of Colonel Timothy Pickering. Lyman became prosperous in the East India trade and a influential merchant in Boston, building a country estate known as the "Vale" ( Lyman Estate) in Waltham Massachusetts where his daughter Mary and Samuel would be married. The marriage produced four daughters and two sons, including Charles William Eliot, a future President of Harvard University. [3] [4] [5] [6]

He would build between 1829-1830 a lavish house at 31 Beacon Street, now the western edge of the Massachusetts Statehouse lawn.[7]

His interest in music led him to become president of the Boston Academy of Music from 1834-1847. Being an influential member of the Boston school committee, was successful in placing music on the curriculum of all public schools. With his brother William he founded the Union Church in Nahant where he had earlier built a classical Greek revival summer home at 40 steps beach. Served as first president of the Boston Provident Association, one of the first organizations to aid the poor. Assisted developing the Prison Discipline Society, becoming its treasurer and President to reduce the miserable conditions found in the houses of correction. [8] [9]

He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1834 to 1837. From 1837 to 1839, he was Mayor of Boston [10] . During his administration a riot took place, caused by a collision between a volunteer fire company and an Irish funeral procession. The disturbance was suppressed by the promptness of Mayor Eliot, who was on the ground at the first alarm, and immediately took measures for calling out the militia. The result of this affair was the establishment of a paid fire department and a day police. He served in the Massachusetts Senate in 1843–1844. He was elected as a Whig to the (31st United States Congress) to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Robert C. Winthrop and served from August 22, 1850 to March 3, 1851; he declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1850. He was treasurer of Harvard University from 1842 to 1853. He published a Sketch of the History of Harvard College and of its Present State (Boston, 1848), and edited selections from the sermons of Dr. Francis W. P. Greenwood, with a memoir (2 vols., Boston, 1844). Contributed writings to the North American Review and the Christian Examiner. He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts on January 29, 1862 and his body was interred in Mount Auburn Cemetery. [11]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Henry James (1930). Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University 1869-1909. p. 27.
  2. ↑ Henry James (1930). Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University 1869-1909. p. 11.
  3. ↑ Henry James (1930). Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University 1869-1909. p. 9.
  4. ↑ "Theodore Lyman, New England Historical Society".
  5. ↑ Edward H Cotton (1926). The Life Of Charles W. Eliot. p. 5.
  6. ↑ "Lyman Estate, Historic New England".
  7. ↑ Henry James (1930). Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University 1869-1909. p. 11.
  8. ↑ Edward H Cotton (1926). The Life Of Charles W. Eliot. p. 12 13.
  9. ↑ Henry James (1930). Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University 1869-1909. p. 7.
  10. ↑ Mayors of Boston: An Illustrated Epitome of who the Mayors Have Been and What they Have Done], Boston, MA: State Street Trust Company, 1914, p. 15
  11. ↑ Edward H Cotton (1926). The Life Of Charles W. Eliot. p. 7.

References

  •  Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John, eds. (1900). "Eliot, Samuel Atkins". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
  • Image from Mayors of Boston: An Illustrated Epitome of who the Mayors Have Been and What they Have Done, Boston, MA: State Street Trust Company, Page 12, (1914).

Further reading

  • Eliot, Samuel A. (1937). "Being Mayor of Boston a Hundred Years Ago". Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 66: 154–173. JSTOR 25080323.
  • United States Congress. "Samuel Atkins Eliot (id: E000105)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Political offices
Preceded by
Samuel T. Armstrong		 Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts
1837–1839		 Succeeded by
Jonathan Chapman
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Robert C. Winthrop		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 1st congressional district
August 22, 1850 – March 3, 1851		 Succeeded by
William Appleton
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