Background
George Edward Ellis was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the fourth son of David and Sarah (Rogers) Ellis.
His father was a prosperous merchant and his mother a daughter of a Loyalist exile.
George Edward Ellis was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the fourth son of David and Sarah (Rogers) Ellis.
His father was a prosperous merchant and his mother a daughter of a Loyalist exile.
Ellis attended several preparatory schools, including the Boston Latin School and the Round Hill School at Northampton, and graduated from Harvard in 1833.
His connection with Harvard College was always close.
He then went to the Divinity School, and after graduation in 1836 remained in Boston for two years, sailing on May 8, 1838, for an extended European trip from which he returned in the following year.
From September 1842 to February 1845 Ellis was co-editor of the Christian Register, with Rev. Samuel K. Lothrop, and from 1849 to 1855 he was an editor of the Christian Examiner, at first with Rev. George Putnam and subsequently alone.
To this latter periodical he was a constant contributor, writing most of the book reviews.
From 1850 to 1879 he was an Overseer and in 1853-54 he was secretary of the Overseers.
He was the first to hold the new chair of systematic theology in the Divinity School, delivering his inaugural address July, 14 1857, and serving until 1863.
In 1869 he resigned his pastorate and moved from Charlestown to Boston, where he lived a quiet, bookish life until his death.
He compiled a hymn-book in 1845, and in 1844, 1845, and 1847 respectively, he wrote the lives of John Mason, Anne Hutchinson, and William Penn for Sparks s Library of American Biography.
In January 1869 he delivered two lectures before the Lowell Institute subsequently published under the title: I.
The Aims and Purposes of the Founders of Massachusetts.
II.
Their Treatment of Intruders and Dissentients (1869).
In these lectures he upheld the Puritans in their intolerance.
His interest in history increased; his Lowell Lectures for 1871 were on the provincial history of Massachusetts, and those for 1879 on “The Red Man and the White Alan in North America. ”
This last series appeared in book form in 1882.
In 1888 he published The Puritan Age and Rule in the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, 1629-1685.
He was a constant contributor to the New York Review, the North American Review, and the Atlantic Monthly, in the last of which he published (October 1894) his “Retrospect of an Octogenarian. ” Perhaps the main interest of his somewhat secluded life was the Massachusetts Historical Society, of which he was vice-president from 1877 to 1885 and president from that date until his death. In his will he left his house and $30, 000 to the Society and $10, 000 to the American Antiquarian Society.
On March 11, 1840, he was ordained and became pastor of the Harvard Unitarian Church in Charlestown, where he remained for twenty-nine years.
In 1857 he published A Half Century of the Unitarian Controversy and in 1864 delivered a course of lectures on “The Evidences of Christianity” at the Lowell Institute.
As an historian of New England he belonged to the old filio-pietistic school and his writings, redeemed by no charm of style, are now out of date and negligible.
His connection with Harvard College was always close. From 1850 to 1879 he was an Overseer and in 1853-54 he was secretary of the Overseers.
Perhaps the main interest of his somewhat secluded life was the Massachusetts Historical Society, of which he was vice-president from 1877 to 1885 and president from that date until his death. In his will he left his house and $30, 000 to the Society and $10, 000 to the American Antiquarian Society.
Ellis was always an omnivorous reader and engaged in incessant intellectual work.
On April 15, 1840, he married Elizabeth Bruce Eager, daughter of William Eager of Boston. On October 22, 1859, he married, as his second wife, Lucretia Goddard Gould, who died July 6, 1869.
