James Elliot was an American politician who was a member of the House of Representatives in the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Congresses.
Background
James Elliot was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the son of James and Martha (Day) Elliot.
His father, a sailor, enlisted in the Revolution and died at sea of smallpox, leaving his family destitute.
His mother moved to New Salem, in the Berkshires, where as a seamstress, with some aid from relatives, she was able to support her three boys.
Education
His mother taught him to read the Bible devotedly and also put him through The Pilgrim’s Progress, Dilworth’s Speller, and the Catechism. Later a tattered volume of Josephus and Rollin’s Ancient History made him ambitious of an education and of military experience.
Career
At the age of seven he went to work for a Captain Sanderson, a farmer and storekeeper of Petersham, who used him kindly.
In 1790 he moved to Guilford, Vermont, where he enjoyed the friendship of Royall Tyler. J. On July 12, 1793, he enlisted as the first non-commissioned officer in a company of the second United States Sub-Legion commanded by Captan Cornelius Lyman, saw service in the Whiskey Insurrection and in the Indian warfare waged in the Northwest Territory, and was discharged at Fort St. Clair on July 1, 1796.
Extracts from his journal kept during this period are the most interesting part of The Poetical and Miscellaneous Works of James Elliot, Citizen of Guilford, Vermont, and late a Non-commissioned Officer in the Legion of the United States (1798), which was printed for the author in an edition of 300 copies by Thomas Dickman in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
This book was his only venture into literature.
It attests a culture that, however imitative and undiscriminating, was remarkable in a self-taught, poverty-pinched young soldier and law student.
In 1803 Elliot was admitted to the bar, began practise in Brattleboro, and in the same year was elected to Congress.
Officially he was a Federalist, which is the one mystery in his life.
For a while he edited the Freeman’s Journal in Philadelphia, served as captain for a short time in the War of 1812, and then returned to Brattleboro.
He was representative in the state legislature for Newfane 1818-19 and 1837-38, was clerk of Windham County 1819 and 1820 and continuously from 1826 to 1836, was register of the probate court December 26, 1822-November 30, 1834, wras state attorney of the county 1837-38, was a justice of the peace for twrenty-one years, and was always a respected and useful citizen.
Achievements
Works
Other Work
Author: The Poetical and Miscellaneous Works of James Elliot, 1798.
Politics
He was a democrat in his principles, used “citizen” as a title of address, revered Samuel Adams, George Clinton, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, and named his first-born after Madison.
Views
His patriotism is noble and generous, he is just and rational in his observations on the Indians, he pleads for the better education of women.
Membership
admitted to the bar, elected to Congress
He served from Mar. 4, 1803, till Mar. 3, 1809, as a member of the House of Representatives in the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Congresses.
Connections
His wife, Lucy Dow, survived him for thirty years.
His brother Samuel was also a distinguished citizen of Vermont.