Jared Eliot

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Jared Eliot (November 7, 1685 – April 22, 1763), the grandson of missionary John Eliot, was a Connecticut minister-physician and agriculture writer. He was educated at Collegiate School of Connecticut (now Yale University), ordained in 1709, and appointed pastor of the Congregational Church in Killingworth, Connecticut. He would serve in that position until his death.

In 1722, along with Timothy Cutler, Eliot questioned Congregationalism and professed respect for Anglicanism, though he would ultimately remain a loyal Congregationalist. In 1740, he was an unsuccessful Connecticut gubernatorial candidate.

His Essays on Field Husbandry in New England was the first agriculture work printed in America. He is credited, along with Ezra Stiles, with introducing sericulture (the production of silk) to American agriculture. As a farmer, Eliot was a slave owner [1]. His work in agriculture and medicine would earn him a reputation as one of the finest American scientists of his era.