Ezra Stiles Ely

Ezra Stiles Ely (June 13, 1786-June 17, 1861) was an American minister.

He was the son of Rev. Zebulon Ely, and was born in Lebanon, Connecticut.

He graduated from Yale University in 1804. In October 1806, he was settled as pastor of the church in Colchester, Connecticut (Westchester parish). This place he left, having accepted a call to become a City Missionary in New York City. From New York he was called to the pastorate of the Pine Street Church in Philadelphia, where he continued over twenty years. About the year 1834, he embarked in the enterprise of establishing a College and Theological Seminary in Missouri The financial reverses of 1837 frustrated the undertaking and involved him in great trouble. In 1844, he entered on pastoral duties in the First Presbyterian Church in New London Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, and continued his labors until 1851, when a stroke of paralysis laid him aside.

He was a rapid thinker, a fluent speaker and a fertile writer. For several years he edited gratuitously religious paper called The Philadelphian. He was the author of Ely's Journal, otherwise known as " Visits of Mercy," and, of " Conversations on the Science of the Human Mind," (Phil. 1819.) In 1828 he assisted in publishing a " Collateral Bible, or Key to the Holy Scriptures," and subsequently, a memoir of his father, and other works.

He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Washington College in Tennessee. He was twice married and two of his children survived him. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., June 17, 1861, aged 75.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Yale Obituary Record.