35 



STEPHEN ELLIOTT. 



Stephen Elliott, botanist, was born in Beaufort, S. 

 C, November 11, 1771 ; died in Charleston, S. C, March" 

 28, 1830. He was the son of William Elliott, who set- 

 tled in Beaufort, purchased land and married in 1760 

 Mary Barnwell, a grand-daughter of John Barnwell. 

 The father died while Stephen was a child, but "his 

 elder brother, William, took good care of his education. 

 After the preliminary studies, he entered Yale College 

 in the sixteenth year of his age and graduated in 1791. 

 At this time he delivered an English oration on "The 

 Supposed Degeneracy of Animated Nature," and took 

 one of the highest honors in his class. Among his col- 

 lege companions -were Chancellor Jones, Samuel Miles 

 Hopkins, of New York, and Judge Gould, of Litchfield, 

 Conn. 



In 1796 Stephen Elliott married Miss Esther Haber- 

 sham of Georgia, and was elected a delegate to the 

 State Legislature, in which he continued to serve until 

 the establishment of the "Bank of the State" in 1812, 

 of which he was elected president. He then removed 

 with his family to Charleston. All his leisure hours 

 had for many years been devoted to natural science 

 and to botany in particular. Mr. Elliott was here con- 

 sidered the leader in all associations for their advance- 

 ment. He was instrumental in the formation of the Lit- 

 erary and Philosophical Society in 1813, and aided it by 

 inviting to his own house, at stated periods, such gen- 

 tlemen as were most interested in the scheme. In 1814 

 he delivered the first anniversary address to that insti- 

 tution, remarkable alike for its elegance of diction and 

 the capacity of mind which it revealed — ^that of em- 

 bracing such various pursuits of science. His object 

 was not only to explain their relation to each other as 

 branches of literature, but to encourage the members 



