ELLIOTT, DAVID: American Presbyterian; b. in Sherman's Valley, Perry Co., Penn., Feb. 6, 1787; d. at Allegheny, Penn., Mar. 18, 1874. After his graduation from Dickinson College in 1808 he studied theology for three years and was licensed to preach as a probationer by the presbytery of Car lyle Sept. 26, 1811. He was pastor at Mercereburg, Penn., from Feb. 19, 18i2, to Oct. 28, 1829, and at Washington from 1829 to 1836, and was also acting president of Washington College from 1829 to 1832, when he completely reorganized sad revived that institution. He declined the appointment as permanent president, but was president of the board of trustees for thirty-three years. From 1836 to 1854 he was professor of theology in the Western Theological Seminary, at Allegheny, Penn., and from 1854 till his death professor of polemic, history, and pastoral theology in the same institution, becoming professor emeritus in 1870. He was often a member of the General Assembly, and as moderator of that body in 1837, when the Church was divided, he distinguished himself by the fairness and accuracy of his decisions.

ELLIS, GEORGE EDWARD: Unitarian; b. at Boston Aug. 8, 1814; d. there Dec. 20, 1894. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1838, and the Harvard Divinity School in 1836. He then devoted four years to travel and study in Europe, was or dained in 1840 and was pastor of the Harvard Unitarian Society, Cambridge, Mass., 18409. From 1857 to 1863 he was professor of systematic theology in Harvard Divinity School. For several years he was editor of the Christian Register and later of The Christian Examiner. He wrote A Half Century of the Unitarian Controversy, with Par ticular Reference to its Origin, Us Course, and its Prominent Subjects among the Congregationalists of Massachusetts (Boston, 1857); Aims arid Purposes of the Founders of Massachusetts, and their Treat ment of Intruders aced Dissentients (1869); Intro auction to the History of the First Church in Boston, 1630-1880 (1882); The Red Man and the White Man in North America (1882); and The Puritan Age and Rule in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay (1888).

ELLIS, WILLIAM: English missionary; b. in London Aug. 29, 1794; d. at Hoddesdon (4 m. e.e. of Hertford), Hertfordshire, June 9, 1872. He was sent by the London Missionary Society to the South Sea islands in 1816 and labored there till 1822, when he removed to Oahu, Hawaiian Islands (q.v.). He assisted the American missionaries in the conversion of the people and reduced the Hawaiian language to a written form. In 1825 the state of his wife's health compelled him to return to Eng- land. On the way he agent three months in the United States, lecturing on conditions in Hawaii. He now entered the home-work of the Society, became assistant foreign secretary in 1830 and soon afterward chief foreign secretary, retiring in 1844 on account of ill health. In 1837 he married as his second wife, Miss Sarah Stickney, a lady of some literary fame. In 1853 he was sent to Madagascar to revive the mission there (see Africa, III., Madagascar), but not till his third trip in 1856 was he allowed to enter the capital, and then only for a month. In 1861, after the death of Queen Ranavalona I. he made his fourth, and most satisfactory, visit to the island, not returning to England till 1865. By his tact and zeal he placed Christianity upon a firm basis in the island, and his work was crowned in 1868 by the accession of a Christian queen to the throne.

As a missionary Mr. Ellis was thoroughly practical, being bent upon providing for the temporal, as well as for the spiritual, welfare of his converts. He had been bred a gardener; and the year before he went to the South Sea Islands he learned printing and bookbinding. Thus he was able to introdues many valuable plants and fruits and he set up the first printing-press in the archipelago. Through his books he won for missionaries, as a class, a respect they had not often enjoyed. Writing in the Quarterly Review Southey said of his Polynesian Researches (2 vols., London, 1829), "A more interesting book . . . we have never perused." His books were not merely faithful records of missionary labor but real contributions to science. Other works that may be mentioned are, Missionary Narrative of a Tour through Hawaii (London, 1826); History of Madagascar (2 vols., 1838); History of the London Missionary Society (not completed, vol. i., 1844); Three Visits to Madagascar (1858); Madagascar Revisited (1867); The Martyr Church of Madagascar (1870).

Bibliography: J. E. Ellis, Memoir of Rev. William Elks, London, 1873 (by his son); DNB, avii. 298-297.