Ezra Stiles Ely

Ezra Stiles Ely (June 13, 1786 – June 17, 1861) was an American Presbyterian minister during the Second Great Awakening.

He was the son of Rev. Zebulon Ely, and was born in Lebanon, Connecticut in 1786. In 1803, he graduated from Yale at the age of seventeen and was licensed to preach a year later. In October 1806, he was settled as pastor of the church in Colchester, Connecticut (Westchester parish). In 1810, he left to begin his duties as the Stated Preacher of the New York Almshouse under the sponsorship of the Presbytery of New York, one of the largest churches in the city at the time. He served the Almshouse in the years 1811 and 1813, and wrote two journals documenting his experience.

In 1814 he was called to the pastorate of the Pine Street Church in Philadelphia, where he continued over twenty years. As a friend and confidant of Andrew Jackson, Ely advocated for a "Christian Party" during the 1820s. Around 1834, he began establishing a College and Theological Seminary in Marion County, Missouri, known as Marion College. The financial reverses of 1837 frustrated the undertaking and created trouble for Ely, and he was arrested twice for land deals gone awry, and Curtis Dahl documented Ely's advising role with a political sex scandal (the notorious Peggy Eaton Affair/Petticoat Affair). In 1844, he entered on pastoral duties in the First Presbyterian Church in New London Township, Pennsylvania, and continued his labors until 1851, when he had a stroke, and was paralyzed.

He was a quick thinker, a gifted speaker, and an imaginative writer. For several years, he edited a religious paper named, ''The Philadelphian''. He was the author of ''The Journal of the Stated Preacher to the Hospital and Almshouse, in the City of New-York, for the Year of Our Lord 1811'', 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 he edited his father's memoir.

He received a Doctor of Divinity degree 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. Provided by Wikipedia