Ezra Stiles
| Ezra Stiles | |
|---|---|
Rev. Ezra Stiles, 1770-1771, by Samuel King
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| 7th President of Yale University | |
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In office 1778–1795 |
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| Preceded by |
Naphtali Daggett as pro tempore |
| Succeeded by | Timothy Dwight IV |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
December 10, 1727 North Haven, Connecticut |
| Died | May 12, 1795 (aged 67) New Haven, Connecticut |
| Children | Betsey Stiles; Ruth (Stiles) Gannett; Emilia (Stiles) Leavitt; Polly (Stiles) Holmes; Isaac Stiles |
| Signature |  |
Ezra Stiles (December 10, 1727 – May 12, 1795) was an American academic and educator, a Congregationalist minister, theologian and author. He was seventh president of Yale College (1778–1795), and one of the founders of Brown University.
Born the son of the Rev. Isaac Stiles in North Haven, Connecticut,and Kezia Taylor (1702-1727), the daughter of poet Edward Taylor.(Find a grave) Ezra Stiles graduated from Yale in 1746. He studied theology and was ordained in 1749, tutoring at Yale from that year until 1755. He resigned from the ministry in 1753 to study law and practice at New Haven, but returned to the cloth two years later. Historians Helen A. Lane and Marion B. Walkden report that he was the first minister of the Dighton Community Church in Massachusetts. They state:
Ezra Stiles, first settled minister of the church, was later made president of Yale College. Driven out by the British in 1777, he arrived in Dighton with his family and several of his former Newport congregation. Among them was William Ellery, singer (sic) of the Declaration of Independence. Ezra as minister of the half finished church at Lower Four Corners was paid about three hundred dollars, house, and wood. While minister of the Dighton Church, Ezra Stiles received on July 13th a copy of the Declaration of Independence to be read to the congregation. It was brought to him by Mr. Channing, father of the famous preachers. Among Rev. Stiles’ many friends were Benjamin Franklin, Robert J. Payne, General Stark, John Adams, President Langdon of Harvard, and many leaders of the Revolutionary War period."
In 1784, Stiles was elected an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati of Connecticut, one of the first so honored, for his ardent support of the Patriot cause.
Trinity Church, the Anglican Church in Newport, Rhode Island, asked him to become its minister, but he turned the offer down. Instead, in 1755, he became pastor of the Second Congregational Church, also in Newport, where he also served as Librarian of the Redwood Library and Athenaeum. He kept an informative diary of his life and distinguished acquaintances in Newport, including his association with Aaron Lopez. Newport's Ezra Stiles House is on the National Historic Register.
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