Elijah Corlet
Elijah Corlet | |
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| Born | 1610 |
| Died | 24 February 1687(aged 76–77) |
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| Occupation | |
Elijah Corlet(1610 – February 24, 1687)[1]wasschoolmasterof the Cambridge Grammar School inCambridge, Massachusettsfor most of the late 17th century. Many of his pupils were early students ofHarvard College,including the ministerCotton Mather.From 1672 to 1700, the Cambridge Grammar School sent more students to Harvard than any other school.[2]
Early life
[edit]Corlet was the son of Henry Corlet, a London waxchandler.He was anexhibitioneratChrist's Hospital.He began studying atLincoln College, Oxfordin March 1626–27 at the age of 17 and was awarded hisB.A.in or circa 1631. He was ordained as a deacon in 1633. He was awarded anM.A.fromPembroke College, Cambridgein 1638. He worked as a schoolmaster inFramlinghamand theHalsteadGrammar School inEssex.[3]
Career
[edit]It is not known when Corlet emigrated to theMassachusetts Bay Colonybut he was schoolmaster of the Cambridge Grammar School by 1642 and was the first schoolmaster who was paid in part with public funds.[1]Corlet was mentioned inNew England's First Fruits,a pamphlet written in 1642 and published in England in 1643 to promote the colony and Harvard. The authors wrote:
And by the side of the Colledge a faireGrammarSchoole, for the training up of young Scholars, and fitting of them forAcademicall Learning,that still as they are judged ripe, they may be received into the Colledge of this Schoole: MasterCorletis the Mr., who hath very well approved himselfe for his abilities, dexterity and painfulnesse in teaching and education of the youth under him[1]
In hisMagnalia Christi Americana,Mather wrote of Corlet:
...that memorable old school-master in Cambridge, from whose education our colledge and country has received so many of itsworthy men,that he is himselfworthyto have hisnamecelebrated in no less a paragraph of ourchurch history...[4]
Corlet helped Mather manage his stammer,[5]a stammer which Mather thought threatened to prevent him from becoming a preacher like hisfatherandgrandfather.[6]Corlet advised Mather to speak in "a veryDeliberateway ofSpeaking;aDrawlingthat shall be little short ofSinging ".[7]This has been cited as an early example ofspeech-language pathologyin America.[8]
Corlet also taught a number of Native American students at his school, including possiblyCaleb CheeshahteaumuckandJoel Iacoomes,both of whom went on to Harvard.[9]
Later life and death
[edit]Corlet taught at the school until his death in 1687. He was the subject of ablank verseelegybyNehemiah Walter(1663–1750), who was frequently employed by Corlet to run the school when he was absent.[1]
Corlet married Barbara Cutter around 1643. He was made a freeman in 1645.[1]His son Ammi Ruhamah Corlet graduated from Harvard in 1670 and died of smallpox on February 1, 1679.[10][11]
Legacy
[edit]Corlet is portrayed inGeraldine Brooks' book of historical fictionCaleb's Crossing.[12]
References
[edit]- ^abcdeLittlefield, George E. (1915)."ELIJAH CORLET AND THE 'FAIRE GRAMMAR SCHOOLE' AT CAMBRIDGE".Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts.XVII.
- ^Morison, Samuel Eliot (1965).The Intellectual Life of Colonial New England.New York University Press. p. 102.
- ^Morison, Samuel Eliot(1968).The Founding of Harvard College.Harvard University Press. p.373.ISBN9780674314504.
- ^Mather, Cotton; Robbins, Thomas; Drake, Samuel Gardner (1853).Magnalia Christi Americana: Or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England; from Its First Planting, in the Year 1620, Unto the Year of Our Lord 1698. In Seven Books.S. Andrus and son. pp.351.ISBN9780665448706.
- ^Kaiser, Leo M. (1984-01-01).Early American Latin verse, 1625–1825: an anthology.Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. p. 16.ISBN9780865160309.
- ^Levy, Babette. "Chapter 10: The Angel of Bethesda."Cotton Mather,by Babette M. Levy, Twayne Publishers, 1979. Twayne's United States Authors Series 328.
- ^Mather, Cotton (1972).The Angel of Bethesda.American Antiquarian Society and Barre Publishers. p. 231.ISBN9780827172203.
- ^Duchan, Judith Felson (2002-12-01)."What Do You Know Your Profession's History?: And Why Is It Important?".The ASHA Leader.7(23): 4–29.doi:10.1044/leader.FTR.07232002.4.ISSN1085-9586.
- ^Szasz, Margaret Connell (2007-07-01).Indian Education in the American Colonies, 1607–1783.U of Nebraska Press. pp. 123–27.ISBN978-0803233836.
- ^"Memoirs of Graduates of Harvard College".The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.New England Historic Genealogical Society. 1847. p. 35.
- ^Sibley, John Langdon (1881).Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.Johnson Reprint Corporation. p. 319.
- ^Atlas, Amelia (17 April 2011)."Pride of the Indian College".Harvard Magazine.Retrieved10 October2021.
External links
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