Eli Smith
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Eli Smith (born September 13, 1801, in
Northford, Connecticut Northford is a census-designated place (CDP) comprising the primary village and surrounding residential and rural land in the town of North Branford, New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. It is in the northern part of the town, bordered to ...
, to Eli and Polly (Whitney) Smith, and died January 11, 1857, in
Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
, Lebanon) was an American Protestant
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
and scholar. He graduated from
Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
in 1821 and from
Andover Theological Seminary Andover Theological Seminary (1807–1965) was a Congregationalist seminary founded in 1807 and originally located in Andover, Massachusetts on the campus of Phillips Academy. From 1908 to 1931, it was located at Harvard University in Cambridge. ...
in 1826. He worked in
Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
until 1829, then in company with H. G. O. Dwight traveled through
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
and
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
to
Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. They published their observations, ''Missionary Researches in Armenia'', in 1833 in two volumes. Eli Smith settled in Beirut in 1833. Along with Edward Robinson, he made two trips to the
Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...
in 1838 and 1852, acting as an interpreter for Robinson in his quest to identify and record biblical place names in Palestine, which was subsequently published in Robinson's ''
Biblical Researches in Palestine ''Biblical researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea'' (1841 edition), also ''Biblical Researches in Palestine and the Adjacent Regions'' (1856 edition), was a travelogue of 19th-century Palestine and the magnum opus of the "Father ...
''. He is known for bringing the first
printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in wh ...
with
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
type to
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
. He went on to pursue the task which he considered to be his life's work: translation of the Bible into Arabic. Although he died before completing the task, the work was completed by C. V. Van Dyck of the Syrian Mission and published in 1860 to 1865. He married three times.
Sarah Lanman Huntington Smith Sarah Lanman Smith (also known as, Sarah L. Huntington Smith; June 18, 1802 – September 30, 1836) was a 19th-century American Christian missionary, memoirist, and school founder. In 1835, she established the American School for Girls, which becam ...
b. June 18, 1802 in Norwich, CT to Jabez and Mary (Lanman) Huntington and died Sept. 30, 1836 in Smyrna, Izmir, Turkey (m.July 21, 1833 in Beirut, Lebanon) was also a missionary; Maria Ward (Chapin) Smith b. May 31, 1819 in Rochester, N.Y. to Moses and Esther Maria (Ward) Chapin and died May 27, 1842 in Beirut, Lebanon (m. March 9, 1841 in Rochester, N.Y.); and Mehitable (Hetty) Simkins (Butler) Smith b. Sep. 15, 1816 to Daniel and Elizabeth Butler and died July 26, 1893 in Lyons, Michigan (m. Oct. 7, 1846 in Northampton, MA), who was also a missionary. His daughter Mary Elizabeth Smith, was educated at the Female Seminaries in Hartford, Connecticut and Ipswich, Massachusetts and taught at the Female Seminary at Mt. Auburn, Cincinnati. She was listed In the Women's Who's Who of America by John William Leonard 1914–1915.


References


Further reading


A biographical article.
*Haim Goren, The loss of a minute is just so much loss of life': Edward Robinson and Eli Smith in the Holy Land'',
Brepols Brepols is a Belgian publishing house. Once, it was one of the largest printing companies in the world and one of the main employers in Turnhout (Belgium). Besides its printing business, Brepols is also active as a publisher. Formerly well known ...
, 2020.


External links


Passport for Explorer of Jerusalem, Rev. Eli Smith
Shapell Manuscript Foundation *
Eli Smith
, In: ''
Dictionary of American Biography The ''Dictionary of American Biography'' was published in New York City by Charles Scribner's Sons under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). History The dictionary was first proposed to the Council in 1920 by hi ...
'' (1943), Vol. 17, p. 257-258 {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Eli People from North Branford, Connecticut American Protestant missionaries 1801 births Yale College alumni Translators of the Bible into Arabic Protestant missionaries in Syria Protestant missionaries in Malta Protestant missionaries in Iran Protestant missionaries in Armenia Protestant missionaries in Palestine (region) 1857 deaths 19th-century American translators American expatriates in the Ottoman Empire Protestant missionaries in the Ottoman Empire Protestant missionaries in Georgia (country) Missionary linguists