Stiles, Ezra, 1727 - 1795

Ezra Stiles (November 29, 1727 – May 12, 1795) Yale College (B.A. 1746, M.A. 1749), lawyer, Congregational clergyman, theologian, antiquarian, scholar, and intellectual. Pastor of the Second Congregational Church of Newport, Rhode Island (1755-1786); Member of the American Philosophical Society (1768); President of Yale College (1778-1795)  DAB.  In 1750, Stiles had preached to the Indian community at Stockbridge, Massachusetts and had even been a missionary candidate there, but afterwards his interest in Native matters was more scientific.  He recorded linguistic, political, social, and genealogical information on Indian tribes in New England and New York, and was particularly fascinated with Indian petroglyphs found in that region.

 

Image: Samuel King - Ezra Stiles (1727 -1795), B.A. 1746, M.A. 1749 - 1955.3.1 - Yale University Art Gallery