Author: Everett, Edward
Biography:
Everett, Edward (1794-1865: ANBO)
Younger brother of Alexander Hill Everett (q.v.), he was born in Dorchester MA to the Rev. Oliver Everett and Lucy (Hill) Everett. He graduated from Harvard in 1811 and then studied divinity. He became minister of the Unitarian Brattle Square Church (also known as the Brattle Street Church) at the age of 18. He was a fine public speaker and his church had the largest and most fashionable congregation in Boston, but he gave it up for a life of scholarship and statesmanship. Appointed to the newly endowed Professorship of Greek Literature at Harvard in 1815, he spent four years in Europe preparing himself for the post. He was the first American to earn a PhD at Göttingen. In 1819 he returned to Harvard, combining teaching with the editorship of the North American Review. In 1822 he married Charlotte Gray Brooks; they had six children. In 1824 he was elected to Congress, where he served for ten years; in 1835, he became Governor of Massachusetts. He was appointed Minister to England in 1840, President of Harvard 1846-9, Secretary of State in 1852, Senator in 1853. Though he retired from the last position for reasons of ill health, he continued to be active in politics and delivered his last speech, in a humanitarian cause, in January 1865, just days before he died. (ANBO 23 Nov. 2018; Appleton) HJ
Other Names:
- E. Everett