Cornelius, Elias

Cornelius, Elias D.D., a Congregational minister, was born in Somers, N. Y., July 31, 1794. He graduated at Yale in 1813. In 1816, after being licensed to preach, he was appointed agent of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. In the spring of 1817 he started on a missionary tour to the Creeks and Cherokees, and then to New Orleans, where he remained until April 2, 188, when he returned to Boston, visiting the Indian Mission on his way. He was ordained collegiate pastor of Tabernacle church in Salem July 21, 1819. In Oct. 1826, he resigned, and entered upon his duties as secretary of the American Education Society. In Oct. 1831, he was elected secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He died Feb. 12, 1832. He published several occasional sermons and useful tracts. — Sprague, Annals, 2:633; Edwards, Memoir of Cornelius (Bost. 1834, 12mo).