Eliot, T. L. (Thomas Lamb), 1841-1936

Thomas Lamb Eliot, Portland clergyman, was born October 13, 1841 in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1867, Eliot came to Portland, Oregon, where he became the first pastor of the First Unitarian Church, a position he held until 1893. Rev. Eliot was influential in Portland's social, cultural, and educational life, which included serving as Multnomah County superintendent of schools (1872-1876), director of the Portland Library Association (1896-1925), and trustee of Reed College (1904-1925). He also played an important part in founding the Mazamas mountaineering club. Rev. Eliot died April 28, 1936 in Portland.

Thomas Lamb Eliot, Portland clergyman, was born October 13, 1841 in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1867, Eliot came to Portland, Oregon, where he became the first pastor of the First Unitarian Church, a position he held until 1893. Rev. Eliot was influential in Portland's social, cultural, and educational life, which included serving as Multnomah County superintendent of schools (1872-1876), director of the Portland Library Association (1896-1925), and trustee of Reed College (1904-1925). He also played an important part in founding the Mazamas mountaineering club. He died April 28, 1936 in Portland.

Thomas Lamb Eliot was born in 1841 in St. Louis, Missouri, eldest son of a Unitarian minister, the Reverand William Greenleaf Eliot. Thomas Lamb graduated in the first class of Washington University, attended a divinity course at Harvard, taught, and assisted his father before moving to Portland, Oregon to establish the first Unitarian church in 1867. While pastor for 25 years, he focused his energy on child welfare, various charities, equal suffrage, public parks, and both political and prison reform. In 1882, he founded the Oregon Humane Society, and upon his retirement from the ministry in 1989, he turned to philanthropic work and advancing the cultural and intellectual life of Portland, including the Portland Art Association and the Portland Library Association. As friend to Simeon and Amanda Reed, he served as one of the five founding trustees for the Reed Institute and then as a trustee and regent for the college, resigning his presidency in 1920, and retiring in 1925. He died in 1936.

Thomas Lamb Eliot, Portland clergyman, was born October 13, 1841 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Thomas Lamb Eliot, Portland clergyman, was born October 13, 1841 in St. Louis, Missouri.

In 1867, Eliot came to Portland, Oregon, where he became the first pastor of the First Unitarian Church, a position he held until 1893. Rev. Eliot was influential in Portland's social, cultural, and educational life, which included serving as Multnomah County superintendent of schools (1872-1876), director of the Portland Library Association (1896-1925), and trustee of Reed College (1904-1925). He also played an important part in founding the Mazamas mountaineering club. Rev. Eliot died April 28, 1936 in Portland.