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{{Short description|American industrialist and philanthropist}}
{{More sources needed|date=December 2019}}
[[File:Portrait of Henry Ware Eliot.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Henry Ware Eliot by [[Abbott Handerson Thayer]]]]
'''Henry Ware Eliot''' (November 25, 1843 &ndash; January 7, 1919) was an American [[industrialist]] and [[philanthropist]] who lived in [[St. Louis]], [[Missouri]]. He was the father of poet [[T. S. Eliot]].

==Early life and education==
He was the son of Abigail Adams (Cranch) and [[William Greenleaf Eliot]], a prominent St. Louis [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] minister who was a co-founder of [[Washington University in St. Louis|Washington University]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Louis Historic Preservation |url=https://dynamic.stlouis-mo.gov/history/peopledetail.cfm?Master_ID=859 |access-date=2023-11-10 |website=dynamic.stlouis-mo.gov}}</ref>  Eliot graduated from Washington University, A.B. 1863. Henry Eliot remained a Unitarian all his life. Henry was named in honor of [[Henry Ware Jr.]], a prominent leader of [[Harvard Divinity School]] and mentor of Henry Eliot's father in seminary.<ref>{{Cite web |title=T. S. Eliot |url=https://tseliot.com/ |access-date=2023-11-10 |website=tseliot.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Henry Ware Eliot T. S. Eliot collection |url=https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/24/resources/3087}}</ref>   

==Career==
Eliot first worked at Reed and Green in the wholesale grocery business.  Next, he became a partner in the firm of [[Eliot and Larkin]] as manufacturing [[chemist]]s. 

In 1874 Eliot became Secretary of the [[Hydraulic-Press Brick Company]] in St. Louis, later serving in all offices including President, until his retirement at age 70.  He continued to aid the company with his judgment and experience.

==Public life==
He served on the Board of Directors of Washington University, 1877–1919; as President of the [[Academy of Science, St. Louis]], 1902; and Trustee of the [[Missouri Botanical Garden]], 1902-1903.  

In later life he compiled a record of the descendants of his ancestor William Greenleaf (1724–1803).

==Marriage and family life==
On October 27, 1868, at [[Lexington, Massachusetts]] Eliot married [[Charlotte Champe Stearns]]. They were the parents of two sons and five daughters: Ada (Eliot) Sheffield; Margaret Dawes Eliot; Charlotte (Eliot) Smith; Marian Cushing Eliot; Henry Ware Eliot Jr.; Theodora Sterling Eliot and the poet [[T. S. Eliot|Thomas Stearns Eliot]].

Eliot died in St. Louis in 1919 and was buried at [[Bellefontaine Cemetery]].  A tombstone provides information about both him and his wife.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Find a Grave|11826328}}

{{T. S. Eliot|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eliot, Henry Ware}}
[[Category:American manufacturing businesspeople]]
[[Category:American philanthropists]]
[[Category:American Unitarians]]
[[Category:Washington University in St. Louis alumni]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from St. Louis]]
[[Category:Philanthropists from St. Louis]]
[[Category:1843 births]]
[[Category:1919 deaths]]
[[Category:Eliot family (United States)]]
[[Category:Missouri Botanical Garden people]]


{{1840s-US-business-bio-stub}}
[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]