Ezekiel Cheever (1614–1708) was a schoolmaster, and the author of "probably the earliest American school book", Accidence, A Short Introduction to the Latin Tongue.[ ABOUT BLS – History (375 Years) – Reflections on Alma Mater , accessed July 15, 2011] He has been called "the chief representative of the colonial schoolmaster".
Biography
Cheever came to Boston,
Massachusetts in June 1637. Not much later, he went to
New Haven,
Connecticut and taught school.
In 1650, Cheever moved the family back to Massachusetts. On December 29, 1670, he was invited to become Head Master of the Boston Latin School.
He taught for seventy years, the last thirty-eight as master of the Boston Latin School.
[ The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21) – VOLUME XVII. Later National Literature, Part II – XXIII. Education. – § 10. Ezekiel Cheever, accessed July 15, 2011][Gould, Elizabeth Porter. Ezekiel Cheever, Schoolmaster, 1872.] Cotton Mather gave the eulogy at his funeral.
[Hassam, JT (1879) Ezekiel Cheever and some of his descendants, David Clapp & Son (via google.com)] In it Mather praised Cheever for his "untiring abjuration of the devil."
Family
In 1638, Cheever married Mary Culverwell, his first wife. She was the daughter of Ezekiel Culverwell, niece of Nathaniel Culverwell and cousin of
William Gouge. Ezekiel and Mary had six children. Their daughter, Elizabeth, was grandmother of Ezekiel Goldthwait.
[John Singleton Copley portrait, Ezekiel Goldthwait, 1771] Their son, Rev Samuel, graduated from
Harvard in 1659. Mary died on January 20, 1649.
On November 18, 1652, Ezekiel married Ellen Lathrop who was the sister of Capt Thomas Lathrop, a casualty during Muttawmp.[Perley, Sidney (1924) 'The History of Salem, Massachusetts' ( V I, P283 @virginia.edu)] Ezekiel and Ellen had five children. Their son, Rev Thomas, graduated from Harvard in 1677. Their son, Ezekiel Cheever, was a resident at Salem Village during the time of the Witch Trials.
Ezekiel was an ancestor of author John Cheever.
Legacy
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Ezekiel Cheever School was named in his honor.
External links
