Thomas Stearns Eliot was born on 26 September 1888 in St. Louis, Missouri to Henry Ware Eliot and Charlotte Champe Stearns, named after his maternal grandfather, Thomas Stearns, but known as Tom. [1][2][3][4] His father was a successful businessman; his mother was a poet. T.S.'s paternal grandfather William Greenleaf Eliot moved to St. Louis, Missouri to establish a Unitarian Church.
As a child, he grew to love books (due mainly to his isolation because of illness), especially stories of the Wild West and 'Tom Sawyer'. He began writing poetry at the young age of fourteen, and was published three years later. A list of some of his poetry is contained in the Bibliography section, together with a link to a more complete list of his works.
On 26 June 1915, T S Eliot married Vivienne Haigh-Wood in Hampstead. [5] Unfortunately, the bride was plagued by health problems and mental instability; the marriage lasted eighteen years, but eventually the couple separated and she was confined to a mental hospital in 1938 by her brother.
T.S. worked for a time as a bank clerk, and also as a teacher, before he started devoting more time to his writing.[1][3] He emigrated to England in 1914 to further his literary endeavours and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.[3]
Eliot remarried - at age 68 - to Esme Valerie Fletcher. [6] The bride was 38 years his junior, and had been his secretary since 1949. T S Eliot had no children with either of his wives.
T S Eliot received many awards for his works, including the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948, three Tony awards (drama), an Ivor Novello award (for Best Song musically and lyrically), thirteen honorary doctorates from universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, the Sorbonne, and Harvard, and a star on the St Louis Walk of Fame.
St Michael & All Angels, East Coker, Somerset, England
T.S. Eliot died of emphysema at his home in Kensington in London, on 4 January 1965, and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. His ashes were removed to the St Michael and All Angels' Church in East Coker (Somerset), the original place from whence his ancestors sprang before they travelled to America.
He is memorialised by a wall plaque in this church, a floor stone in Poet's Corner (in Westminster Abbey) and a blue plaque at 3 Kensington Gardens, where he died.
↑ "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV5Y-KPHJ : 16 March 2018), Thomas Stearns Eliot, 1910; citing Passport Application, Massachusetts, United States, source certificate #38612, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 121, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
↑ 3.03.13.2 "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJP-91PF : 16 March 2018), Thomas Stearns Eliot, 1917; citing Passport Application, Washington, United States, source certificate #58720, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, Roll 380, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
↑ "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV5B-VFNT : 16 March 2018), Thomas Stearns Eliot, 1919; citing Passport Application, England, source certificate #127993, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 951, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
↑ England & Wales marriage registration: Hampstead [district], Volume 1a, Page 1951, June quarter 1915 [Vivienne]
↑ England & Wales marriage registration: Kensington [district], Volume 5c, Page 2855, March quarter 1957 [Esme]
'Virginia Woolf' a biography by her nephew Quentin Bell, published by The Hogarth Press, Pimlico, London in 1996. ISBN 0 7126 7450 0, includes extensive family trees. Hundreds of friends, professional connections and people in the 'Bloomsbury set' are also mentioned in the text.'Virginia Woolf' a biography by her nephew Quentin Bell
"United States Border Crossings from Canada to United States, 1895-1956", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XPWJ-M29 : 14 November 2019), Thomas Stearns Eliot, 1936.
"Vermont, St. Albans Canadian Border Crossings, 1895-1954," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK31-DRGK : 16 August 2019), Thomas Stearns Eliot, 1895-1924; citing M1461, Soundex Index to Canadian Border Entries through the St. Albans, Vermont, District, 1895-1924, 137, NARA microfilm publications M1461, M1463, M1464, and M1465 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, publication year); FHL microfilm 1,472,937.
"Vermont, St. Albans Canadian Border Crossings, 1895-1954," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK3B-6FMK : 16 August 2019), Thomas Stearns Eliot, 1946; citing M1464, Soundex Index to Canadian Border Entries through the St. Albans, Vermont, District, 1895-1924, 618, NARA microfilm publications M1461, M1463, M1464, and M1465 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, publication year); FHL microfilm 2,155,388.
"United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3D4-FXJ : accessed 5 December 2019), Thomas S Eliot in household of Henry W Eliot, Precinct 5 St. Louis city Ward 22, St. Louis, Missouri, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 332, sheet 7A, family 144, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,898.
"United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M211-Q9T : accessed 5 December 2019), Thomas S Eliot in household of Henry W Eliot, St Louis Ward 25, St Louis (Independent City), Missouri, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 398, sheet 2A, family 23, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 822; FHL microfilm 1,374,835.
"United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV5Y-6822 : 16 March 2018), Thomas S Eliot, 1923; citing Passport Application, England, source certificate #356912, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 2399, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
"United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV5B-9LWG : 16 March 2018), Thomas S Eliot, 1921; citing Passport Application, England, source certificate #12900, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 1550, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
"Vermont, St. Albans Canadian Border Crossings, 1895-1954," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK3B-8Q6R : 16 August 2019), Thomas S Eliot, 1932; citing M1464, Soundex Index to Canadian Border Entries through the St. Albans, Vermont, District, 1895-1924, 580, NARA microfilm publications M1461, M1463, M1464, and M1465 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, publication year); FHL microfilm 2,155,350.
"United States, New York, Index to Passengers Arriving at New York City, compiled 1944-1948", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:781M-JJZM : 23 October 2019), Thomas S Eliot, 1947.
"United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV5B-GSQ1 : 16 March 2018), Thomas Steame Eliot, 1914; citing Passport Application, Massachusetts, United States, source certificate #33401, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 215, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
"New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24PX-N33 : 15 March 2018), Thomas S Eliot, 1947; citing Immigration, New York City, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Thomas by comparing test results with other carriers of his ancestors' Y-chromosome or mitochondrial DNA.
Y-chromosome DNA test-takers in his direct paternal line on WikiTree:
Elliot-3033 and Eliot-187 appear to represent the same person because: Most of the info is identical. Last names are spelled differently. Eliot apparently is the correct spelling.
Elliot-3032 and Eliot-187 appear to represent the same person because: The peofiles represent the same person because they have the same mother and the same DOB, only with a variation in the spelling of Last Name At Birth. (The spelling with one "l" and one "t" appears to have prevailed for the five most recent generations.)
Having attended a rather classical college I had to suffer and struggle through his poetry, Knowing that he is my 8th cousin might have made it easier.
edited by [Living Kerr]
edited by [Living Davison]
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