Eli Smith

1801-1857. American Congregational missionary and Orientalist. Born at Northford, Connecticut, he graduated from Yale (1821) and Andover Seminary (1826). Ordained the latter year, he engaged in mission work under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Malta and Syria. In 1830, with H.G.O. Dwight, he explored Asia Minor, Armenia, Georgia, and Persia. The two published a book dealing with their trip which led to the establishment of the American mission among Nestorian Christians. In 1838 he and Edward Robinson explored Sinai, Palestine, and S Syria. The last ten years of Smith's life were spent translating the Bible into Arabic. He died at Beirut.