History of the Reed family in Europe and America

292 ELIAS READ,
himself for the ministry, he attended Prof. Sewall's lectures on the
Hebrew language, and acquired so much knowledge of it as to be
appointed to deliver a Hebrew oration at a public exhibition : and,
during the interval between the death of Prof. Sewall and the
appointment of Mr. Parsons as his successor, he was requested to
instruct such students as wished to learn the Hebrew language ;
which he accordingly did, and was handsomely rewarded for his
services. Previous to commencement in 1781, at which time he
graduated, he was selected by his classmates to deliver a valedic-
tory address on a fixed day, in compliance with a long-established
custom of the university.
After commencement, he went to Beverly, Mass., and taught the
town-school there about a year and a half; and boarded at the house
of the Hon. Nathan Dane, the founder of the law-school at Harvard.
After leaving Beverly, he taught a private school for young ladies,
in Salem, until October, 1783 ; at which time he was elected a
tutor in Harvard College, where he continued his labors as such
until after the commencement of 1787. He then resigned his place
as tutor, and entered upon the study of medicine with Dr. Edward
Augustus Holyoke of Salem till October, 1788; when he gave up
the idea of following medicine as a profession, and opened an apo-
thecary store in Salem. He built and occupied the mansion-house,
on Essex Street, late taken down, — where the Plummer Institute
now stands.
In October, 1790, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Jeffry,
daughter of William JeflVy, Esq., Clerk of the Court of the County
of Essex, and grand-daughter of Joseph Bowditch, Esq. Aug. 24,
1791, he was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences. April 4, 1795, he removed on to his farm in Dan-
vers, and erected a permanent structure across Waters's River, which
served for a dam and bridge ; and built the splendid mansion-house
known at the present time as the Capt. Porter Estate. In October,
1800, hie was appointed a member of Congress from Essex South
District to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Sewall,
the late member from that district. Nov. 5, 1800, he was also elected
a member, from that district, of the succeeding Congress, for two years
from and after the 4th of March, 1801 ; and was a member during
the contest in the House between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron
Burr, in which the former became the successful candidate, and sue-