Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

---

Yale, Elihu 1649-1721

Philanthropist; born in New Haven, Conn., April 5, 1649; was educated in England. About 1678 he went to the East Indies where he remained twenty years and amassed a large estate. He was governor of Fort George there from 1687 to 1692. Mr. Yale married a native of the East Indies, by whom he had three daughters. He passed his latter days in England, where he was made governor of the East India Company and a fellow of the Royal Society. He remembered his native country with affection, and when the school that grew into a college was founded he gave donations to it amounting in the aggregate to about $2,000. It was given the name of Yale in his honor. He died in London, July 8, 1721.