Smith, Eli

Smith, Eli

(1801–57) missionary, translator; born in Northford, Conn. He was ordained as a Congregational minister (1826) and went to Malta to work for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He traveled extensively in the Middle East (1829–31) and published his Missionary Sermons and Addresses (1833). During the last decade of his life he translated much of the Bible into Arabic. He died of cancer in Beirut and his work was finally completed by Cornelius Van Dyck.