Samuel Eliot (December 22, 1821 – September 14, 1898) was an American historian, educator, and statesman of Boston, Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut.

His father built the Tremont House, participated in the musical life of the city, had variants of his names including Hayward, Harvard, Havard, Howard, and Elliott, and died suddenly in 1831 while campaigning for mayor.

However, on June 7, 1853, Eliot married Emily Marshall Otis (1832-1906) of Boston, and his writing career gradually drew to a close.

[3] He was also active as a trustee, director, etc., for Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Boston Athenaeum, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Massachusetts Bible Society, and the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Eliot died of heart trouble on September 14, 1898, at Beverly Farms, Massachusetts,[4] and is buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery.