BURGESS, Ebenezer. Grafton, Vermont 26.6.1805 — Newton Centre, Mass. 1.1.1870. Rev. U.S. Missionary in India, a Scholar of Marathi, Sanskrit and Indian Astronomy. Son of the elder Ebenezer Burgess (1768–1834) and Mercy Hall (1771–1815). Educated at Amherst College and Andover Theological Seminary, ordained priest in 1839. Missionary in Western India in 1839-54 for American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, especially in Ahmednagar and 1851-54 in Satara. Returned to America in 1854, he served in 1854-57 as an agent of his missionary society there. In 1857-67 he was minister in various places of Massachusetts: at Centerville, Barnstable, Dracut, Lanesville, Gloucester, and South Franklin. Married 1839 Mary Zilpah Grant (1811–1842, one son, both died of cholera), on a leave in 1846 Abigail Moore (1813–1853) in Boston, three daughters. Again widower finally married 1868 Azubah T. Stone (1810?–1897). Not to be confused with another Rev. Ebenezer Burgess (1790–1870), who was campaigning for the foundation of Liberia.
Publications: Wrote text books in Marathi and revised the Marathi Bible.
– Grammar of the Marathi Language. 8+182 p. Bombay 1854.
– Translation of the Sûrya-Siddhânta, a text book of Hindu Astronomy. Ed. by W. D. Whitney. 4+355 p. 34 fig. = JAOS 6, 1860, 141-498.
– “On the Origin of the Lunar Division of the Zodiac, represented in the Nakshatra Systems of the Hindus”, JAOS 8, 1866, 309-334.
Sources: U.S.A. in Asia; ancestors.familysearch.org (claiming he died in Barnstable); all marriages in sites.rootsweb.com.
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