American abolitionist, and a brother of Owen Lovejoy; born in Albion, ME, on the 9th of November 1802; assassinated in Alton, IL, on the 7th of November 1837. In 1827 he established a school in St. Louis, MO, contributed articles and poems to the press, and in 1829 became editor of a political paper that supported Henry Clay as a Presidential candidate. In 1833 he was licensed to preach by the Presbyterian church, and established a religious paper called the Observer, in which he condemned slavery. Threats of violence compelled him to remove his paper to Alton, IL. Even there his press was destroyed three times by mobs, mostly composed of Missourians. At the fourth attack he and his friends defended the office, and thought they had compelled the mob to withdraw; but when Lovejoy opened the door he was instantly pierced by five bullets. His Memoir was published by his brothers, with a preface by J. Q. Adams. In 1894 the Illinois legislature appropriated $25,000 to be used in the construction of a monument in honor of Elijah Parish Lovejoy, in the city of Alton, to be erected on a lot set apart in the cemetery and overlooking the Mississippi River.
