Eleazar Wheelock

Eleazar Wheelock
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Name	Eleazar Wheelock
Caption	Portrait of Eleazar Wheelock
Birth date	April 22, 1711
Birth place	Windham, Connecticut
Death date	April 24, 1779
Death place	Hanover, New Hampshire
Education	Yale College
Occupation	Clergyman, educator
Known for	Founder of Dartmouth College
Spouse	Sarah Davenport, Mary Brinsmead
Children	10, including John Wheelock

Eleazar Wheelock. He was a prominent Congregational minister, educator, and missionary best known as the founder of Dartmouth College. His vision for educating Native American youth, coupled with his relentless fundraising efforts in Great Britain, led to the establishment of the college in the Province of New Hampshire. Wheelock's leadership and religious fervor were central to the early development of this Ivy League institution and its associated Moor's Indian Charity School.

Early life and education

Born in Windham, Connecticut, he was the son of Ralph Wheelock and Ruth Huntington. He pursued his higher education at Yale College, graduating in 1733, where he was profoundly influenced by the First Great Awakening. Ordained in 1735, he began his ministry in Lebanon Crank, Connecticut, where he served the Congregational Church for over three decades. During this period, he became an active participant in the evangelical movements sweeping through the Thirteen Colonies, which shaped his lifelong commitment to missionary work.

Founding of Dartmouth College

His educational mission began with the founding of the Moor's Indian Charity School in 1754, named for benefactor Joshua Moor. To secure permanent funding and a charter for a larger institution, he sent his former student, Samson Occom, a Mohegan minister, on a fundraising tour of Great Britain. The successful campaign, supported by influential figures like the Earl of Dartmouth, provided the necessary capital. In 1769, he obtained a royal charter from King George III, through the support of Governor John Wentworth, to establish Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Religious and missionary work

His missionary zeal was a driving force behind all his endeavors, rooted in the evangelical fervor of the Great Awakening. He aimed to "Christianize and civilize" Native American tribes, including the Mohegan, Delaware, and Iroquois nations. This work was closely associated with the activities of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge and other philanthropic organizations in London. While his school educated several notable Indigenous leaders, the broader assimilationist goals of his mission reflected the complex religious and cultural dynamics of colonial America.

Leadership and administration

As the first president of Dartmouth College, he held immense personal authority over the institution's early affairs, also serving as a professor and treasurer. He navigated significant challenges, including frontier conditions in Hanover, New Hampshire, financial constraints, and the ongoing tensions of the American Revolutionary War. His administration established the college's initial curriculum, heavily focused on classical education, theology, and oratory, and he appointed key early faculty such as Bezaleel Woodward. His autocratic style, however, would later lead to conflict with the Board of Trustees and his own son.

Later life and legacy

He led Dartmouth College until his death in 1779, after which he was succeeded by his son, John Wheelock. His legacy is complex; he is celebrated as the founder of a premier university and a dedicated, if paternalistic, missionary. The college itself became a center of education for both European and Native American students, though the latter aspect diminished after his death. His life and work are commemorated in the Dartmouth College archives, and his story is intertwined with broader narratives of education, religion, and colonialism in early America. The famed Dartmouth College Case before the Supreme Court of the United States ultimately secured the institution's independence and cemented its enduring place in American higher education. Category:1711 births Category:1779 deaths Category:American Congregationalist ministers Category:American educators Category:Dartmouth College people