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Wheelock, John , 1754-1817

 

Biography

John Wheelock was born on January 28, 1754, in Lebanon, Conn.He was the eldest son of Eleazar Wheelock who was the founder and first president of Dartmouth College; John Wheelock succeeded his father as the College’s second president.

Wheelock began his higher education at Yale, then followed his father to Hanover, NH when his father founded Dartmouth and completed his studies there, where he was a member of the College’s inaugural graduating class in 1771.

In 1776, Wheelock became a leader of the United Committees, a group of disgruntled New Hampshire citizens angry at their lack of representation in the state legislature and the distance of the state capital; in retaliation for these slights, Wheelock and others led twelve New Hampshire towns to secede from the state and attempt to join Vermont. The next year, 1777, as the Revolutionary War raged, Wheelock briefly served in New York and Vermont as a lieutenant colonel in Colonel Bedel's Regiment.

Upon his father's death in 1779, John Wheelock assumed the presidency of the College, despite the fact that he was neither an academic nor a minister. During his almost forty years as Dartmouth's president (1779–1815), Wheelock oversaw the construction of Dartmouth Hall and the founding of Dartmouth Medical School, the fourth-oldest medical school in the country; he also maintained the College’s fiscal solvency throughout the Revolutionary War, mainly through the Vermont legislature’s grant of 23,000 acres (93 km²) in Wheelock, Vermont. During the latter half of Wheelock's tenure, he became embroiled in a dispute with Dartmouth’s Board of Trustees. Wheelock proceeded to convince the governor of New Hampshire to fill the Board with supporters and turn Dartmouth College into a state-controlled Dartmouth University. The original, private Board resisted and eventually sued. The case, Dartmouth College v. Woodward, went through various judicial courts, before the United States Supreme Court decided in the Board's favor in 1819, the result of a brilliant peroration by Dartmouth alumnus Daniel Webster, class of 1801, who had, ironically, graduated under Wheelock's tenure. However, by this time, Wheelock, who had been forced out of the presidency in 1815 by failing health and poor relations with the Board, had died.

Found in 655 Collections and/or Records:

Abijah Blanchard letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 813411.1
Mss 813411.1
Date(s): 1813-07-11
Scope and Contents

Two-page letter from Abijah Blanchard of Waterford, New York to John Wheelock in Hanover, New Hampshire with a recommendation of Francis Drake.

Abijah Wines letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 810524
Mss 810524
Date(s): 1810-09-24
Abstract

In English.

Abraham Morrill letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 788603.1
Mss 788603.1
Date(s): 1788-11-03
Abstract

In English.

Abram Lott letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 787569
Mss 787569
Date(s): 1787-10-19
Abstract

In English.

Accounts of Extra Expenses for the School

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 789390
Mss 789390
Date(s): 1789-06
Abstract

In English.

Accounts of Moor's Charity School

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 789358
Mss 789358
Date(s): 1789-06-08
Abstract

In English.

Alex(ander) Thomas letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 788576
Mss 788576
Date(s): 1788-10-26
Abstract

In English.

Alvin Johnson letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 788479
Mss 788479
Date(s): 1788-08-29
Abstract

In English.

Answer to John Wheelock and Stephen Jacob

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 806611
Mss 806611
Date(s): 1806-11-11
Abstract

In English.

B. Chase letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 788653
Mss 788653
Date(s): 1788-12-03
Abstract

In English.

Ben Woodward letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 802269
Mss 802269
Date(s): 1802-04-19
Abstract

In English.

Benjamin Darling letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 811478.1
Mss 811478.1
Date(s): 1811-08-28
Scope and Contents

Letter from Benjamin Darling in Hanover, New Hampshire to President and Trustees of Dartmouth College with a petition for abatement of College bill which were billed to him during the time he was not a member of the College.

Benjamin Pomeroy letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 781508
Mss 781508
Date(s): 1781-09-08
Scope and Contents

Pomeroy writes to Wheelock from Hebron stating he is not strong enough to attend the Trustees' meeting.

Benjamin Trumbull letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 810428
Mss 810428
Date(s): 1810-07-28
Abstract

In English.

(Boston Commissioners) letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 788640
Mss 788640
Date(s): 1788-11
Abstract

In English.

Bulkley Olcott letters

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 788618.2
Mss 788618.2
Date(s): 1788 to 1791
Abstract

In English.

Caleb Bingham letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 784324
Mss 784324
Date(s): 1784-05-24
Abstract

In English.

Caleb Fuller letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 805609.1
Mss 805609.1
Date(s): 1805-11-09
Abstract

In English.

Capt. Francis Annance letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 807320
Mss 807320
Date(s): 1807-05-20
Abstract

In English.

Capt. Francis Annanee letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 803555
Mss 803555
Date(s): 1803-10-05
Abstract

In English.

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Type
Collection 594
Archival Object 61
 
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