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 673 Collections and/or Records:
John Wheelock letter
Photocopy of two page letter from John Wheelock to the President and Delegates of the United States Congress. Wheelock solicits support for four Canadian youths from the tribes of Lorette, St. Francis and Caughnawaga, presently enrolled in Dartmouth.
John Wheelock letter
John Wheelock certifing that Seth Williston is a Bachelor of arts and of good moral character and recommending him for a teaching position.
John Wheelock letter
Three page autograph letter signed by John Wheelock at Dartmouth College to Nathaniel Peabody in Philadelphia inquiring whether Congress has made an appropriation for the support of the four Indians in Wheelock's care.
John Wheelock letter
Letter from John Wheelock of Dartmouth College to John Willard stating that his son can make part of his expenses by working in the mill and farming the adjoining land.
John Wheelock letter
Letter from John Wheelock of Dartmouth College to Benjamin Huntington stating that he is glad to admit Huntington's son to the college. Also shares war news and the College's need for money for the education of Indians.
John Wheelock letter
In a two page letter signed by John Wheelock of Dartmouth College to Benjamin Huntington, he writes about a matter which he intrusts to the members of Congress from Connecticut, as well as, the present state of the College and its intercourse with the Indians.
John Wheelock letter
Prseident Wheelock in Hanover writes to Huntington describing NH's political situation and property of College given by Daphne E. Banwell (Mrs. A.W.), Tinkers Lane Farm in Lyme, Connecticut.
John Wheelock letter
Letter from John Wheelock of Dartmouth College to Jon. Freeman. Jasper Murdock desires to buy some of college grants. Will pay $1500 down. Dr. Hasting wants his pay.
John Wheelock letter
Letter from John Wheelock of Dartmouth College to John Willard commending his son's conduct.
John Wheelock Letter
Wheelock, on behalf of the Trustees of Dartmouth College, asks Brewster to sell land from the following list of College property to bring the sum of £500.
John Wheelock letter
Letter from John Wheelock of Dartmouth College to John Graves Simcoe Lt. Governor of Upper Canada with the request of an introduction for Davenport Phelps and James Wheelock who plan to tour the "region bording on lakes".
John Wheelock letter
Letter from John Wheelock of Dartmouth College to Jon. Freeman informing him that a New York man desires to purchase some of College grants.
John Wheelock letter
Letter from John Wheelock in Hanover, New Hampshire to Rev. Jedediah Morse, Secretary, forwarding him an account of the expenses of the three Indian youths. Mr. Joel Mann, perceptor.
John Wheelock letter
Letter from John Wheelock to Rev. Dr. Jedidiah Morse, Secretary to the honorable Commissioners of the Society in Scotland containing an account of former Indian Charity Members and the Utility of Moor's I.C. School... . (12 pages)
John Wheelock letter
Letter from John Wheelock of Dartmouth College to Jonathan Freeman, asking him to survey his Lebanon farm.
John Wheelock letter
Letter from John Wheelock of Hanover to Lord Dartmouth introducing his nephew John Phillip Ripley who is on his way to Scotland and Russia.
John Wheelock letter
One-page letter from John Wheelock at Dartmouth College to Jedidiah More, Secreatry, enclosing an account of the School examinations.
John Wheelock letter
Letter from Wheelock at Dartmouth to Brewster, Officer of the Board of War, stating that a strange Frenchman has enticed youths from the school to go to Charlestown. Brewster's reply: intern the Frenchman as an enemy suspect.
John Wheelock letter
To Rev. Jedidiah Morse, Secy. The progress of the Indian boys. The expenses for thier support. Rev. Dr. Smith, the bearer of the letter, is well acquainted with the affairs of the School.
Hanover.
John Wheelock letter
John Wheelock of Dartmouth College to Jon. Freeman about 1785 writer agreed in name of trustees that Joseph Lee should have lot on which his house stands for twenty pounds and surrounding lands at eight pounds per acre.
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