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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 673 Collections and/or Records:

Nicholas Baylies letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 808202
Mss 808202
Date(s): 1808-03-02
Abstract

In English.

Noah Webster letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 806167
Mss 806167
Date(s): 1806-02-17
Abstract

In English.

Noel Annance letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 815310
Mss 815310
Date(s): 1815-05-10
Abstract

In English.

Notice to Jedediah Baldwin from School Committee

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 808628
Mss 808628
Date(s): 1808-11-28
Abstract

Call for a meeting addressed to Jedidiah Baldwin (1768-1849) for the purpose of raising funds for a school house, signed by John Wheelock (1754-1817) and Lemuel Dow Jr., selectmen.

Notification of a meeting

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 807416
Mss 807416
Date(s): 1807-07-16
Abstract Notification from the Hanover Selectmen to Jedediah Baldwin (1768-1811) directing him to notify the voters of school district no. 1 of a meeting to be held August 10, signed by Joseph Curtiss, Augustus Storrs and John Wheelock (1754-1817). Filed with Mss 807431, a statement of the voters of school district no. 1 whom Baldwin has notified of the meeting to be held August 10. Acknowledged before Justice of the Peace Benjamin J. Gilbert (1764-1849), August 6, 1807, signed by Jedediah Baldwin...

Otis Freeman affidavit

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 815473.2
Mss 815473.2
Date(s): 1815-08-23
Abstract

In English.

Peter Colt letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 788428
Mss 788428
Date(s): 1788-07-28
Abstract

In English.

Peter Olcott letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 788651
Mss 788651
Date(s): 1788-12-01
Abstract

In English.

Philip Corrigan letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 808208
Mss 808208
Date(s): 1808-03-08
Abstract

In English.

Pres. John Sullivan letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 787517
Mss 787517
Date(s): 1787-09-17
Abstract

In English.

Reuben Blanchard letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 814472.1
Mss 814472.1
Date(s): 1814-08-22
Scope and Contents

Letter from Reuben Blanchard of Peacham, Vermont to John Wheelock in Hanover, New Hampshire, concerning the Moses Hall case.

Rev. Benjamin Trumbull letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 784269
Mss 784269
Date(s): 1784-04-19
Abstract

In English.

Rev. Dr. MacFarlan,Secy. letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 784557
Mss 784557
Date(s): 1784-10-07
Abstract

In English.

Rev. E.D Griffin letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 810451.1
Mss 810451.1
Date(s): 1810-08-01
Abstract

In English.

Rev. F.A. Vanderkemp letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 788505
Mss 788505
Date(s): 1788-09-05
Abstract

In English.

Rev. Levi Hart letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 787459
Mss 787459
Date(s): 1787-08-09
Abstract

In English.

Rev. Wm. Montague letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 788603.2
Mss 788603.2
Date(s): 1788-11-03
Abstract

In English.

Richard English Newcomb letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 807472
Mss 807472
Date(s): 1807-08-22
Abstract

In English.

Richard English Newcomb letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 809467
Mss 809467
Date(s): 1809-08-17
Abstract

In English.

Richard English Newcomb letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 813468
Mss 813468
Date(s): 1813-08-18
Scope and Contents

Letter from Richard English Newcomb of Greenfield, Massachusetts to John Wheelock in Hanover, New Hamspshire, recommending Elijah Alvord for an honorary degree.

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Type
Collection 612
Archival Object 61
 
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