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{{Short description|American Congregational minister, educator, and founder of Dartmouth College}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Eleazar Wheelock
| image               = Eleazar Wheelock.jpg
| caption             = Portrait by [[Joseph Steward]]
| order               = 1st
| title               = [[List of presidents of Dartmouth College|President of Dartmouth College]]
| term_start          = 1768
| term_end            = 1779
| predecessor         = 
| alma_mater          = [[Yale College]] (1733)
| successor           = [[John Wheelock]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1711|4|22}}
| birth_place         = [[Windham, Connecticut|Windham]], [[Connecticut Colony]], [[British America]]
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1779|4|24|1711|4|22}}
| death_place         = [[Hanover, New Hampshire|Hanover]], [[New Hampshire]], [[United States]]
| honorific_prefix    = [[The Reverend]]
}}'''Eleazar Wheelock''' (April 22, 1711&nbsp;– April 24, 1779) was an American [[Congregationalism in the United States|Congregational]] minister, orator, and educator in present-day [[Columbia, Connecticut]], for 35 years before founding [[Dartmouth College]] in New Hampshire. He had tutored [[Samson Occom]], a Mohegan who became a Presbyterian minister and the second Native American to publish writings in English. Before founding Dartmouth, Wheelock founded and ran the [[Moor's Charity School]] in Connecticut to educate Native Americans. The college was primarily for the sons of American colonists.

==Early life and education==
Eleazar Wheelock was born in [[Windham, Connecticut]], to Ralph Wheelock and Ruth Huntington, who had a prosperous farm of 300 acres.<ref name="alex"/> He is the great-grandson of the first teacher of the first free school in the United States (see [[Dedham, Massachusetts]]), the [[Ralph Wheelock|Rev. Ralph Wheelock]]. In 1733, he graduated from [[Yale College]], having won the first award of the Dean Berkeley Donation for distinction in classics. He continued his theological studies at Yale until he was licensed to preach in May 1734.

==Marriage and family==
Two months after beginning as pastor of a church, on April 29, 1735, he married Sarah Davenport. She died in 1746. They managed a farm in addition to his pastoring, and he was an itinerant preacher during the 1730s and '40s.<ref name="alex"/>

He married a second time to Mary Brinsmead, a widow with two children. In total he had eight children with his wives and two step-children.<ref name="alex">[http://www.columbia.edu/~amd155/Wheelock_Biography.pdf Alex de Sherbinin, "Eleazar Wheelock: The Man and His Legacy"], 2011, Columbia University, Creative Commons, accessed March 29, 2013</ref>

==Career==
Wheelock was installed as the pastor of the Second Congregational Church of Lebanon Crank, Connecticut (now Columbia, Connecticut), in February 1735 and served as their minister for 34 years. Wheelock also acted as an itinerant preacher during the [[First Great Awakening|Great Awakening]], a religious revival that had begun to sweep the [[Connecticut River Valley]] around the time of his graduation from Yale. He was one of its greatest proponents in the state, serving as the "chief intelligencer of revival news".

In addition, Wheelock was deeply concerned about Native Americans in New England, whose numbers had declined rapidly due to disease, warfare and social disruption, including continued encroachment on their lands by colonists.<ref name="alex"/>

Wheelock "was a long-time slave owner".<ref>{{cite news
|title=The Slaves of Dartmouth
|first=James
|last=Zug
|magazine=Dartmouth Alumni Magazine
|date=January–February 2007
|url=http://archive.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/issue/20070101
|access-date=August 20, 2019}}</ref>

==Christian missionary==
In 1743, Wheelock took in a student named [[Samson Occom]], a [[Mohegan]] who knew English and had converted to [[Christianity]] in his childhood. He taught Occom for four years; the youth was a ready student, learning to read and write in Hebrew as well as deeply studying theology. After preaching for several years to the [[Pequot people]] in [[Montauk, New York|Montauk]] on eastern [[Long Island]], Occom was ordained in [[Suffolk County, New York]], as a Presbyterian minister. He returned to Connecticut to preach to the Mohegan and later organized Christian Indians as the [[Brothertown Indians]].

Wheelock's success in preparing Occom for the ministry encouraged him to found a school in [[Columbia, Connecticut]], for Native Americans. He planned to teach the boys in both secular and Christian subjects, so they could return to their native culture as missionaries. The girls would learn "housewifery" and English skills including reading and writing. Charitable contributions from New England and England supported the Moor's Charity School, which was located on Columbia's town green. Some students became homesick or even ill and died; few became missionaries.

==Establishment of Dartmouth and presidency==
After sending Occom and another minister on a speaking tour of England to raise money for the charity school, Wheelock decided to enlarge it, as well as adding college classes for the education of American colonists in the classics, philosophy, and literature. He began to search for another location for the schools. Wheelock obtained a charter from [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]] on December 13, 1769. Having worked and raised funds for the education of Native Americans, Occom and the British Board of Trustees headed by [[William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth|Lord Dartmouth]] opposed the addition of the college to benefit the sons of the colonists.

Wheelock kept the lord's donation and named the college after him, as [[Dartmouth College]]. He chose [[Hanover, New Hampshire]], for the location and became the college's president. In 1771, four students were graduated in Dartmouth's first commencement, including Wheelock's son [[John Wheelock|John]]. While some Native Americans attended Dartmouth, it primarily served the sons of American colonists.

Wheelock died during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], on April 24, 1779. He is buried in Hanover. His writings include "Narrative of the Indian School at Lebanon."

==Legacy and honors==
*[[Wheelock, Vermont]], in [[Caledonia County, Vermont|Caledonia County]] is named for him.
*During World War II a [[Liberty Ship]] (Maritime Hull Number 0038) was named for Wheelock.  This was a C-2 cargo ship outfitted to carry 550 troops.  It participated in the Normandy Invasion and is frequently mentioned in the book ''The Far Shore'' by the American author Max Miller.

==Notable descendants==
*Colonel [[Eleazer Louis Ripley Wheelock]], soldier, real estate prospector, Indian agent, founder of [[Wheelock, Texas]], Texas Ranger, surveyor, Texas pioneer.
*[[John Wheelock]], second president of [[Dartmouth College]].
*[[William Henry Woodward]], litigant [[Dartmouth College Case]] (AKA [[Dartmouth College v. Woodward]])
*[[Homer Hulbert]], American missionary and Korean independence activist
*[[John Hall Wheelock]], 20th century poet.
*[[Rachel Wheelock]], 21st century poet.
*Michael Wheelock, 21st century scientist
*[[Kenny Mayne]], American sports journalist.
*Geoffrey Wheelock, Esteemed Insurance professional
*Rev. Alan Bryan Conley, Fern Wheelock's son, 1934–2020, Episcopal minister, headmaster, and champion for marginalized communities in N, S, W, and Hill Country, Texas, USA.

== References ==
<references />

==External links==
{{AmCyc Poster|Wheelock|Eleazar Wheelock}}
* [http://www.columbia.edu/~amd155/Wheelock_Biography.pdf Eleazar Wheelock: The Man and His Legacy], Columbia University
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040827215800/http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/GUIDES/126.htm Papers of Eleazar Wheelock], Wheaton College
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=lOICAAAAQAAJ "A plain and faithful Narrative of the Original Design, Rise, Progress and present State of the Indian Charity-School At Lebanon, in Connecticut" (1763)]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=AYATAAAAYAAJ A Continuation of the Narrative of the Indian Charity School, in Lebanon in Connecticut, New England (1769)]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=K9xbAAAAQAAJ A Sermon Preached before the second Society in Lebanon, June 30. 1763. At the Ordination of the Rev. Mr. Charles-Jeffry Smith]
* [http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0852040.html "Eleazar Wheelock"], Infoplease
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100928043724/http://www.dartmouth.edu/home/about/history.html A Brief History of Dartmouth]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041023200037/http://www.ctheritage.org/encyclopedia/ctto1763/wheelock.htm "Eleazar Wheelock"], Connecticut Heritage
* [http://www.dartmouth.edu/ Dartmouth College]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041210091532/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/features/succession/ Wheelock Succession]
* {{Cite NIE|short=x|wstitle=Wheelock, Eleazar}}

{{WheelockSuccession}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheelock, Eleazar}}
[[Category:1711 births]]
[[Category:1779 deaths]]
[[Category:Presidents of Dartmouth College]]
[[Category:Dartmouth College]]
[[Category:Yale College alumni]]
[[Category:American evangelicals]]
[[Category:People from colonial Connecticut]]
[[Category:People from colonial New Hampshire]]
[[Category:University and college founders]]
[[Category:Clergy in the American Revolution]]
[[Category:18th-century American Congregationalist ministers]]
[[Category:People from Hanover, New Hampshire]]
[[Category:People from Windham, Connecticut]]
[[Category:People from Lebanon, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Family of Ralph Wheelock|Eleazar]]
[[Category:American slave owners]]