Dartmouth College,
One of the highest institutions of learning in the
English-American colonies; chartered in 1769.
It grew out of an earlier school established by
Rev. Dr. Wheelock at
Lebanon, Conn., designed for the education of Indian children, he being encouraged by his success in educating a young
Mohegan,
Samson Occom, who became a remarkable preacher.
Pupils from the
Delaware tribe were received, and the school soon attracted public attention.
James Moor, a farmer, gave two acres of land and a house for the use of the school, and from that time it was known as Moor's Indian Charity School.
Occom accompanied
Rev. N. Whittaker to
England to raise funds for the increase of the usefulness of the school, and about $50.000 were subscribed.
A board of trustees was organized, of which Lord Dartmouth, one of the subscribers, was elected president.
The children of the
New England Indians came to the school in large numbers, and
Dr. Wheelock resolved to transfer it to a place nearer the heart of the
Indian population in that region.
He selected
Hanover, on the
Connecticut River, in the western part of
New Hampshire, and grants of about 44,000 acres of land were made.
Governor Wentworth gave it a charter (1769), under the title of Dartmouth College, so named in honor of Lord Dartmouth.
The institution was removed, with the pupils, to
Hanover, in 1770, where
President Wheelock and all others lived in log cabins, for it was an almost untrodden wilderness.
Dr. Wheelock held the presidency until his death, in 1779 (see
Wheelock, Eleazar), and was succeeded by his son, John, who was sent to
Europe to procure funds for the support of the college.
He obtained considerable sums, and philosophical implements.
In 1816 a religious controversy led to a conflict with the legislature, and the latter created a new corporation, called Dartmouth University, in which the property of the old corporation was vested.
A lawsuit ensued, carried on for the college by Daniel Webster, which resulted (1819), finally, in the establishment of the inviolability of chartered rights and the restoration of the old charter.
Wheelock was raised to the presidency in 1817, by the new board, but died a few months afterwards.
He was succeeded by William
[
14]
Allen.
At the close of 1900 the college reported sixty-one professors and instructors, 741 students, 85,000 volumes in the library, 9,000 graduates, and $2,300,000 in productive funds.
Rev. William J. Tucker, D. D., Ll.D., was president.
