glance at the earlier efforts in behalf of the Aborigines of our country, shows that the next actor upon the stage, undaunted by any lack of success on their part, measurably followed in the footsteps of learned and philanthropic predecessors.

CHAPTER II.

ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE OF ELEAZAR WHEELOCK.—HIS SETTLEMENT AT LEBANON, CONN.—ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INDIAN CHARITY SCHOOL.—MR. JOSHUA MORE.

Eleazar Wheelock, the leading founder of Dartmouth College, was a great-grandson of Ralph Wheelock, a native of Shropshire, in England, through whom Dartmouth traces her academic ancestry to the ancient and venerable Clare Hall, at Cambridge, where he graduated in 1626, the contemporary of Thomas Dudley, Samuel Eaton, John Milton, John Norton, Thomas Shepard, and Samuel Stone.

Coming a few years later to this country, he became a useful and an honored citizen of the then new, but now old, historic town of Dedham, from which place he removed to Medfield, being styled "founder" of that town, where he remained till his death. He devoted his time largely to teaching, although, having been educated for the ministry, he rendered valuable service to the infant community as an occasional preacher. His name is also conspicuous among the magistrates and legislators of that period.[1]

In the character of his son, Eleazar Wheelock, of Mendon, we are told there was a union of "the Christian and the soldier." Having command of a corps of cavalry, he was "very successful in repelling the irruptions of the Indians," although he treated them with "great kindness," in times of peace. From him, his grandson and namesake received "a handsome legacy for defraying the expenses of his public education," and from him, too, he doubtless acquired, in some measure, that peculiar interest in the Indian race which so largely moulded his character and guided the labors of his life.

Near the time of Ralph Wheelock's arrival in America, were two other arrivals worthy of notice: that of Thomas Hooker, at Cambridge, "the one rich pearl with which Europe more than repaid America for the treasures from her coasts," and that of the widowed Margaret Huntington, at Roxbury, of which there is still a well-preserved record, in the handwriting of John Eliot. The guiding and controlling influence of Hooker's masterly mind upon all, whether laymen or divines, with whom he came in contact, must be apparent to those who are familiar with the biography of one, to whom the learned and religious institutions of New England are more indebted, perhaps, than to any other single person. Hooker's settlement at Hartford is fitly styled "the founding of Connecticut."

When a little later the family of Margaret Huntington settled at Saybrook, their youthful pastor, who was just gathering a church, was James Fitch, a worthy pupil of Thomas Hooker. Not satisfied with their location, pastor and people sought an inland home, and in 1660 laid the foundations of what is now the large and flourishing town of Norwich. From this time Huntington and Fitch are honored names in the history of Connecticut.

A quarter of a century after the settlement of Norwich, an English refugee from religious oppression began the settlement of the neighboring town of Windham. To this place, Ralph Wheelock the younger, a grandson of the Dedham teacher and preacher, was attracted, marrying about the same time, Ruth, daughter of Dea. Christopher Huntington, of Norwich. Mr. Ralph Wheelock was a respectable farmer, universally esteemed for his hospitality, his piety, and the virtues that adorn the Christian character, and in his later years was an officer of the church.

Of Mrs. Wheelock, it is said:[2] "Every tradition respecting her makes her a woman of unusual intelligence and rare piety. Her home, the main theatre of her life, was blessed equally by her timely instructions, her holy example, and the administration of a gentle yet firm discipline." Their son Eleazar was born at Windham, April 22, 1711.

The first minister of this honored town was Rev. Samuel Whiting, a native of Hartford, and trained in the "Hooker School." For a helpmeet he had secured a lineal descendant of that noble and revered puritan, Gov. Wm. Bradford. The labors of this worthy pair were largely blessed to their people. At one period, in a population of hundreds, it is said "the town did not contain a single prayerless family."

Thus kindly and wisely did the Master arrange, by long and closely blended lines of events, that the most genial influences should surround the cradle of one for whom He designed eminent service and peculiar honor.

The mother of Eleazar Wheelock having died in 1725, for a second wife his father married a lady named Standish, a descendant of Myles Standish, whose heroic character she perhaps impressed, in some measure, upon her adopted son. "Being an only son," says his biographer,[3] "and discovering, at an early age, a lively genius, a taste for learning, with a very amiable disposition, he was placed by his father under the best instructors that could then be obtained." At "about the age of sixteen, while qualifying himself for admission to college, it pleased God to impress his mind with serious concern for his salvation. After earnest, prayerful inquiry, he was enlightened and comforted with that hope in the Saviour, which afterwards proved the animating spring of his abundant labors to promote the best interests of mankind." At the time of his admission to the Windham church, the distinguished Thomas Clap was its pastor.

Having made the requisite preparation, he entered Yale College, of which President Williams was then at the head, "with a resolution to devote himself to the work of the Gospel ministry." Among his college contemporaries were Joseph Bellamy and President Aaron Burr.

"His proficiency in study, and his exemplary deportment, engaged the notice and esteem of the rector and instructors, and the love of the students. He and his future brother-in-law, the late Rev. Doctor Pomeroy of Hebron, in Connecticut, were the first who received the interest of the legacy, generously given by the Rev. Dean Berkeley,"