Eleazar Wheelock

College president, born in Windham, Connecticut, USA. A Congregational minister, he founded Moor's Indian Charity School in Lebanon, CT (1754). In 1770 he moved the school to Hanover, NH re-establishing it as Dartmouth College, and was president until his death. He wrote Narrative of the Indian School at Lebanon (1762–75).

Eleazar Wheelock (April 22, 1711 – April 24, 1779) was an American Congregational minister, orator, educator, and founder of Dartmouth College.

He was born in Windham, Connecticut to Ralph Wheelock and Ruth Huntington. He is the great-grandson of the first teacher of the first free school in New England (see Dedham, Mass.), The Rev. Wheelock's success in preparing Occom for the ministry encouraged him to found a school in Lebanon for Native American Indians, with the purpose of instilling, in the boys, elements of secular and religious education, so that they could return to their native culture as missionaries. His plans to educate the young Native American students in his school, which was called the Moor's Charity School, located on the Lebanon town green, did not progress well however - many of his students became sick and died while some turned profligate and in other ways failed to successfully pursue the charter of missionary work.

He eventually decided to enlarge the school to include a college (for the education of whites in the classics, philosophy, and literature) and began to search for another location for the school. Wheelock obtained a charter from King George III on December 13, 1769, over the objections of Samson Occom and the British Board of Trustees headed by Lord Dartmouth who opposed the addition of the college. Despite Lord Dartmouth's opposition, Wheelock named the college Dartmouth College, and Dresden, N.H., (later renamed Hanover) was chosen for the site, and in 1771, four students were graduated in Dartmouth's first commencement, including Wheelock's son John. Eleazar Wheelock died during the Revolutionary War, on April 24, 1779. His writings include "Narrative of the Indian School at Lebanon."