Eleazar in Oklahoma

NOT only was Eleazar Wheelock the founder of a well-known college for the Christian education of Indian youth, he inspired the building of an early mission school for Indians in Oklahoma, which was named for him. There analogy stops, as the Wheelock Mission became a school for girls and still serves the Indians.

While driving recently through the Indian country of southeast Oklahoma, Daniel L. Harris '17 came upon a historical marker (above) commemorating the founding of the "Wheelock Mission" in 1832 by the Reverend Alfred Wright. Surprised at this tribute in a place so far from New England, Harris visited the Oklahoma Historical Society for more information. He found that the Rev. Mr. Wright was born in Columbia, Conn., in 1788 and graduated from college (probably Williams) in about 1813. He followed the example of Eleazar Wheelock, whom he greatly admired, and went out to teach the Indians—in this case the Choctaws. After the founding of the Wheelock Mission in 1832, a school for girls was added in 1842. Considered the oldest mission in Oklahoma, it is located near Milverton in a part of the state where the country resembles the mountain valleys around Woodstock, Vt.

Evangelist, physician, and an educator who translated the New Testament into Choctaw, the Rev. Alfred Wright was himself a man of many abilities, and his school which has weathered the years survives as a living tribute to the brave founder of Dartmouth.