Woolley, Joseph

last name (variants): Wooley; Wolley
Birth: Unknown
Death: November 27 or 29, 1765 in Onaquaga, NY
Affiliation

Delaware/Lenape; Moor's Indian Charity School

Education

Moor's Indian Charity School (1757-1765)

Faith

Converted Congregationalist or Presbyterian

Nationality

Delaware/Lenape

Occupation

Schoolteacher

Residence(s)
  • Moor's Indian Charity School in Lebanon, CT (from 1757-04-09 to 1765-06)
  • Onaquaga, NY (from 1765-09 to 1765-11)
Events

June 1765: Left with the other recent Wheelock alumni on a mission to the Six Nations.

Marital status

Joseph proposed to Hannah Garrett in 1765, but died before ever seeing her again.

Biography

Joseph Woolley was a Delaware who died of consumption while keeping school at Onaquaga. He came to Wheelock in 1757 as a replacement for John Pumshire, and although Wheelock labeled him as "fit for college" in late 1761, he never attended. In the fall of 1764, Joseph went to the Six Nations with Kirkland to learn the Mohawk language and keep school, and in March 1765, he was officially approved as a schoolmaster and returned to Onaquaga to teach. He was very popular there, but died unexpectedly in late November 1765. Joseph was engaged to Hannah Garrett, who later married David Fowler, but a letter from David (765302.2) suggests that Joseph may also have pursued Amy (David's object of interest before Hannah).

Sources

Calloway, Colin, The Indian History of an American Institution. Dartmouth College Press 2010. Love, Deloss. Samson Occom and the Christian Indians of New England. Pilgrim Press 1899. McCallum, James. The Letters of Eleazar Wheelock’s Indians. Dartmouth College Press 1932.