Eleazar Wheelock's House

Variant name of place

house, my; House, My; Mr. Wheelock's House in Lebanon

Geographic position

41.6325° N, 72.2400° W

Event

Jewett Controversy

;

Mason Land Case

Sources

http://oneida.nygenweb.net/indian/occom.html. Love, W. DeLoss. Samson Occom and the Christian Indians of New England. Boston: The Pilgrim Press, 1899. Web.

General note

In 1765, Wheelock’s house was located in Lebanon, Connecticut. After a 1755 visit from Wheelock, Mr. Joshua More -- a Mansfield, Connecticut farmer -- purchased “a place contiguous to the minister’s mansion, containing about two acres, and having upon it a ‘small dwelling-house and a shop or schoolhouse’” for 500 pounds (Love 59). This property was soon after deeded to Wheelock among others for the education of Native Americans. In 1763 Wheelock gained full possession of the land through a conveyance from More’s widow. The schoolhouse became an Indian school in Lebanon, and Wheelock’s mansion served as a dormitory. The school was named Moor’s Indian Charity School in More’s honor but was also referred to as Wheelock’s Indian Charity School. The sky-blue dwelling served as a meeting-house and was located at the convergence of the two main roads that ran through the two-acre plot of land. Several meetings took place at Wheelock’s house in 1765 among the Board of Correspondents in the Colony of Connecticut to discuss issues related to Occom and the Indian Charity School. These issues included Occom’s involvement in the Mason Controversy, Occom’s dispute with David Jewett over Occom securing Jewett’s congregants, and Occom’s alleged threats to convert to Episcopalianism. Wheelock’s 1765 letters and the Board of Correspondents’ 1765 minutes refer to several of these meetings at Wheelock’s home.