Eleazar Wheelock, letter, to George Whitefield, 1764 May 18

Author Wheelock, Eleazar

Date18 May, 1764

ms number764318.1

abstractWheelock requests Whitefield’s help in drawing up a memorial to the Assembly. He comments on Occom’s work, which received good acceptance from Indians at Mohegan and Niantic, and discusses dissatisfaction with the Boston Board of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge.

handwritingThe clear and formal hand is not Wheelock's.

paperSingle medium-sized sheet is in good condition, with light-to-moderate creasing, yellowing and wear.

inkBlack-brown.

noteworthyThis document is likely a copy.

signatureThe abbreviated signature is not Wheelock's.

Persistent Identifier
My dear & Hono.d Friend.
I have preſerv’d a Memorial to the Aſsembly now setting here, for such an Incorporation as may perpetuate my School, & secure ye Design of Benefactors &c but it will not be heard till ye latt==er end of next week — & I find it difficult to get a Plan well drawn — Gentlemen of ye Law here are much unacquainted with such Drafts. I wish I had tho’t of desiring you by M.r Smith to send one, or some miniuts of ye Form of such a Society, & w.t must be ye Number for I cant yet le==arn how many are allowed by ye Statute without ye Kings own Act. pleas Sir to write me by ye next Post & direct it to Cap.t Danel Bull (w.th whom I lodge) & it will be will forwarded.
I’ve seen M.r Occom this week, he is zealous, — preaches to good acceptance, ye Indians at Mohegan & Nihantic are all to a Man attached to him, his aſsemblies much crowded with English, as well as Indians, & I think a good prospect of his usefull==ness.
He tells me he had much rather be under y.e Conduct & Direction of ye same as this School & the Miſsionaries from it are under, than of Comm̅= =iſsrs at such a distance, as M.r CJ Smith & ye Youth proposed soon to be put into Buſineſs among ye Six Nations, (one of whom viz D Fowler is his Brother in Law.) may all be considered with him in ye same  Plan
[right]To the Rev.d G. Whitefield now in Boston
Plan, & be of special Service to one another, & much better able to serve ye Design of their Miſsion than they likely can without such Connections, & he thinks moreover there is Propriety in it, as it will preſerve his visible Relation to this School, & enable him to do much more to promote it than he ^will^ likely be able to do in his present Connections. He appears Modest & Submiſsive, would have wrot but feard it would look like unsteadineſs & fickleneſs. If you think there is weight in these Hints, & will write him on ye Head, he will write you freely & fully.
I have look’d upon ye Treatment I have received from ye Scotish Com̅iſs.rs to be a plain Intimation y.t it is not my Duty in their Present State or while their Present Comt.ee continue to have any such connections with them as will give them any opportunity to dis==serve this School. Those Gentlemen are so Ignorent of Country Affairs yt they dont know when they are generouſly dealt w.th & some think them not leſs Ignorant of Indian affairs, th’o they think themſelves sufficient to govern the whole. &c.
My bodily Disorders so prevail y.t unleſs I shall be better in health, I shall not be able to attend ye Aſsembly a Concord. &c. I expect my dear Brother, to finish this Tempestuous Voyage before you. —
I am  yours in ye dearest, sweetest Bonds E Wheelock Hartford May 18, 1764. Rev.d George Whitefield.
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