FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Eleazar Wheelock (April 22, 1711 – April 24, 1779) was an American Congregational minister, orator, and educator in Lebanon, Connecticut, for 35 years before founding Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He had tutored Samson Occom, a Mohegan who became a Presbyterian minister and the first Native American to publish writings in English. Before founding Dartmouth, Wheelock founded and ran the Moor’s Charity School in Connecticut to educate Native Americans. The college was primarily for the sons of American colonists.
Establishment of Dartmouth and presidency
After sending Occom and another minister on a speaking tour of England to raise money for the charity school, Wheelock decided to enlarge it, as well as adding college classes for the education of American colonists in the classics, philosophy, and literature. He began to search for another location for the schools. Wheelock obtained a charter from King George III on December 13, 1769. Having worked and raised funds for the education of Native Americans, Occom and the British Board of Trustees headed by Lord Dartmouth opposed the addition of the college to benefit the sons of the colonists.
Wheelock kept the lord’s donation and named the college after him, as Dartmouth College. He chose Hanover, New Hampshire, for the location and became the college’s president. In 1771, four students were graduated in Dartmouth’s first commencement, including Wheelock’s son John. While some Native Americans attended Dartmouth, it primarily served the sons of American colonists.
Wheelock died during the Revolutionary War, on April 24, 1779. He is buried in Hanover. His writings include “Narrative of the Indian School at Lebanon.”
TODAY’S ALMANAC
St. Lucia
St. Lucia (also called Lucy) was a fourth-century Italian martyr. Her name is derived from the Latin lux, meaning “light,” and thus she is associated with festivals of light. Before the Gregorian calendar reform in 1582 (adopted in Great Britain and the American colonies in 1752), her feast day occurred on the shortest day of the year (hence the saying “Lucy light, Lucy light; Shortest day and longest night”). St. Lucia’s Day is celebrated especially in Italy and in Sweden, where the oldest (or sometimes youngest) daughter dons a crown of burning candles and wakes the family with coffee and St. Lucia buns (sweet rolls seasoned with saffron).
Question of the Day
What is Saturnalia?
The Roman Saturnalia, honoring the god Saturn, was held on December 17 to 23 and was a time of pagan feasting. (Saturnalia traditions later became absorbed into the celebration of Christmas..) To start a war during this time would have been a sin against the gods. Schools were closed, courts were out of session, and no penalties were handed down to lawbreakers. It was a seven-day period of peace and candle-lighting.
Advice of the Day
Don’t cross the stream to find water.
Home Hint of the Day
To save on energy and hot water, make it a practice to take quick showers rather than baths.
Word of the Day
Lilapsophobia
The fear of hurricanes or tornadoes
Puzzle of the Day
When do 2 and 2 make more than 4?
When they make 22.
Died
- Samuel Johnson (writer) – 1784
- Grandma Moses (artist) – 1961
Born
- Mary Todd Lincoln (U.S. First Lady) – 1818
- Anthony B. Heinsbergen (muralist) – 1894
- Archie Moore (boxer) – 1913
- Dick Van Dyke (actor) – 1925
- Christopher Plummer (Canadian actor) – 1929
- Ted Nugent (musician) – 1948
- Steve Buscemi (actor) – 1957
- Jamie Foxx (actor) – 1967
- Amy Lee (singer) – 1981
Events
- New Zealand was discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman– 1642
- Reverend Eleazar Wheelock founded Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., with a royal charter. His intention was to provide education and instruction of Youth and of the Indian Tribes in this Land … and also of English Youth and any others.– 1769
- The San Diego city council hired moisture accelerator Charles Hatfield to bring rain to the city’s nearly empty reservoirs. He did his job so well that by the end of January, 28 inches of rain had fallen, causing major flooding. The council refused to pay him and he fled town with his secret formula.– 1915
- Woodrow Wilson became the first US President to visit European countries while in office, arriving France to attend the Versailles Conference.– 1918
- The Philadelphia Mint began stamping the Susan B. Anthony dollar– 1978
- Highest scoring game in NBA history. Detroit Pistons 186 – Denver Nuggets 184, triple OT.– 1983
Weather
- Tampa, Florida, experienced a severe freeze with a temperature of 18 degrees F– 1962
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