Moor's Indian Charity School (Hanover, N.H.)

Eleazar Wheelock established Moor's Indian Charity School for the "education of Indian youths" in 1754 in Lebanon, CT. The first Native American students came from the Delaware, Mohegan, Montauk, St. Francis and Oneida tribes. In 1770, Wheelock moved the School to Hanover. Samson Occom helped raise funds for the School including support from The society in Scotland for Propogating Christian Knowledge; use of the funds would become a source of conflict. The State of Vermont, in 1785, granted President John Wheelock a vacant township, to become Wheelock, VT, revenues from which were to be divided between Moor's Charity School and Dartmouth College. Enrollment at the school dwindled between 1828 and 1863 ; only 26 Native American students were enrolled. In 1896, a portion of the funds was used to hire a teacher at the local high school with the understanding that any Native American student could enroll there. At the request of the Dartmouth College trustees, the Supreme Court of New Hampshire ordered School funds be transferred to the College in 1915 and Moor's Charity School formally ceased existence. Dartmouth College presidents Eleazar Wheelock, John Wheelock, Francis Brown, Nathan Lord, and Asa Dodge Smith, and Ernest Fox Nichols served also as Moor's Indian Charity School presidents. Mills Olcott served as treasurer to the School.