The History of Dartmouth College Part 54

"Whereas a charter for a College to be erected in the western part of this province, by the name of Dartmouth College, has been granted under the great seal of said province, with a special view of Christianizing the several Indian tribes in America, therefore in consideration of the many advantages that would accrue to the proprietors of Orford if said College could be settled in said town, and that the same pious design might be carried into immediate execution,

"Voted, in case said College should be settled in said towns.h.i.+p, to give and grant for the Use and Benefit of said College, for ever, one thousand acres of land in said town. Also, whereas the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock is appointed president of said College, and doubtless will settle himself and family in the town where the College shall be, where it will be very necessary he should have some land to settle upon, therefore, for encouraging and promoting the same,

"Voted to give and grant unto the said Eleazar Wheelock, his heirs and a.s.signs for ever, one thousand acres of land in said town. They also

"Voted (conditionally) to give to the said Eleazar Wheelock the sum of one hundred pounds lawful money."

Piermont offered one thousand acres of land to secure the College.

Other towns, not mentioned hereafter, among them Canaan, Boscawen, and Cornish, are said to have presented some attractions to Dr. Wheelock.

"Honorable and Reverend: In the capacity of agent for the towns of Newbury and Haverhill, I promise and engage (if Dartmouth College is placed in said Haverhill in New Hamps.h.i.+re) that out of the subscriptions of said Haverhill and Newbury and the town of Bath, that three thousand acres of land shall be laid out in a convenient form at the corner of Haverhill, adjoining the southwest corner of said town of Landaff, and one thousand acres more, laid out in a gore, in Bath adjoining said town of Landaff, and the three thousand acres in Haverhill as above; and also I engage to give five hundred acres more to the Honorable and Reverend Trust of said College, for the use of said College, in a handsome form, round said College, if set in said Haverhill; provided it is not set on lands already laid out, which if it is to lay out said five hundred next adjoining, in a convenient form, as also to make and raise a frame for a building two hundred feet long and eighteen feet broad, one story high, or a frame or labor to that value. The above I promise to perform at or before the first day of November next. The frame I promise to set up on demand. Witness my hand,

Jacob Bayley.

"Portsmouth, June 29, 1770.

"To the Honorable and Reverend Trust of Dartmouth College."

Newburyport, March 6, 1770.

Reverend Sir: I have lately received an account from Plymouth of a subscription being opened and there is already three thousand dollars in labor, provisions, etc., subscribed; also another here worth one thousand dollars, provided the College is fixed in Campton, Rumney, or Plymouth; also being sensible that you will be at great expense to move into a new country, have opened another subscription for Rev. Dr.

Wheelock, which will be generous; I have lately heard that the College is to be fixed before the meeting of the trustees, which is the reason of Mr. Call's journey, the bearer of this, who is a friend to the Indian cause, and in time past has been a means of collecting a considerable for them. I should be much obliged if you would inform me the time the College will be fixed, and I will bring or send the subscriptions, which I make no doubt will be generous when completed.

If it should not be agreeable to the trustees to fix the College in any of the above mentioned towns, these subscriptions will not do any hurt to the College nor Dr. Wheelock, but spur on others to outdo. I think, where it is fixed, they ought to do generously, as it must help them much. I conclude with our family's and my duty to you and Madam Wheelock, and regards to all the family, and remain your most obedient servant,

Moses Little.

"P. S. We hear that the most generous subscription is to carry the College, provided the place is suitable; hope what we offer Dr.

Wheelock will not be any damage, for it is not done as a private thing, but are willing the trustees and everybody else should know.

"M. L. has subscribed:

20 thousand boards.

20 tons hay, three years, is 60 tons.

10 bushels wheat, three years, is 30 bushels.

10 bushels rye, three years, is 30 bushels.

10 bushels Indian, three years, is 30 bushels.

10 days labor, three years, is 30 days.

"Also use of house and barn and land pasturing round it, twenty acres cleared; also Esq. Brainerd, one right of land, etc., in Rumney; also sent a man with a subscription, to be followed, we hope, in proportion and more than proportion to the above. Expect some hundred bushels grain yearly for three years, also land and labor; and if the above is not enough subscribed by Moses Little, Dr. Wheelock shall have liberty to improve as much of his land as he pleases."

"Albany, May 9, 1767.

"Reverend Sir: I have had the pleasure to see your letter, directed to the mayor of this city and others. The subject of it was a very agreeable one. To encourage literature indicates a great mind; to civilize savages, with a view to their eternal happiness, evinces a goodness of heart and a charitable disposition truly commendable; whoever attempts it has a right to claim the a.s.sistance of every worthy member of society. I shall be happy if I can be any ways instrumental in promoting the success of your humane plan; I am informed that Mr. Mayor and the other gentlemen of the corporation have expressed an equal desire, and I make no doubt but their offers will be such as a corporation ought to make who are impressed with a sense of its general utility. I could say much of the advantages that would accrue from fixing the School near this city, but as you have doubtless considered this affair with attention, you will have antic.i.p.ated all I could say on the subject. I shall only remark that I have observed with much satisfaction that the morals of my fellow-citizens are much less vitiated than those of other cities that have an immediate foreign trade, and consequently import the vices of other climes; to this, give me leave to add, that a becoming economy is what characterizes our people, and may, by way of example, have a very good effect on the Indian children, and such others as might be allowed to take their education in the proposed seminary.

"Should you, however, reverend sir, after receiving the proposals of the corporation, think them inadequate to the advantages the city would receive, or should you, for reasons that do not occur to me, think a more remote situation more eligible (which I wish may not be), I then, sir, will make an offer, to forward the charity. But though I have already fixed on the proposals I intend to make, I must yet declare that those that I am told the city intends to offer appear to me to have the advantage in point of fulfilling the intentions of the gentlemen at home, but perhaps it may be thought otherwise, and I be mistaken.

"Whenever, sir, this or your other affairs may call you into this county, I shall be extremely glad to show you any civilities in my power, and beg you will make my house your home, where I try to keep up to the good old adage, 'to welcome the coming and to speed the going guest.'

"I am, with much respect, reverend sir, Your most obedient, humble servant, "To the Rev. Mr. Wheelock. Ph. Schuyler."

"February 10, 1770.

"Reverend Sir: As I understand that Colonel Alexander Phelps, Esquire, has been on business of importance relative to your College, to wit, the consulting the honorable trustees, at Portsmouth, concerning the place where it will be best to set the said College, and as there is great engagedness and large subscriptions making by the Proprietors and others of the towns of Plainfield, Hartford, Harford, Lebanon, Norwich, Hanover, and some other back towns, for the said School, if said School should be set in Hanover, in the Province of New Hamps.h.i.+re, now, sir, I suppose that Colonel Phelps never heard of this subscription, and I apprehend he has not laid this donation, with the circ.u.mstances of the place, before the Board at Portsmouth.

"Trusting in your wisdom and willingness to hear everything of consequence to said School, I would therefore pray that the place for the said College may not be fixed on till the donations may be gathered and the circ.u.mstances of the place be properly laid before their Honors.

"P. S. I suppose there can be as much or more said in favor of its going to the said town of Hanover than any town on the river, which will be laid before their Honors in writing, if desired.

"From their humble servant and well-wisher to said School, James Murch."

In a later letter he says:

"Now, sir, we all hope you will view the place yourself, and the people well all be satisfied that the College will be set in the best place for its benefit; or, if a disinterested man should come and view the places, and make a representation, it is generally thought it would come to Hanover or Lebanon. Now, sir, I shall endeavor to set before you some of the benefits of this place for the College. First, here is a large tract of land of near three thousand acres or more, all lying together, and the greater part some of the best of land. I shall only add that there may be a good road to Portsmouth; and it is in a line to Crown Point from Portsmouth; and a very narrow place in the great river, for a brig; and it is by a long pair of falls; and where salt and other articles, brought up the river, will be cheaper than they will be further up.

"Having given some short hints of what is commonly talked of where I have been, I hope you will condescend to forgive what is amiss in this broken letter.

"So I remain, yours to serve, James Murch.

"Hanover, New Hamps.h.i.+re, March 13, 1770.

"P. S. I would inform you we all got up here well."

"The Company expected to attend Commencement at Dartmouth College, August 26, 1772, with his Excellency Governor Wentworth, viz.: The Honorable Mark Hunking Wentworth, Esq.; George Jaffrey, Esq.; Daniel Rogers, Esq.; Peter Gilman, Esq.; the Honorable John Wentworth, Esq., _Speaker of a.s.sembly_; Major Samuel Hobart, Esq., John Giddinge, Esq., Colonel John Phillips, Esq., John Sherburne, Esq., _Members of a.s.sembly_; John Fisher, Esq., _Collector of Salem_; Colonel Nathaniel Folsom, Esq.; Rev. Dr. Langdon, of Portsmouth; Rev. Mr. Emerson, of Hollis; Dr. Cutter; Dr. Bracket; Samuel Penhallow, Esq.; William Parker, Jun., Esq.; Benjamin Whiting, Esq., _High Sheriff of Hillsboro' County_; Honorable Samuel Holland, Esq., _Surveyor-General of the Northern District of America and a Councillor of Canada_; Thomas Mac-donogh, Esq., _Secretary to the Governor_. About ten more are invited, but I think uncertain whether they'll undertake the journey." From Gov. Wentworth.

"Dartmouth College, June 3, 1777, at break of day.

"My dear Sir: I trust you have received my two late letters, by my son and Sir Trimble, with orders, if you can to good advantage, to make sale of my tenement at the Crank, and pay my debts to Mr. Dean, Mr.

Watson, and yourself. If you have successfully attempted the affair, or shall soon so do, I should be glad to see you, and if it may be with the remainder of the money as soon as may be; or if you could, before you come, visit Dr. Mead, who was princ.i.p.al of, and agent for, the first grantees of the town of Landaff, the settlement of which is now r.e.t.a.r.ded and discouraged by the influence of Mr. Joseph Davenport, who has inspired an apprehension in the minds of the populace that they shall be exposed to a quarrel, if they should settle there, etc.

I wish I could send you a copy of the College Charter, and enable you to discourse understandingly with Dr. Mead, and let him see how amply this incorporation is endowed, and how independent it is made of this government or any other incorporation; that the first object of the royal grant of said towns.h.i.+p was the dispersed Indian natives, and to this corporation only in trust for that purpose; that such a matter of controversy can be decided by no judicatory but supreme, or one equal to that which incorporated it, that is the Continental Congress; that unless they can prove that the fee of those lands was not in reality in the king when the charter thereof was given to the College and the grant made to the grantees (however irregular and unkind the steps taken may have been), they will find it difficult, if not impracticable, to recover it. However, to prevent any expense in that matter, quiet the minds of people and facilitate the settlement, as well as exercise proper regard to those who have looked upon themselves injured thereby, I would propose some conditions of agreement with those first grantees, whereby I might obtain their quitclaims to the premises; that is, either a sum of money, or some other way. What if you should see Dr. Mead and discourse with him before you come hither? But the bearer is waiting. Accept love to you and yours, etc., from your affectionate,

"Mr. Jabez Bingham, Jun."

This letter was evidently written by President Wheelock.

MISCELLANEOUS MATTER.