resident's return (in 1784) the Board
of Trustees convened and resolved, if sufficient means could be
obtained, to erect an edifice of about one hundred and fifty by fifty
feet, three stories in height, for the college, with convenient
accommodations for the members. The president, professors, and some of
the Trustees in the vicinity, were requested by the Board to solicit
subscriptions for the purpose. They depended on Dr. Wheelock's
exertions, he cheerfully undertook. By his arrangement and exertions,
in that and the following year 1785, and by his agents, near fifteen
thousand dollars were given but mostly subscribed to be paid, and
chiefly by responsible men in different places. The subscriptions and
payments were all put into the hands of the contractor. He commenced
and carried on the building. But in 1786 he was unable to procure
supplies and nothing but an immediate cessation of the business
appeared. Dr. Wheelock afforded relief, by furnishing the joiners,
about twenty in number, with sustenance through the season, and aiding
in the collection of materials. In the succeeding years, the
subscriptions and means in the hands of the contractor being
exhausted, he procured by bills on Mrs. Wheelock's agent in the West
Indies, and by a residue remitted from Holland and in other ways by
his friends abroad, and his own donation of $333.00, all the glass,
the nails, the vane and spire and other articles and some pay towards
the labor. A bell he had by solicitation obtained before. By the
seventh year from the beginning of its foundation, the edifice
[Dartmouth Hall] was finished, and well prepared for the reception of
the students. We will now return to trace another chain of operation.

"Dr. Wheelock, though not at the particular request of the Board,
attended the Legislature of Vermont, June 14, 1785. He solicited; and
they made a grant of a township [Wheelock], 23,040 acres, one half to
the college and the other half to the school, to be free from all
public taxes forever. As soon as practical he procured a survey,
obtained a charter, and made calculations for its settlement. Families
rapidly moved in, till near the number of one hundred. He disposed of
a large part of the tract in small portions on long leases. A few
years rent free, the annual product has been to the college and
school, each, six hundred dollars.

"We now turn to the State of New Hampshire. Dr. Wheelock had applied,
by the desire of the Board, to