Ruth Wheelock

Ruth Wheelock was born on 4 March 1740. She was the daughter of Eleazer Wheelock (d. 1779) and Sarah Davenport Wheelock. Her father was the founder and first president of Dartmouth College. She was educated by the daughters of the minister Timothy Edwards. On 9 June 1758, Ruth Wheelock married Reverend William Patten. They had six children: Eleazer Wheelock Patten (1759-1769), Sarah (1761-1843), William (1763-1839), Ruth (1764-1850, unmarried), Charlotte (1767-1775), Mary (1769-1850, unmarried), Nathaniel (1771-1773), George Jaffrey (1773-1830).

In 1785, after the death of her husband William, Ruth Wheelock Patten opened a school in Hartford with her daughters, Sarah (1761-1843), Ruth (1764-1850), and Mary (1769-1850). The school educated approximately 4000 girls by the time it closed in 1825.

Ruth Wheelock Patten was one of the founders of the Beneficent Society for the support of education of indigent orphan and neglected children. She was one of the first contributors to Williamstown College, to the Foreign Missionary Society, and to the Connecticut Bible Society. She died on 5 December 1831.