Alfred Wright (missionary)

All mission operations ceased in 1831, as the inhabitants of the Choctaw Nation were required to move to their newly designated land in Indian Territory (present-day Southeastern Oklahoma). Alfred and Harriet, along with another missionary, Rev. Loring S. Williams, joined a group of Choctaws led by Thomas LeFlore to make the trip. The party did not reach Indian Territory until September 14, 1832, where they stopped overnight at the Bethabara Mission, near the community of Eagle (now known as Eagletown, Oklahoma, in present-day McCurtain County, Oklahoma. Alfred had taken ill again, and could not continue to travel the next day.[lower-alpha 2] Deciding to remain at Bethabara Mission, he told Harriet to go ahead with the rest of the party, and he would catch up with them later. The McCurtain party moved out as planned along the Military Trace toward Fort Towson. After the group crossed what is now called the Little River (known to the Choctaws as Boklusa or "Black River"), they found a piece of land about a mile beyond the river and above the flood level, which also had a spring flowing generously with cold water. Harriet decided to camp there with Anna and other travelers who wished to stay with her. The others helped Harriet build a cabin. This would become the site for the Wright's mission.[3]

Alfred recovered slowly, and finally caught up with Harriet and her companions in late November, 1832. He conducted his first service at the new site on December 9, 1832. Since there was no church building yet, the service was held outdoors under a large oak tree. The congregation sat on logs that had been arranged in rows, and Rev. Wright used an empty 100-gallon barrel, turned upside down, as his pulpit.[3] Concurrently, the Wright party decided to build a small log church and a larger log house for the family. Harriet insisted that a large room be attached to the house to serve as a day school.[3][lower-alpha 3] Rev. Wright decided to name the new mission church and school Wheelock, in honor of Eleazar Wheelock, who was not only a friend of Alfred, but, years later, also the first president of Dartmouth College.[2]

The day school operated until 1839. By then, Harriet realized that this mode was failing to reach enough Choctaw children who needed and wanted to pursue an education. She persuaded Alfred that Wheelock should become a boarding school, because many of the potential students lived at such a distance that it was impractical to attend daily classes on foot. In bad weather, travel became nearly impossible, even on horseback. A log dormitory building was erected in 1839, then expanded over the next three years. A separate classroom building was also built. Instead of paying tuition, the children performed many of the chores need to operate the school: cooking, cleaning, providing firewood, etc. Class time was devoted to learning English, arithmetic, reading, writing and studying the Bible. In 1842, the Choctaw Nation adopted Wheelock into its school system, designating it as Wheelock Seminary, a school exclusively devoted to teaching Choctaw girls.[lower-alpha 4]

Rev. Wright began building a new Wheelock Rock Church in 1845. Stones were dragged by from the banks of Little River by teams of oxen. These were used to make the church walls 20 inches (510 mm) thick. The floor and belfry were made from cypress wood and the roof was covered with sun-cured oak shakes. Wright carved a slogan, "Jehovah Jireh" (meaning "the Lord will provide") into the gable of the church. Rev. Wright delivered the first sermon in the new church during the late spring or early summer of 1846.[3]