Student Biographies
Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck and Joel Iacoombs were the first two Native students to attend the Indian College. Both men were from the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe, and both attended preparatory school for five years before passing the Harvard College entrance exams at around age 15.
Joel Iacoombs was the son of Hiacoomb, the Wampanoag interpreter for missionary Thomas Mayhew. Joel would have been Harvard valedictorian, but Joel died just before graduation following a shipwreck and attending the commencement ceremony was a requirement for graduation at the time.
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| Caleb's bag, c. 1650, PM 90-17-50/49302. |
Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck was the son of a Wampanoag sachem (chief) and the only Native student to graduate from the Indian College. He died of consumption soon after graduation at the age of 20. This fiber bag is the sole object even tentatively associated with an Indian College student: museum records state “this purse belonging to Chesshah-teaumuch.” Recent conversations with Wampanoag community members are shedding new light on the history and construction of the bag.
John Wampus left school to become a mariner.
Eleazer succumbed to smallpox within one year of enrollment.
In 1695, it was decided that the bricks from the Indian College be reused in another building, "Provided that in case any Indians should hereafter be sent to the college, they should enjoy their studies rent free in said building."
Benjamin Larnell was the last student associated with the Indian College, and was able to study under this agreement. According to the diary of Harvard President Leverett (1708–1724), he was "... an Acute Grammarian, an Extraordinary Latin Poet, and a good Greek one." Larnell died of a fever in 1714 at about 20 years of age.
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