Ralph Wheelock

Rev. Ralph Wheelock
Born	Donington, Shropshire, England
Died	Medfield, Massachusetts
Occupation	Puritan minister, civil servant, school teacher

Ralph Wheelock (1600–1683) was an English Puritan minister, American colonial public official, and educator. He is known for having been the first public school teacher in America.

Ralph Wheelock was most likely born on 14 May 1600 in Donington,Shropshire, England. He was educated at Clare Hall, Cambridge University alongside John Milton and John Elliot. He enrolled in 1623, obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1626, and a Master of Arts in 1631. He participated in the radical Puritan movement that was centered at Cambridge University at the time.

On 17 May 1630, in the church of Wramplingham St Peter and St Paul, Wramplingham, England, Wheelock married Rebecca Clarke. The two had three children in England: Mary, baptized in Banham, County of Norfolk, 2 September 1631; Gershom, baptized in the village of Eccles, County of Norfolk, 3 January 1632/33; and Rebecca Wheelock, baptized in Eccles as well, on 24 August 1634.

The family sailed to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1636, 6 years after the settlement of Boston, and at the peak of the "Great Migration". Ralph's wife, Rebecca, reportedly gave birth to their daughter, Peregrina, on the voyage. He and his family settled in Watertown, Massachusetts upon arrival. After moving to the town of Dedham in 1637, which Wheelock had a major role in establishing, children Benjamin, Samuel, Record, and Experience were born. The family lived there for over a decade.

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