47 Facts About Dennison Wheelock

Dennison Wheelock was an Oneida band conductor, composer, and cornet soloist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Dennison Wheelock went to Pennsylvania to be educated at the Carlisle Indian School, returning later for study at Dickinson Preparatory School.

Dennison Wheelock was appointed as the first Oneida bandmaster of the internationally acclaimed Carlisle Indian School Band, which performed at world fairs, expositions, and presidential inaugurals.

In 1911 Dennison Wheelock was among the 50 founding members of the Society of American Indians, the first national American Indian rights organization developed and run by American Indians.

Dennison Wheelock had read the law and passed the bar that year, practicing first in Wisconsin.

In 1980, to honor him and the celebrated Carlisle Indian Band, Dennison Wheelock's Bandstand was reconstructed on the site of the original at the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Dennison Wheelock was born June 14,1871, in the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, second child of James A Wheelock and Sophia Doxtator.

Dennison Wheelock had an older brother Charles and a total of eight other brothers and sisters, and half-siblings.

Dennison Wheelock grew up in the 1870s and early 1880s in a poor Oneida farm community, which was faced with increasing economic pressures to harvest its timber and a federal push for the allotment of tribal lands to individual households.

Dennison Wheelock took up the cornet after hearing his older brother, Charles, playing it.

Dennison Wheelock was impressed by a visiting Tuscarora musician, who taught the youth music reading and simple composition for several months.

Dennison Wheelock heard the popular band music of John Philip Sousa at Wisconsin fairs.

Dennison Wheelock established the school to train Native Americans as missionaries.

In January 1884 at age 13, Dennison Wheelock wrote to Captain Richard Henry Pratt, Superintendent of the Carlisle Indian School, referring to his "limited musical education" and his musical awakening.

In 1885, Dennison Wheelock enrolled in the Carlisle Indian School to study under Pratt.

Dennison Wheelock excelled in the classroom, and as a champion debater; he was a fine tenor in the choir and cornetist extraordinaire in the band.

Dennison Wheelock returned to Oneida, Wisconsin, where he started teaching and was appointed as a justice of the peace.

Later, Dennison Wheelock featured American Indian music with classical European music in his opera, Aboriginal Suite.

In 1892, Dennison Wheelock was appointed bandmaster of the Carlisle Indian Band, a position he would hold for over eight years, until 1900.

Dennison Wheelock corresponded with Pratt for over 35 years and confided in each other throughout their lives.

James Riley Wheelock was a younger brother of bandmaster Dennison Wheelock and graduated from Carlisle in 1896.

When Dennison Wheelock resigned as Bandmaster in 1900, James succeeded him.

Dennison Wheelock recruited Carlisle students to tour with his professional band during the summer, believing the experience would fit into the parameters of Carlisle's outing program.

Sister Ida Wheelock was active in school organizations such as the Susan Longstreth Literary Society, and Martin Frederick Wheelock, a cousin of Dennison, played American football for the Carlisle Indians from 1894 to 1902.

In 1897, Dennison Wheelock traveled around the country recruiting musicians for a 70-piece, all-Indian student band to expand the Carlisle Indian Band as a new US Indian Band.

Dennison Wheelock was thought to be influenced by the music of European composer Edvard Grieg.

In 1900, after his son died at Carlisle, Dennison Wheelock resigned his post to move his career elsewhere.

Dennison Wheelock worked as a newspaperman in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and then a disciplinarian at the US Indian School at Flandreau, South Dakota.

Dennison Wheelock performed as guest bandmaster at Willow Grove Park, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

On one occasion, Dennison Wheelock drew 70,000 people to a concert.

Dennison Wheelock was later awarded a gold medal and a silver cup for his brilliant conducting.

In 1903, Dennison Wheelock was appointed bandmaster of Haskell Indian School in Lawrence, Kansas, where his efforts were nationally acclaimed.

Dennison Wheelock was supporting an aging father, numerous siblings, wife and son.

Dennison Wheelock was among the 50 founders in 1911 of the Society of American Indians, the first national American Indian rights organization developed and run by American Indians.

In October 1914, Dennison Wheelock hosted the society's 1914 annual convention in Madison, Wisconsin.

Dennison Wheelock arranged for a visit to the White House to meet with President Woodrow Wilson.

Dennison Wheelock presented the president with the society's petition asking for appointment of a three-member commission to gain US citizenship for American Indians, and for broadening jurisdiction of the US Court of Claims so that it could hear all Indian nation claims against the United States.

Dennison Wheelock took up the study of law by returning to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he had a wide professional network.

Dennison Wheelock "reading the law" as an apprentice at the office of John Miller, head of the Cumberland County Bar Association.

In 1911, after completing his training, Dennison Wheelock returned to Wisconsin, and completed requirements to be admitted to the Bar.

Dennison Wheelock established his residence and practice in De Pere, near the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin.

Dennison Wheelock became one of the most successful attorneys in Brown and Outagamie counties.

Dennison Wheelock represented both Indian and non-Indian clients, although in this period, anti-Indian sentiments were rising in North Central Wisconsin.

In 1915, Dennison Wheelock led the Green Bay Concert Band, which was composed largely of non-Indian musicians.

In 1921, Dennison Wheelock served as general manager and bandmaster of the Oneida Indian Centennial Celebration, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the tribe's migration to Wisconsin.

Dennison Wheelock continued his practice in Washington, DC until his death on March 10,1927, at the age of 56.

Dennison Wheelock was buried in a Masonic funeral at Woodlawn Cemetery, Brown County, Wisconsin.