Rev. Crosby H. Wheeler, D.D. founder Euphrates College 1878

Rev. Crosby H. Wheeler, D.D. was born at Hampden, Penobscot County, Maine September 8, 1833 and died in Auburndale, Massachusetts on October 11, 1896. Wheeler graduated at Bowdoin College in 1847, and at Bangor Theological Seminary in 1851. He was ordained at Warren, Maine, in 1852 and in December of that same year he married Miss Susan A. Brookings. In 1857, the Wheelers, including their 3 year old daughter Emily, arrived in Harpoot, Turkey. In 1878, Rev. Wheeler founded Armenia College, renamed Euphrates College. He served as its first principal until 1893. During the Hamidian Massacres (1894-1896) the Wheelers suffered the loss of their home and all their personal possessions. Near the end of the Hamidian Massacres, In 1896, Rev. Wheeler became ill and returned to his home in Auburndale, Massachusetts where he soon passed away. Research for screenplay and novel "From Aghin". The Sakaian families in village of Aghin, were members of the minority Protestant Christian Church. In 1852 the American Board of Foreign Missions established a theological seminary in Harput to educate clergymen for the Armenian Evangelical Church, and expanded it 1859 to "American Harput Missionary College". To meet the growing demand for general education in English language, the school's program was extended in 1878, and it was renamed "Armenia College". However, after 10 years, the Ottoman authorities urged to change the school's name, which became finally "Euphrates College". For the building of the college, $140,000 funds were raised from the US Government and $40,000 from the local people in 1875. The facilities at the college consisted of a hospital and an orphanage in addition to a theological seminary and high schools for boys and girls.

In 1895, Kurds looted and burned the Armenian villages on the Harput plain, and in the same month the town was attacked and eight of the twelve buildings on the campus were burned down. In 1915 several of the leading Armenian members of the faculty were arrested, tortured, and executed. The college buildings were then occupied by the Ottoman Military and initially used as training camp, and later as a military hospital. Euphrates College was officially closed shortly after the founding of the Republic of Turkey and nothing now remains of its buildings.