The morning journal-courier., 1907-12-26
YALE AT SAYBROOK.
Gravestones to be Seen There Now of Founders of the
 College.
EARLY DEVELOPMENTS
John Hart, the First to Receive a Bachelors Degree. Gradu-
 ated in 1TO3.

On little rise of ground, shaded by dropping branches of ancient trees in the old burying ground overlooking Long Island Sound at saybrook Point, are two moss-covered table stones. Here rest Nathaniel Lynde and his wife, Susanna Willoughby. And a lit- tle tol the northwest of the graves is the land (now part of the new ceme- tery) and the site of the house which Nathaniel Lynde gave for the use of Yale college as long as it remained inI Saybrook
 The burying ground was laid out by Lyon Gardiner one of the first settlers of Saybrook, in 1886. At the entrance is the grave of Lady Fenwick, who was buried in the fort in 1645 and re- inferred here in 1871. The oldest stoneI with date upon it is that of the little child (susannam of Nathaniel Lynde, l buried in 1885. Here also is the grave of the Rev. Thomas Buckingham, one of the founders and trustees of Yale college, one of those distinguished min isters who were nominated by theI clergy and people near the close of the seventeenth century to form a plan and become trustees of a college to be To- cated in the state of Connecticut.
 And in all probability it was at the home of MT. Buckingham in Saybrook that the trustees met on receipt of the charter on Nov Il, 17O1, made Say brook their choice, elected the Rev. Abraham Pierson of KiIlingworth as rector, framed the rules for the gov- ernment of the Collegiate school. and there laid the foundation of Yale col lege. Doubtless Nathaniel Lynde (who was elected the first treasurer of the college), the wealthiest man in the place, and belonging to a distinguished Massachusetts family, was present, and at that time may have presented the 1 house and land for the use of the Col 1 legiate school
 i Perhaps there Is no one person more closely identified with the early history of Yale than Mir. Buckingham It is said that the young tutors loved him as a father, and what there was of order and discipline was largely due to his wisdom and wise Judgment. He
 was the youngest son of Thomas and
 Hannah Buckingham, who came in the ship Hector with Governor Theophius
 Eaton and the Rev. John Davenport in 163S.
 Tradition says that Mr Buckingham
 was born upon the Atlantic. After studying unde rthe Rev. John Whiting of Hartford, and for short time preaching in Wethersfeld, he accepted
 a call to the Saybrook church in 1865
 when but 19 years old, preaching five
 years before his ordination. His parish
 included the towns of Old Saybrook,
 Chester, Essex, Westbrook and a part
 of Lyme, which, in 1866, became a sep
 arate parish. In the same year Mir.
 Buckingham married Hester, d daugn-
 ter of Thomas Hosmer, one of the first
 settlers of Hartford. His home was
 opposite the house given by MT. Lynde
 for the use of the college.
 Mir Buckingham received yearly salary of seventy-fve or eighty pounds , After his marriage he was granted the use of the hummoek that lyeth at the 1 mouth of Oyster river while he remain : in the work of the ministry and in , 1870 ten acres of land for a pasture : and the town voted, that every 100 } pound estate shall yearly carry in to ! Mir. Buckingham a load of good wood
 and all under the estate of an hundred , to cut and join in carting according
 to their estate"
 The Duke of York in 1875, claiming
 a royal charter, commissioned Sir Ed
 mund Andross to enforce his claims at the Saybrook fort, and made the att
 tempt on a hot July day when large } number of the Connecticut troops were in service in the Narragansett war. As soon as the fleet appeared at the mouth
 Of the river the captain of the fort sent
 for Mir. Buckingham and, after con-
 sultation, swift messenger was sent to Hartford for help from Governor Winthrop. and then tradition says Parson Buckingham mounted his horse } and rallied every man within reach to hasten to the fort, and the women of the town were urged to do their part
 in providing food for those called into service, and also to gather in the part ly cured hay By Mir. Bucklngham's
 prompt work and Governor Winthrop's quick response the fort was saved, and Parson Buckingham proved himself the man for the day.
 During MT, Buckinghams ministry
 a new meeting house was built, and we read of one John Wastoll being hired to beat the drum upon Sabbath and two meeting days for forty shill- i ings" Another phase of Mir. Buck
 ingham's life was his kindness to the
 Indians in his neighborhood, with whom he remained firm friends. One of the legends of Saybrook centers
 about an Indian chief, Obed, whose ; daughter, the Red Bird" always sat ! on stool in the minister's pew on
 Sunday, and her father often shared
 any choice game taken while hunting ; with MT. Buckingham. The Red Birds" lover was a white man, to whom her father was much opposed. The lover finally persuaded her to elope with him. Starting to cross the , sound in a small boat one dark night j a terrific storm arose and the lovers
 were drowned. Obed offered daily
 sacrifices upon a rock, known as
 "Obed's altar" to atone for his hard
 ness of heart. MT, Buckingham talk
 ed often with Obed urging him tc
 turn to the true God for pardon ) Through his influence Obed became g Christian, and no longer was the t smoke of his daily sacrifice seen from