Norwich bulletin., 1909-07-05
NORWICH CELEBRATES QUARTER MILLENNIUM
Opening Held the Old Byng Ground Norwich Town where Four of
  Northro rop--Ma Mason'N Nonumen Decorated

i first, for it was principally a military
 post; and the chaplain of the post, | Rev. John Higginson, was the spirit
 ual guide Of the colony. Col. George Fenwick, after the failure of the men of quality who were expected to join
 him in the enterprise, transferred his colony in 1644 to Connecticut, and,
 soon after, saddened by the death of ] his wife, Lady Alice, returned with | his children to England and Mayor
 John Mason was persuaded to receive ! the investment and to make Saybrook his home. There he remained as lead- l CT for twelve years.
 A Church Formed.
 | Under his administration the colony
 thrived, and a more extended settle ment was made north, east and west. i In 1646 a church was formed and the
 Rev. James Fitch, who had studied
 with the Rev. Thomas Hooker and who was recommended by him, became
 pastor and Thomas Adgate deacon. MT. Fitch's ministry, whom Trumbull
 speaks of a famous young gentleman" | Che was in his 24th year when he was settled), proved to be a very happy
 and successful one. Notwithstanding l the hostility of the Dutch and the In-
 dians, the plantation grew by the nov ing in of choice families, some of them ! from Windsor and Hartford, attract | ed in part by the popularity of the young preacher. We have meager rec crds of that period but it seems to | have been one that promised well for | the settlement. which was now assum- | ing the consequence of real planta- tion and becoming something more than a military post. After a lapse of | fourteen or fifteen years, however, we l find that check is to be given to
 this progress, the intimation of which
 is clearly marked by this order of the
 general court of Connecticut, dated ] May 2e 1659
 This court having considered the 1 petition presented by the inhabitants | of .Seabrook, doe declare vt they ap- | prove and consent to what is desired | by ye petitioners respecting Mohegin,
 prvided. vt within. ye space of three ] years they doe effect a Plantation in
 ye place prpounded.'
 We would like to know more of this petition and of the list of names sign
 ed to it. but no copy has been pre-
 served The order speaks of the fin
 habitants of Seabrook,' which seems | to imply that a majority proposed to remove and the fact that MT. Fitch, i their pastor, decided to come with
 them also lends color to that view. 1t | is doubtful, however, if the majority actually came. Mir Fitch may have recognized the greater need of those who were to go into new conditions and who would require his experience and counsel in the organizations they must effect. Apparently, it was not regarded in the removal of the church although it's pastor and deacon came. Saybrook has always dated the or ganization of it's church in 1646, and Norwich 1660 But in all probability the younger and more enterprising of the colony came, and the loss to Say r1n several years, till 1885, the colony and church that were left behind were in a disheartened state.
 Many reasons, have been surmised for the removal, some of them too friv- olous to be accepted, as that which has been so often repeated; that these Norwich pioneers with Major Mason and James Fitch at their head, were driven out by the crows and black birds that destroyed their corn" We may imagine many reasons, among them, perhaps, was the disappointment that the men who had planned to set l tie at Saybrook and who would have given peculiar character and standing to that colony had failed to come; and even their representative, Colonel Fenwick, had lost heart in the enter prise and abandoned it. Then, there were the inducements which the friendly Indians here held out and the
 
 tlement.
 The peculiar beauty of this section, with it's wooded hills, it's fertile plains and running brooks, attracted them. The pioneer spirit appealed to them, was in their blood, as in all the colon ies at that time. They must go some- where. So Hooker had come to Hart ford, Pynchon to Springfield, Roger Williams to Rhode Island, Jonathan Brewster to Windsor and Brewster's Neck. Probably this Norwich colony had as reasons for the removal some like those given by Rockers company in their petition for permission for removal to Hartford, which were l. Want of room where we are" p. 'The fruitfulness and commodi- ousness of Connecticut and the danger of having it possessed by others" B. The strong bent of our spirit to remove thither."
 Probably the "bent of their spirit'' was the. motive, more potent than either of the others or than both of them together
 That act of the general court of May, 1859, which I have quoted, made as it's condition that the settlement must be made within the three years thereafter. Apparently no time was lost; and the advance guard came in the summer of 1859, followed by the remainder of the company the next year. It was a valiant and goodly band of well to do folk of good ances- try, that had been trained by strong leaders, such as Winthrop, Fenwick, Gardiner, Mason, Higginson and Fitch, had been inured to service in a new country, had already attained to a well ordered life under constitutional gov ernment, and were united under the restraining and refining power of the Christian faith. This colony did not begin in a random way, like so many of the early settlements or like so many of the later frontier ventures, by receiving accessions of restless ad-