Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1910-11-07

Early Divisions of the Colony was
the top of Rev. DR.. Lewelyn Pratt at
the 275th anniversary celebration at
Saybrook Friday. when he read the
following paper:
TAKE IN ADDRESS
1t is not necessary that the story of
the early divisions of the Saybrook
colony should be given in detail to-
day. That has been we'll done on pre-
vious anniversaries, and today in the
carefully prepared historical address
already given.
Myspart at this time is to claim in
terest in the 215th anniversary on be-
half of many beyond the present town
limits, and to bring acknowledge
ment of their lineage. Saybrook from
the first, seems to have had remark
able centrifugal energy and her sons
and daughters are to be found in all
parts of the earth.
The First Division.
The first division that was made
came very early, when in 1860 that
large company went over to Mohegan
to found plantation. taking with
them the pastor and deacon of the
church that had been formed here, and
Major John Mason, the military lead
er of Connecticut, who had been a
resident twelve years. Many specu
lations have been INDUCED in to ac-
count for this migration. | have new
er been willing to believe that those
who went We're driven away by the
crows and blackbirds; such men as
Major Mason and Pastor Fitch were
not easily driven. We may believe
that the non-fulfilment of the great
expectations with which those who
came with Winthrop were fired had
much to do with the transfer. The
men of quality for whom Lion Gar
diner was to prepare did not come;
n tot Two
lost heart and abandoned the enter
prise; and those who had come to
found city were left to keep a mil
itary post. From the first, as Profess
SCR Johnson, in his History of Con-
necticut writes, the fort was him
ORANGE to settlement. 1T drew dan
GER he says, from Dutch and In
dams as the candle draws the moth
Ready to Consider Michigan Land.
Then. after Fenwick made over the
fort, it's appurtenances. and the land
in the neighborhood TO the colony of
Connecticut, the necessity of main
tanning the post for the sake of COL
lecting duties on all exports of corn,
beaver and cattle-a task as disa gree
able as the collection of customs is
today in New York-must have been
a burden upon those who remained,
especially as 1t drew upon them SO
much reproach and at one time
threatened to disrupt the union of the
New England colonies. Accordingly
when the offer of a large tract of land
in the Mohegen country was made
to them they were ready to consider
it. No great accumulation of prop
erty had been gained there and the
transfer could be made with much
less of sacrifice than could a similar
movement now. The peculiar beauty
of the section to which they were in
vited, with it's wooded hills, its fertile
plains, and running brooks, attracted
them. Apparently the lure of the new
adventure was strong upon the whole
colony for while we have no copy of
the petition sent up to the general
court asking permission to go to Mo-
hogan the act OF the court of May,
1853. granting permission rea DIS:
This court, having considered the
petition by the inhabitants of Sea-
brook, do declare that they approve
and consent to what is desired by the
petitioners respecting Mohegin, pro-
vided that within the space of three
years they doe effect plantation in
the place propounded,'
Settled Here in 1859.
1t will be noticed that this act
speaks of the petition Is coming from
1.-The inhabitants of Seabrook," not
from a company or portion of them.
This seems TO imply that at least q
MAJORITY was proposing To remove 10
the new settlement. Apparently no
time was lost in effectins a beginning,
for In the autumn of 1859 the plot of
the new plantation was surveyed, a
highway opened. homesteads measured
and assigned. and in 1850 the remain
der of the company followed and the
settlement of Norwich began. Wheth-
er the major part of the inhabitants
of Say went to Norwich, / will
not claim here today Gas A Norwich
man | might. hu+ 8 q a native of Say
brook I am willing to leave il
doubt, but thi1' y-hve men. most OF
them with families, We're the pioneers
lively and almost exclusively Say
brook colony, although a few of the
thirty-five families came from other
places. and it's growth and prosperity
redounded to the praise OF its origin
One of the first notes struck in con-
nection with the 250th anniversary at
Norwich last year was the filial ac-
acknowledgements of the parentage and 2
tribute of gratitude for the quality of
the men and women that Saybrook
had nurtured and trained and sent to
make Norwich what it has become. II
was a goodly band of well-to-do folk
of good ancestry, who had been train
ed bv strong leaders like Winthrop
Fenwick, Gardiner, Mason Higginson
and Fitch. who had been Injured to
service in a new country, and had al
ready attained self-regulating life
under a constitutional government and
We're united under the restraining and
refining power of the Christian faith
They 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 acces
sions of restless adventurers from any
and every quarter and gradually grow
ing into stable form they came with
town government and a church
| They came not as mere fortune
hunters, each to wrest for himself
speedy gain and then retire; but as
| q band of God-fearing, law-abidine
men and women bound to act for the
common good, seeking to found g civ
| ilized and Christian state in which
! they would establish homes and which
| they could hequeath to their children
as a priceless heritage
Result of the Venture
Out of this venture of "ti1e inha bit
ants Of Seabrook" have come sorne
| Things to be placed TO your credit to-
| day Some of the Saybrook- Norwich
names have been heard of-tlle Pitches