page_title: John Mason (c. 1600–1672)
section_title: Founding of Norwich
hierarchical_section_title: John Mason (c. 1600–1672) / Founding of Norwich
caption_attribution_description: English: Temporary Plaster Monument
context_page_description: John Mason, was an early English settler, soldier, commander, and Deputy Governor of the Connecticut Colony. Mason was best known for leading the English settlers at an attack on the Pequot and the Mystic Fort, an event that ended up being known as the Mystic Massacre which effectively ended the hegemony of the Pequot tribe in southeast Connecticut.
context_section_description: In 1659, Major Mason moved from the mouth of the Connecticut River to the head of the Thames River, together with his son-in-law Rev. James Fitch and most of the Saybrook residents, and founded the town of Norwich, Connecticut. The land "nine miles square" was purchased from Mohegan Sachem Uncas, who also signed over to Mason all the territory in his tribe's domain as a protector and administrator. Questions regarding title to these thousands of acres created legal disputes which lasted for seventy years; the Mohegan Land Case actually consisted of several cases and appeals making their way through various courts in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and even back in London, England before the Lords Commissioners. Several of the Major's Mason's descendants in the role of the Tribal overseers, went bankrupt and even died in England in the process of defending the Mohegan land rights.
  During his twelve years in Norwich, John Mason served for nine years as Deputy Governor (1660 to 1669), and he helped to write the Connecticut Charter. He served as acting Governor from 1661 to 1663 while Governor John Winthrop Jr. went to England to obtain approval of the Charter from King Charles II.
  John Mason was one of the most trusted men in Connecticut during his three and a half decades of residence there, in both civil and military matters. In his latter years, the formal colony records referred to him simply as "the Major," without forename or surname.
caption: Mason Statue Mystic Conn
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