This subject agitated the people of the Bay to such a degree that a public fast was appointed, September 18, 1634.1 Roger Ludlow, one of the assistants and a leading inhabitant of Dorchester, strongly opposed the movement. In this state of affairs, Israel Stoughton, one of the first Deputies of Dorchester, had an altercation with Governor Winthrop, and published a pamphlet which occasioned his expulsion from the House, 2 and the Dorchester People petitioned in vain for a remission of his sentence. Roger Ludlow, of Dorchester, aimed at being Governor of Massachusetts Colony in 1635, and protested openly against the choice of Governor Haynes, and was in consequence left out of the Magistracy. It is not improbable that these wealthy and influential gentlemen sought a more congenial field for their political ambition, than the Bay Colony presented to them at that moment. It is certain that Mr. Ludlow suddenly changed his views on the subject, and was actively engaged in the project in 1635, which he had with zeal opposed in 1634. * * These different considerations will suffice to account for the movement which was at first opposed by the Government, but in the spring of 1635 reluctantly assented to," on the condition that the new colonies should

our state would have taken, had this company of lords and gentlemen of ample means and aristocratic tendencies been the first settlers on the Connecticut River.

1 Gov. Bradford, with a quiet reference to the previous caution of the Massachusetts folks, says: "Some of their neighbors in the Bay, hearing of the fame of Connecticut River, had a hankering mind after it (as was before noted), and now understanding that the Indians were swept away with the late great mortality, the fear of whom was an obstacle unto them before, which being now taken away, they began now to prosecute it with great eagerness." P. 338. The animus of the people of the Bay, in this matter, is unconsciously revealed by Winthrop, 1, 140, who, in his account of the session of the general court at Newtown, Sept. 4, 1634, at which the subject was long and earnestly discussed, states the following as among the "principal reasons" assigned for removal to Connecticut: "The fruitfulness and commodiousness of Connecticut, and the danger of having it possessed by others, Dutch or English." And "The strong bent of their spirits to remove thither."

2 Winthrop, I, 155.

3 Hutchinson, 1, 41.

continue within the jurisdiction, and as a part of Massachusetts.

Early in June, the General Court granted "3 pieces [or cannon] to the plantations that shall remove to Connecticut, to fortify themselves." And in the last days of this month, a company of Dorchester men, the pioneer corps of the proposed emigration, set out for the Connecticut River, to select a location and make preparations for a settlement. Arriving on the river probably about the 28th of the month, they sat down temporarily near the trading-house which Holmes had erected two years before. After here experiencing the hospitality of the Plymouth People for a few days, they made an excursion to examine the lands above the falls - probably Long-meadow1 which not being quite to their liking, they came down the river again to their first camping ground, Matianuck, now Windsor, intending, with evident disregard of the claims of their hospit able Plymouth friends, to settle there.

But here they found that, during their absence, other pioneers had arrived whose claims conflicted with their own. These new comers were a party of some 20 men, under the superintendence of Mr. Francis Stiles, who had been sent out in a vessel at the private expense of Sir Richard Saltonstall, to prepare grounds and erect houses for himself and certain other lords and gentlemen, the before-mentioned Patentees of Connecticut. Having arrived in the Bay, June 16,3 Stiles remained there ten days, and then sailed for Windsor, the point designated in his instructions, which he reached about the 1st of July. Here he landed his party, and was about commencing his preparations when unexpectedly interrupted by the return of the Dorchester party from their explorations up the river. Thereupon

1 Masacsick.—See Savage's notes to Winthrop, 11, Appendix R, 393.

2 Sometimes spelt Mettaneug, or Mattaneaug. Ouschankamaug.-Ibid.

Also Cufchankamaug, or

* Winthrop's Journal, 1, 161. And Saltonstall in his letter to Gov. Win throp, Jr., says his Pinnace lay at Boston 10 days, which brings his time of departure from there, to the 26th. His voyage here to W. could not have taken longer than 5 or 6 days.

ensued a conflict of claims. The people of the Bay had long been jealous of the projected enterprise of the Patentees of Connecticut, and Roger Ludlow, who was a magistrate of Massachusetts, and a sort of leader of the Dorchester party, claiming that they were within the jurisdiction of that colony, refused to give way to the authority of the Patentees. Although Mr. Stiles, with much firmness, represented the just claims of his employers to the soil, and that, at the time of his arrival, the Dorchester People were unsettled, and seeking for a place further up the river - yet his workmen were driven off, and his claim disputed and denied, with much abuse. Thus thwarted, he landed his stores in the vicinity of the residence of the late Chief Justice Elisworth, and sending back his vessel to England, awaited further orders1 This affair was a very serious pecuniary loss to Saltonstall; and Gov. John Winthrop, Jr., who arrived at Boston in the November following, as governor of the Plantations of the Connecticut Patentees, was commissioned to consult with the Massachusetts authorities, "and those who were to go to Connecticut, about the said design of the Lords, to this issue, that either the three towns gone thither should give place upon full satisfaction, or else sufficient room must be found there for the Lords and their companies."2 The matter was not, however, then adjusted, for the next year Saltonstall addressed a letter to Winthrop,3 authorizing him to settle the matter, at the same time cautioning him lest he should" breed some jealousies in the people, and so distaste them with our (the Patentees') Government." It was not settled, however, until 1645, when the Patentees, having abandoned their project of coming hither, sold out their patent, together with the fort, houses, &c., at Saybrook, to the Connecticut Colony. Saltonstall's personal claim at Dorchester seems to have been trans

I This vessel of Saltonstall's was cast away on the Isle Sable, on its return voyage. See Winthrop's Journal, 1, 171.

2 See Letter from Winthrop, Vane and Peters, to Ludlow, Newberry, Stoughton and others "engaged in settling on the Connecticut." Winthrop, 1, 397-8.

3 This very interesting letter will be found in the Appendix, No. 1.

ferred to Stiles,' who with his party settled there and became participants with the other settlers, in the general distribution. of lands in 1640.2

There is no doubt that Stiles's party were, after the Plymouth Trading Company, the first actual settlers of Windsor. Fortunately, the researches of that indefatigable antiquarian, the Hon. James Savage, of Boston, among the manuscript treasures of Old England, enable us to present a full list of these first comers.3 It is as follows:

"March 16, 1634-5, to New England, embarqued in the Christian de Lo[ndon], John White, master, bound thither, the men have taken the oath of allegiance and supremacy." FRANCIS STILES, aged 35 yrs., Jo. Cribb.

GEO. CHAPPEL,

aged 30 yrs.,

20

Of these, sixteen, whose names are printed in small capitals, are positively known to have settled in Windsor. Three of

1 See genealogy of the Stiles family, in another portion of this work.

2 Though for some time after designated as "the servants," meaning of Saltonstall.

3 Published in Mass. Hist. Society's Collections, 3d series, VIII, 252. It is contained on p. 16 of a folio manuscript volume "at the Augmentation Office so [called], in Rolls Court, Westminster Hall," London. This record contains the names of persons permitted to embark at the port of London, after Christmas, 1634, to some period in the following year, kept generally in regular succession.

4 John Stiles, his wife Rachel, his children Henry and John, his sister Jane, and brother Henry, were permanent settlers at Windsor, as also was Thomas Barber. Mr. Francis Stiles removed to Stratford in or about 1652. Thos. Barber, before mentioned, Thomas Stiles, Jo. Dyer, Jo. Reeves, Thomas Cooper and George Chappel, were his apprentices, in his trade of carpenter. Thomas

these were females, and tradition, which tells us that the foot of that fair maid, Mary Chilton, was the first to press the Plymouth Rock, has also preserved the name of RACHEL, wife of JOHN STILES, as the first English woman who stepped ashore in Windsor.1

By this time the tide of emigration towards the Connecticut had fully set in, and the Dorchester party were constantly receiving accessions to their number. The following letter to the Plymouth Trading Company, from their agent at Matianuck (or Windsor), presents a lively picture of the stir and agitations upon the hitherto solitary river.

"Sir: &c.

The Massachusetts men are coming almost daily, some by water and some by land, who are not yet determined where to settle, though some have a great mind to the place we are upon, and which was last bought. Many of them look at that which this river will not afford, except it be at this place which we have, namely to be a great town, and have commodious dwellings for many together. So as [to] what they will do I can not yet resolve you; for [in] this place there is none of them say any thing to me, but what I hear from their servants (by whom I perceive their minds). I shall do what I can to withstand them. I hope they will hear reason; as that we were here first, and entered with much difficulty and danger, both in regard of the Dutch and Indians, and bought the land (to your great charge, already disbursed), and have since held here a chargeable possession, and kept the Dutch from further incroaching, which would else long before this day have possessed all, and kept out all others, &c. I hope these and such like arguments will stop them. It was your will we should use their persons and messengers kindly, and so we have done, and do daily, to your great charge; for the first company had well nigh starved, had it not been for this house, for want of victuals; I being forced to supply 12 men for 9 days together; and those which came last, I entertained the best we could, helping both them (and the

Stiles removed to Long Island, where he became one of the first settlers of Flushing. Jo. Reeves is afterwards found at Salem, Mass., and a genealogy of his descendants can be found in the Medford Genealogies. Thomas Cooper moved to Springfield, probably about 1644-6. Geo. Chappel moved to New London, about 1651. Thomas Bassett removed to Fairfield, about 1650. Edward Preston is found in the neighborhood of Hartford, as late 'as 1645; and Edward Pattison, as late as 1670.

1 Family tradition. See Stiles genealogy.