Saybrook Colony

The Saybrook Colony was established in the latter part of the year in 1635 at the mouth of the Connecticut River, by which today form Old Saybrook, Connecticut and the surrounding region. John Winthrop, Jr., son of the governor of Massachusetts, was designated Governor of the group who received the land by an instrument of transfer of the 2nd Earl of Warwick. Winthrop was supported by Colonel George Fenwick and Captain Lion Gardiner. As the head of the group who planned to settle in the colony, followers of Oliver Cromwell, were they remained during the civil war in England. At the same time, the colony struggled to 1644 for survival, so that Fenwick agreed to unite the colony with the dynamic Colony of Connecticut a few miles up the river.