ders of the movement.
Lathrop never went to New Haven, and Samuel Eaton early returned to
England. The leaders and many of their followers were men of
considerable property for that day, and their interest in trade gave to
the colony a marked commercial character. The company was composed of
men and women from London and its vicinity, and of others who joined
them from Kent, Hereford, and Yorkshire. As both Davenport and
Theophilus Eaton were members of the Massachusetts Bay Company, they
were familiar with its work; and on coming to America in June, 1637,
they stopped at Boston and remained there during the winter. Pressure
was brought upon them to make Massachusetts their home, but without
success, for though Davenport had much in common with the Massachusetts
people, he was not content to remain where he would be merely one among
many. Desiring a free place for worship and trade, he sent Eaton
voyaging to find one; and the latter, who had heard of Quinnipiac on the
Connecticut shore, viewed this spot and reported favorably. In March,
1638, the company set sail from Boston and laid the foundations of the
town of New Haven.

This company had neither charter nor land grant, and, as far as we know,
it had made no attempt to obtain either. "The first planters," says
Kingsley, "recognized in their acts no human authority foreign to
themselves." Unlike the Pilgrims in their _Mayflower_ compact, they made
no reference in their plantation covenant to the dread sovereign, King
James, and in none of their acts and statements did they express a
longing for their native country or regard for its authority. Their
settlement bears some resemblance to that of the Rhode Island towns, but
it was better organized and more orderly from the beginning. The
settlers may have drawn up their covenant before leaving Boston and may
have reached Quinnipiac as a community already united in a common civil
and religious bond. Their lands, which they purchased from the Indians,
they laid out in their own way. The next year on June 4, 1639, they held
a meeting in Robert Newman's barn and there, declaring that the Word of
God should be their guide in families and commonwealth and that only
church members should be sharers in government, they chose twelve men as
the foundations of their church state. Two months later these twelve
selected "seven pillars" who proceeded to organize a church by
associating others with themselves. Under the leadership of