Yale University, Branford College and a Meeting of Ten Ministers

Branford people know a lot about Yale! Regular Branford Patch commenter wrote in a succinct recap of the events of 1701, starting with this:

The formal, legal founding of Yale took place at a meeting of the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut from October 9-16, 1701 that approved an "Act of Liberty to erect a Collegiate School."

According to historian Edwin Oviatt, writing in The Beginnings of Yale, before that October assembly date, there was no "official" founding on record by anyone. From the letters exchanged between several of those founding ministers–particularly Rev. James Pierpont, Rev. Samuel Andrew, and Rev. Abraham Pierson–not even the number of ministers or elders intended to govern the college had been determined. (The final number arrived at, eleven, was added to the charter during the Assembly's gathering.) But those letters also point to a meeting in 1701 at which the donation of books was discussed, and that meeting took place in Branford.

In a 1999 book, Yale: A History, Brooks Mather Kelley tries to discount the "Branford meeting" as folk tradition. Kelley complains in a footnote that the legend persists, despite having the historical documentation to back it up.

The only evidence that there even was a Branford meeting is the fact that John Eliot addressed his reply to the ministers to Abraham Pierson "at Bramford." The possibility that a pledge of books was made or discussed in Branford is revealed by James Noyes's letter, 28 October 1701, to James Pierpont... informing Pierpont that he cannot attend the trustees meeting in Saybrook and continuing, "Probably my brother will be with you. I doe hereby desire and impower [SIC] him to give out my books at his house in my full proportion." 

For Kelley, these mentions just aren't enough, especially given the possibility that Noyes's inability to travel would have made it difficult for him to have made it to the Branford meeting to discuss books. Kelley posits that the discussion about books must have happened at some other time, most probably at the Assembly or at a different meeting in New Haven.

But then why has the tradition of Branford as the founding location persisted? Oviatt's book, published in 1916, gives a much more detailed account of the Branford meeting and Oviatt posits that it was a final meeting of the minds that had envisioned a great college in Connecticut. The idea behind the meeting, he writes, was to make an official commitment to founding the college regardless of whether or not the Assembly approved the proposal. It was also to set down some of the proposed ideas that would make the Assembly more likely to confirm their plan than to come up with a different plan on its own. Thus, the donation of the books being committed to at this time signaled the final agreement among the peers that action would be taken to make their proposed school a reality. Oviatt paints a quaint picture of Branford at the time:

The Branford of elder Pierson's day had expanded by 1700 into a scattering hamlet running north from Branford Point to the present village Green, the latter a rough open space of hollows and hills... Just south of the present burying ground was the parsonage of Rev. Samuel Russell. This was a large and even handsome house in its day, of the gaunt and quite unlovely "lean-to" variety that had come into style a little earlier and throughout the Colony. One of the four large first-floor rooms of this house, the "south parlor" as it was called, was traditionally the place for the first formal gathering of the sponsors for the proposed Colony school that we know anything definite about.

Oviatt here mentions some important factors: the home of Samuel Russell and the idea that there is definite historical evidence to support this meeting. Oviatt also concludes his chapter with the idea that the Branford meeting was a necessary factor in Yale's founding, and that the school would not have come into existence in the same way if not for this prior meeting in Branford.

So, the spirit of the founding took place in Branford, and the official founding took place at the General Assembly. Then, while most accounts have the school beginning in Saybrook, there's a slight historical detour, provided by commenter . 

Rev. Abraham Pierson, from what was then called Kenilworth, held the first class in the town center of Kennelworth. Due to "issues" between the two churches in the original town of Kenilworth, the town was divided into what is now known as Clinton and Killingworth. The original classes for what is now called Yale University, were actually held at Rev. Pierce's church on Main Street, in what is now known as Clinton, CT. It was later moved to Saybrook and then eventually into New Haven.

Eileen has it exactly right. According to the Killingworth Historical Society, Not only was Pierson among those at the Branford meeting, he was also chosen by the trustees to be the first rector, or president, of the college.  Saybrook was always intended to be the spot where the college would be built, but while the buildings were in progress, classes should start by being held at the rector's home. Lucky Pierson! At Pierson's death, not long into his term as rector, the new rector, Samuel Andrew, held classes for the seniors at his home in Milford. (The underclassmen began their course load in Saybrook.)

The university stayed in Saybrook for fifteen years; in 1716, the trustees voted to move the school to New Haven, which had outbid Saybrook to become Yale's new home. This fulfilled the dream of Rev. John Davenport, whom Wayne mentioned in his comments, and whom had always wanted the university to be based in New Haven, where he lived. But there was some debate about a collection of books donated by Jeremiah Drummer in 1714. The trustees said that these books had been donated to Yale; the people of Saybrook said they had been donated to the library at its Saybrook location. While the books were not stolen from Saybrook in the middle of the night, the people who'd come to pick them up and deliver them to New Haven were met by an angry collection of Saybrook's citizens, who stood between the ox carts and the library.  After the carts were eventually loaded, the Saybrook citizens were not done: overnight, they used guerilla tactics to attempt to keep the books from leaving, such as tipping over the carts and setting the oxen free. About 250 books from the Drummer collection never made it to New Haven.

So what about Branford College? It was, in fact, named for Branford; it was founded at the same time as Saybrook College, and both colleges took their names from towns that were instrumental in the early years of Yale University.