In 1633, when the Plymouth colony had determined to commence the work of settlement, they commissioned William Holmes, and a chosen company with him, to proceed to Connecticut. They took with them the frame of a house, which they set up in Windsor. They achieved their object, notwithstanding the threatened opposition of the Dutch at Hartford, where the latter, after learning that the Plymouth people intended to settle on the river, had erected a slight fort. The Plymouth people, also, were successful in defending their trading-house subsequently, both against the Dutch and the Indians. The Dutch erected a trading-house at Hartford the same year, the house at Windsor having preceded it, perhaps, by a few months. The actual settlement of the region, however, was deferred for a time, from the fact of divided opinions on the subject in the Massachusetts court. No vote could be obtained in favor of the project. In the mean time, individuals were determined to prosecute the enterprise, and a number of the people of Watertown came, in 1634, to Connecticut. They erected a few huts at Pyquag (Wethersfield), in which they contrived to pass the winter. In the spring of 1635, the general court of Massachusetts bay assented to the plan of emigration to Connecticut, and, accordingly, preparations were made in several places. The Watertown people gradually removed, and added to their settlement at Wethersfield. Mr. Warham, one of the ministers of Dorchester, accompanied by a great part of the church, settled at Mattaneang (Windsor). A company from Newtown began a plantation, between those two settlements, at Suchiang (Hartford). In the course of the year, a large body of settlers, sixty in number, came together--men, women, and children, with their horses, cattle, and swine. It being somewhat late in the season, and their journey proving to be long and difficult, winter came upon them before they were prepared. They were but indifferently sheltered, and their food was scanty--a large portion of their furniture and provisions, having been put on board of several small vessels, never reached them. The vessels were lost, and some lives with them. A part of their domestic animals they were obliged to leave on the other side of the river. Famine and its fearful effects were now to be encountered. It was impossible for all to stay where they were. Some, attempted to return to the east through the wilderness; others, went down to the mouth of the river, in order to meet their provisions, and, being disappointed, were obliged, finally, to embark on board of a vessel for Boston. In both instances they suffered greatly, but were providentially preserved to arrive at their former home. The portion of the settlers who remained were subjected to much distress. The resources of hunting and food from the Indians being exhausted, they had recourse to acorns, malt, and grains for subsistence. Large numbers of their cattle perished.