Their condition was indeed most trying and perilous, in their solitude and separation from others, at the mercy alike of the elements of nature, and the power of savage foes. But their God, in whom they trusted, carried them through in safety. The Connecticut planters held courts of their own, though they were settled under the general government of the Massachusetts. These courts consisted of two principal men from each town, joined sometimes by committees of three additional persons, as occasion might require. The first court was held at Hartford, April 26th, 1636. At this season of the year, both those who had left Connecticut in the winter and many others proceeded to take up their residence on the river. At length, about the beginning of June, a company of an hundred men, women, and children, under Messrs. Hooker and Stone, took their departure from Cambridge, and traveled to Hartford through the pathless wilderness that lay between the two places. Over mountains, through ravines, swamps, thickets, and rivers, they made their way, submitting to incredible fatigue and many privations. These trials, to a portion of the new comers, must have been peculiarly severe, as they were a class of society who, having enjoyed all the comforts and elegancies of life, knew little of hardship and danger. The year preceding, a fort was erected at the mouth of the river, called Saybrook fort, in honor of Lords Say and Brooks, to whom, with several others, a commission had been given to begin a plantation at Connecticut. This was effected under the auspices of John Winthrop, a son of the governor of Massachusetts. Winthrop's commission interfered with the settlement commenced by the Massachusetts colonists, but the latter were left in the quiet enjoyment of their possessions. The number of persons in the three towns of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield, was about eight hundred at the close of the year 1636.