The Fenwicks

The Fenwicks. . , George Fenwick, the only Warwick Patentee to settle in Saybrook, arrived here in 1639 to become its second Governor and to replace Lion Gardiner. With his wife and son, two sisters and servants, he took up residence in the great hall within the fort. Lady Alice Fenwick was the lovely auburn-haired widow of a nobleman. Governor Fenwick sold the Saybrook Colony to Hartford in 1644. The terms were an annual payment to him of 180 pounds , one-third in good wheat, one-third in peas, and one-third in rye or barley. The Saybrook seal eventually became the present official seal of the State of Connecticut. The next year Lady Fenwick died giving birth to a daughter and was buried inside the fort. The brownstone monument over her grave was made by Mathew Griswold, a stonecutter. In return for agreeing that his family would perpetually care for the grave, Griswold received a large gift of land across the River in Old Lyme. Lady Fenwick was moved to Cypress Cemetery when the railroad was built in 1870. In 1647, Gardiner's fort burned to the ground, and a new, less elaborate fort was built nearer the River. George Fenwick returned to England the next year and died March 15, 1637.