Wethersfield

Wethersfeild

41.7011° N, 72.6694° W

Occom’s Second Mission to the Oneidas

http://sots.ct.gov/sots/cwp/view.asp?q=392440. http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/witchtrial/na.html. http://colonialwarsct.org/1634.htm. Geo coordinates from https://www.google.com/#q=Wethersfield%2C+CT+Geographic+Coordinates&safe=off.

Wethersfield is a town in central Connecticut located south of Hartford. The land that would become Wethersfield was inhabited by the Wongunk Indians, who called it Pyquag. In 1634, the Wongunks established trade with British settlers in Watertown, Massachusetts. Soon the fecund soil attracted British colonists to settle in the area, which they initially named Watertown before renaming it Wethersfield in 1637. Wethersfield’s proximity to the Connecticut River made it an important trading town, famous for its red onions, which has continued to be a symbol of the town throughout the centuries. The architecture of 17th- and 18th-century Wethersfield homes reflects the colonists’ need for security against the Pequots, a powerful and expanding tribe with whom the people of Wethersfield, aided by an alliance of Mohegan and Narragansett Indians, had battled during the Pequot War (1636-37). In 1692, a flood shifted the course of the Connecticut River east and destroyed all but one warehouse in the town of Wethersfield, which nevertheless continued to play a major role in commerce in the 18th century. Solomon Wells, a firm friend and patron of Occom, lived in Wethersfield.