In Search of Yale's Roots
The story of Yale, as told by Edwin Oviatt, in The beginnings of Yale (1701-1726), published in 1916, began in England where John Davenport, John Cotton, Thomas Mather and Theophilus Eaton lived
in fear of their lives if they continued to practice the religious faith
they shared. The four men would meet up once again in "the new world"
in 1637 at Massachusetts Bay Colony, to which Davenport
had fled into the arms of his old friends. There Harvard College would
be founded, which remained the only upper level educational institution
until the establishment of Yale in 1701.
It is the purpose of this post to determine who were the men most responsible in those early days for creating the university now known as Yale. Eventually, we will also connect those original founders to the secret society known as Skull and Bones.
Rev. John Davenport soon became dissatisfied in the Puritan colony in Massachusetts and desired to dominate his own group, which he set up the following year at New Haven on land acquired from some friendly Indians.