English settlers arrived in Saybrook in 1635 and, after years of warfare with native peoples, the loss of about half the population to settle Norwich, and hardship in obtaining food and shelter, turned in time to founding a school to train ministers. Ten Congregational ministers meeting in Branford planned to seek a charter, each pledging books in support, and in October 1701 the General Assembly authorized a Collegiate School so that youth might be instructed in the arts and sciences for service in both church and civil state, making it the first school in the colonies to provide education not only for religious purposes but also for service to society. On November 11, 1701, ten trustees met in Saybrook, probably at the home of Reverend Thomas Buckingham, chose Saybrook as the school’s location, and selected Reverend Abraham Pierson of Killingworth as first rector, though students studied at or near his house because his congregation expected him to remain there; the first student was Jacob Heminway of East Haven, while graduations were held in Saybrook at Buckingham’s home. After Pierson died in 1707, the senior class moved to Milford while other students continued instruction in Saybrook. The school later took the Yale name after Elihu Yale, responding to a request from Cotton Mather, sent 417 books and several containers of goods; although Yale’s fortune had been amassed through illegal profiteering and some argued the college owed more to Jeremiah Dummer, officials named the new building Yale, the institution officially became Yale College in 1745, and Yale University in 1887. During its Saybrook years, the school struggled with small classes, no rector in residence, inadequately prepared tutors, limited registration, complaints about travel, and pressure from Hartford, New Haven, and Wethersfield to relocate; seniors were allowed to finish outside Saybrook in 1716, and on October 31, 1717, the General Assembly voted to establish the college in New Haven. Saybrook supporters had aided the school through gifts from Nathaniel Lynde, the first treasurer, who donated ten acres and a house in 1708 while reserving reversion if the school left, and from Major John Clark, who transferred rights to two thousand acres in Mohegan country that Chief Attawanhood, Joshua Uncas, had given him in gratitude for services. Saybrook then resisted the move, refusing to surrender the library held largely by Daniel Buckingham, and the books were forcefully loaded onto ox carts in a disorderly "battle of the books" marked by broken cart wheels, loose oxen, ripped-up bridges, and rowdiness; after three days the carts reached New Haven with slightly more than 1000 volumes, about 260 fewer than when they began.