The Kidnaping of Chauncey Judd
CHAUNCEY JUDD WAS FIFTEEN YEARS OLD and had participated that day in the festivities associated with a quilting bee for the benefit of a young woman about to be married. Afterward, Chauncey had his first date with a girl named Ditha Webb, whom he escorted to her home. They sat and talked by the kitchen fire at Ditha’s house till quite late. It was April 5, 1780 (or March 25 on the Old Style calendar) and there was snow on the ground.[1] As Chauncey headed for home, he came upon a group of men carrying heavy bundles. One of the men, David Wooster, a neighbor of the Judd’s, recognized Chauncey. They had just robbed the house of Captain Ebenezer Dayton, located in Bethany nearby. The leader of the robbers, Captain Graham, decided that Chauncey would have to come with them, to forestall any chance of giving them away. Chauncey swore he wouldn’t give them away, but to no avail.
Captain Ebenezer Dayton, originally from Long Island, was a privateer (and pirate and smuggler) during the Revolutionary War, who was commissioned under rules established by the Continental Congress to prey on British shipping (for Dayton’s story, see the article on this website). As a patriot, Dayton was forced to leave British occupied Long Island and came to Connecticut. Dayton saw the parish of Bethany as a safe place for his family to live. His house was a public house and inn as well as a place for his family to live, and a store where he could sell the goods he acquired as spoils of war.
The robbery was planned by Captain Alexander Graham, an American deserter who had joined the British army. Graham was commissioned a lieutenant; the title “captain” simply meant that he was in charge of this little expedition. Graham and his companion Martin were staying at Tural Whittemore’s tavern in Chusetown (a village in Derby then; now Seymour), located on Indian Hill, overlooking the Naugatuck River from the east side.[2] He recruited six local Tories to help him. A Tory was an American who remained loyal to the King of England. At the tavern Graham and Martin joined the locals gathered around the fireplace and sounded them out on their views about the war, and their feelings about Dayton. Graham was finally able to identify two Tories, cousins David and Henry Wooster, who were willing to join the caper, and the Woosters in turn recruited their cousin Sam Doolittle, and two others, Amasa Scott and Jesse Cady.
Dayton’s house, located in Bethany Parish, Woodbridge, Connecticut, was located on the eastern side of the old meetinghouse green (the house was later owned by Col. Elihu Sanford, father of Elihu and Harvey Sanford, esquires, among the most respected citizens of the town; “Pitchfork” Sanford, the subject of another article on this website, was also a son of Elihu). On the opposite side of the green were the houses of the Rev. Mr. Steven Hawley, and the physician, Dr. Hezekiah Hooker. Dayton happened to be away to Boston, and two other men who lived there were also away. Phebe Dayton, Ebenezer’s wife, was home alone with her three children, one of whom was an infant, and two Black children, slaves, a boy and a girl. They were all asleep when the robbers broke in. Mrs. Dayton was tied to a chair, while the robbers ransacked the house. The merchandise was mostly British manufactured goods, including coats, cloaks, ladies’ gowns, laces, worsted hose, silk handkerchiefs, linens, a spyglass, two muskets, four halberds, plus between four-and-five-hundred pounds in gold, silver, and copper coins, and two hundred paper dollars. Then they ate their fill of Dayton’s food and liquor, destroying what thy didn’t consume. Then they headed left the house and headed north toward Waterbury. David Wooster was left behind to guard Mrs. Dayton till the robbers got far away, and he would catch up with them later. One of the Woosters had the audacity to strip Mrs. Dayton of the jewelry she was wearing—earrings, necklace, locket, sleeve-buttons, rings—all gold.
After leaving Dayton’s house the robbers passed through the “straits,” hiked up to the bridge at Salem (Naugatuck today), an area known as “Judd’s meadow,” and headed west to Gunntown, where they ran across Chauncey Judd. They stayed in Jobamah Gunn’s barn that night. Jobamah was the richest man in Waterbury, and a Tory. He knew David and Henry Wooster but was suspicious of this late-night activity and suspected they were up to no good. He didn’t want any trouble with the local vigilance committee, which treated misbehaving Tories quite harshly. He told them they could stay in his barn for the night, but to be gone first thing in the morning.
In the morning, Capt. Graham wanted to kill Chauncey rather than take him with them. He gave the trembling boy ten minutes to say his prayers. But David Wooster and the other local boys, who knew Chauncey, talked him out of it. The party then went to David Wooster’s house, where they locked up Chauncey in the dairy room in the basement. The robbers ate and got some provisions to take with them. They wanted to leave Chauncey there, but the Woosters nixed that idea; they would have to take Chauncey with them. To make sure he wouldn’t testify against them, they thought the best thing would be to take him to Long Island, to stay there till the war was over. But Graham decided to kill Chauncey and throw his body down Wooster’s well. David’s parents, David Wooster Sr. and his wife, forbade them to do it, both because they were horrified at the idea of murdering Chauncey, who was well known to them, but also because a body in the well would poison it.
Wooster’s hired man, William Seeley, reported that men were on their way looking for them, some on foot, others on horseback. The fugitives left Wooster’s house and made their escape just in time. Once again, Graham became impatient with dealing with Chauncey, and when the group was safely away, Chauncey was again told to say his prayers. But when Graham pointed his pistol at Chauncey’s head, David Wooster grabbed the barrel and pushed it away. Wooster and the other local boys told Graham that Chauncey was not to be harmed. Chauncey was too young to be a member of the church, and had never thought too much about religion, but he began to pray, and did find some comfort.
Meanwhile, Capt. Dayton returned home that morning. Search parties were already out looking for the robbers, and Dayton had some bills printed offering a five-thousand-dollar reward for the capture of the robbers. Chauncey’s disappearance was also noticed, and people wondered if there was any connection. No one believed that Chauncey could have had anything to do with the robbery. It was a mystery.
The fugitives found shelter of sorts in a crevice high in the rocks offering a good vantage point to spot any pursuers while they waited for darkness. But it was cold and windy, and the crevice faced the wind. A Tory blacksmith, Noah Candee, lived nearby, and Scott volunteered to go down there and ask for shelter. He found Candee in his blacksmith shop, with his neighbor Daniel Johnson, also a Tory. They advised Scott to tough it out in the crevice, as there were at least a hundred men out looking for them, and the first place they’d look around here, was Candee’s and Johnson’s place. Some of the search party arrived at Candee’s shortly after, and he and Johnson denied any knowledge. After they left, Candee brought some liquor to the fugitives, to make life bearable, and told them that Johnson and he’d give a signal when it was safe to come out.[3]
It was snowing heavily when Johnson came to tell them it was time to go, and he led them out of Gunntown. The robbers headed for Oxford, along Riggs Street. When they got to the main road, it was only a short distance to Capt. John Wooster’s tavern. Wooster was uncle to David and Henry, and a Tory as well. He and his wife Eunice were already in bed, and when they learned that there were eight people asking for lodging, told them all the beds were taken, but one. The robbers prevailed upon the Woosters; it was a cold, snowy night. Two of them could take the bed, and the rest sleep in the barn. But, like Jobamah Gunn, the Woosters were nervous about harboring the fugitives, and told them they must be gone the next day.
The pursuers were hot on the trail of the robbers. Jobamah Gunn and his wife had been questioned, and while at first denying any knowledge, after food scraps were discovered in the barn, and other evidence of men having been there recently, Mrs. Gunn finally confessed that some men had slept in the barn the previous night, and that she had given them breakfast, under duress. A little later that morning, David Wooster Sr. and his wife had already confessed what they knew, and were under arrest, as was their hired man, William Seeley. It now was known that David and Henry Wooster were part of the gang, and they also received confirmation that Chauncey Judd was with them, a prisoner.
Two of the pursuers, Dr. Jesse Carrington and Isaac Hotchkiss, both from Bethany, showed up at Captain Wooster’s tavern. Wooster’s daughter Ruth convinced them that the men weren’t there, and they left. The fugitives were eager to move on, but a storm forced them to stay where they were. One of the party, Henry Wooster, had been captured and bound by Wooster’s enslaved man, Tobiah. Tobiah went to get help, while Graham and the rest of the fugitives found Henry, released him, and the men pushed on toward Derby Landing. Slowed down by drifted snow, it took them all night to cover the six miles to the landing, where they found an old whaleboat and rowed off, headed for Long Island.
It was fourteen miles from Derby Landing to Stratford and the open water of Long Island Sound. The pursuers spotted them, but too late, and the fugitives were off, headed for Long Island, about twenty miles away. From the belfry of the meeting-house a man with a spyglass carefully watched the progress of the fugitives and noted where they landed, in Brookhaven. The pursuers commandeered two whaleboats and headed out to Brookhaven. One of the pursuers was from Brookhaven, and he suspected that the fugitives would be found at Bailey’s Tavern, a known Tory haunt. The fugitives, and Chauncey Judd, were indeed there, and all but one of the robbers was apprehended, including the ringleader, the turncoat Graham.
Graham was turned over to the military and was hanged as a deserter and a spy. As for the rest, two of the accused turned state’s witness, and helped to convict the others. The three burglars, David and Henry Wooster, Jr., and Samuel Doolittle, each to pay a fine of fifty pounds, and be imprisoned four years in the Newgate State Prison. David Wooster, Ben., and Noah Candee, to pay a fine each of five hundred pounds, and be imprisoned nine months in the Hartford jail. Daniel Johnson, two hundred and fifty pounds fine, and imprisonment in the Hartford Jail nine mouths. Francis Noble, a fine of fifty pounds, and imprisonment in Hartford Jail one year. William Seeley, twenty-five pounds, and Hartford Jail nine months. Lemuel Wooding, twenty-five pounds, and Hartford Jail six months.
Captain Dayton sued the men for the assault on his family, damages to his premises, and the theft of his property, and won thousands of pounds in the judgment. Chauncey Judd’s father sued David Wooster and his son, Candee, Johnson, and Jobamah Gunn, for the abduction of Chauncey, and injuries done to him, and won eight hundred pounds, lawful money. As a result, David Wooster senior and Noah Candee were reduced to poverty. Jobamah Gunn, the richest man in Waterbury, according to legend brought the money to Judd in coin, carried in his beaver hat.
Young Chauncey was scarred for life by his experience, suffering what today we would call post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He was reported to be partially insane for some days, suffering nightmares and suddenly sitting up and shouting “hurrah for King George!” His hands had been frost-bitten—on the boat voyage across Long Island Sound, Chauncey had been forced to hold a bayonet in place to replace a broken thole-pin (before oar-locks, thole-pins were used to pivot the oars against). His fingers were crippled for life. His health remained delicate for the rest of his life and died in 1823 at the age of thirty-seven. He married twice, and had four children by his first wife, Mabel Hotchkiss Judd, and six children by his second wife Eunice French Judd.
REFERENCES
Israel P. Warren, Chauncey Judd or The Stolen Boy: A Story of the Revolution (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1874).
Sylvester Judd, Thomas Judd and his Descendants (Northampton MA: J&L Metcalf, 1856).
Raechel Guest, Waterbury Blogspot, https://waterburythoughts.blogspot.com/2021/11/chauncey-judd-or-dayton-robbery-of-1780.html
NOTES
[1] The Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
[2] The Whittemore Tavern is now an ice cream parlor, “Whittemore’s Ice Cream,” located at 114 Main St. in Seymour.
[3] Raechel Guest believes that David Wooster Sr. and Noah Candee were in on the plot, agreeing to fence some of the stolen goods.