Chauncey Judd, or The Dayton Robbery of 1780

The story of Chauncey Judd is one of the core histories of the Naugatuck Valley, from Waterbury down to Derby, a patriotic tale of a young man kidnapped by Tories during the Revolutionary War. The story is retold from time to time in local newspapers and by various historical societies, although the facts of the story are sometimes muddled. The retellings are generally based on a novel by Israel P. Warren published nearly a century after the events took place. Although Warren’s novel was rooted in fact, he distorted and embellished historical information in order to create a compelling narrative. I have been unable to find any source that separates the book’s facts from fiction, so I spent a little time digging into the historical documents to get a better understanding of what really happened in 1780. Here’s what I found.

 

Queen Anne's War and the Scott Family

The story of the Scott family during the early 1700s has been told many times over the centuries as a tale of abduction, torture, death, and “savages,” a tale of life on the frontier for “heroic, rugged and long-suffering pioneers” who settled Waterbury and Watertown. Thanks to the magic of the internet and archivists who have worked to digitize historical documents, a more thorough and balanced account of story can now be told.

Essential to the story is Queen Anne’s War and colonial Connecticut’s interactions with neighboring colonies and with New France. This historical period doesn’t get as much attention as it should, so I have included a fair amount of detail to help explain the context of the Scott family story.

Depiction of a colonial farm being cleared
This engraving appears on numerous commercial websites, but none of them give the original source.

Traditional Telling of the Story

A very short summary of the Scott family story is this: sometime around 1709, Joseph Scott was abducted, tortured, and murdered by Indians. His body was found by his neighbors on a hillside not far from the Naugatuck River, somewhere near what we now call the Leatherman’s Cave. Scott was buried where he was found, the grave covered in rocks. A year or two later, Joseph’s brother Jonathan Scott was picnicking under a tree with two of his sons when they were captured by Indians. Jonathan’s right thumb was cut off to prevent him from resisting. The three Scotts were taken to Canada. Eventually, Jonathan Scott and one of his sons returned to Waterbury; the other son remained in Canada with the Indians, despite Jonathan’s efforts to free him. Jonathan Scott’s wife, Hannah Hawks Scott, had previously lost most of her family during the 1704 Indian raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, leading one historian to dub her “the most afflicted woman in New England.” (Anderson, ed., The Town and City of Waterbury, Vol. 1: 257)

The Weston House

Tucked away in the middle of a large block on West Side Hill is a house built in the middle of the 19th century for Catharine Weston and her family. The early history of the house's ownership is one of female empowerment and of Black entrepreneurship.

1048 West Main Street (1050 West Main can be seen behind to the left)

Architectural Style

The house was built using wood frame construction in a simplified version of the Greek Revival style. It is a common house style that can be seen throughout western Connecticut. The house is relatively small and modest, designed as a cozy private home rather than a showy display of wealth. The siding would originally have been wood clapboards (it now has asphalt siding).

Gold Fever

Gold! Gold! Gold! The California Gold Rush is legendary. Thousands of people flocked west to mine for gold following the 1848 news that there was gold in abundance. Waterbury was not immune to the "gold fever." An unknown number of people from Waterbury rushed out west following the discovery of gold in California, hoping to get rich quick. Very few had any success. Some lost their lives.

Currier & Ives, Gold Mining in California, c. 1871
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division

Public Schools, 1674-1868

There’s been some ongoing debate about forgiving students loans and making college free, which piqued my interest in the history of public education. We often assume that what we have now is what has always existed, but of course that’s not true. When Waterbury’s first public high school opened in 1851, it wasn’t free. In fact, legislation protecting the right of all children to attend any public school in Connecticut regardless of income or race didn’t exist until 1868. Earlier laws in Connecticut attempted to guarantee that children who had jobs would still get a basic education, but those laws weren’t always enforced.

Waterbury's first High School
From Richard Clark's Map of Waterbury, 1852

Nineteenth-century advocates for free education argued that it was in everyone's interest to ensure that all children could get the best education possible, that no one should be deprived of fulfilling their potential. Thanks to their advocacy, education is free through 12th grade.

Carmine Capobianco

Waterbury lost one of its greats this weekend. Carmine Capobianco lived his live to its fullest and left behind creative work that will help future historians understand Waterbury in 20th century. I consider myself very fortunate to have known him. He was a genuinely kind, warm-hearted person with a sense of humor that made the world a little brighter.

Carmine Capobianco
Photo from his Facebook page