Mary Clap Wooster
A Woman of Rare Qualities
Mary Clap Wooster was a woman of rare qualities who entered with great ardor into the cause of independence and sustained her husband with her brave and patriotic spirit throughout his military career.
General David Wooster, a native of Connecticut, was born in 1711. He received a degree from Yale College
in 1738. He went on to command a war sloop that conveyed Connecticut troops in the expedition against Louisburg in 1745.
During the French War in 1756, Wooster was given command of one of the regiments raised by Connecticut. In 1755, he was appointed the first major general of the militia in his native state and held the position until he fell, mortally wounded by the British in their attack on Danbury in 1777.
During the July 5, 1779, raid on New Haven, Connecticut, Tryon's troops specifically targeted the home
of Mary Clap Wooster, the widow of Major General David Wooster, who had been killed two years earlier.
Mary was also the daughter of Thomas Clap, who had been President of Yale College.
After throwing her furniture into the street and destroying it, the British made off with
two trunks containing Mary's husband's and father's records. They then left New Haven and
went on to attack Fairfield, Connecticut. Two nights later, three whale boats of colonists passed a fleet of British vessels anchored off the coast of Fairfield. The whale boats sailed through a small ocean of papers not far from the British ships.
Thomas Clap home, site of Mary Clap's marriage to David Wooster
Mary Clap Wooster signature, donated by Simeon E. Baldwin, great grandson of Roger Sherman
Tablet marking the grave of Mary Clap Wooster
Photos courtesy of the New Haven Museum.
The colonists picked up the debris floating on the water and discovered the papers of General Wooster, Mr. Clap, and Yale College. Correspondence regarding the papers ensued between Ezra Stiles, then President of Yale, and British General Tryon, but none of the stolen papers survived, except those rescued by the colonists.
The lost papers included many of the early records of Yale College, as well as accounts
and personal papers. General Wooster's lost accounts showed the amounts that he had advanced
to maintain the troops during and after the Canadian campaign. It is claimed that the papers also included genealogical research by the general regarding the Wooster ancestors in England, which he obtained
while in England after commanding a cartel ship with former French prisoners being transported home following the fall of Louisburg in 1745.
In her later years, Mary Clap Wooster lived in poverty. She was forced to appeal to the legislature for relief, but could not prove either her marriage or her claim to a pension without her deceased husband's records. She was unable to receive compensation from the Continental Congress or the Assembly of Connecticut.
Mary Clap Wooster was born in Windham on April 25, 1729, and died in New Haven, Connecticut, on June 6, 1807, at the age of 78. She is buried near her father in Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven.