member of St. Peter's Church,
and his father had been a founder of that church. Family lore tells
that
when the British troops made that recruiting expedition,26
Davis was "taken prisoner by Gen. Howe and taken to Long Island, but
escaped before the war ended."27
There might have been more Anglican citizens like John
Davis who had no enthusiasm to take up arms with the British.
While
they might
also not have joined the American army, they could have been content to
live
their lives with a minimum of controversy, The three years after the
Declaration of Independence was a period when feeling ran high
everywhere against those who did not support the American cause. At a
convention of Anglican clergymen in New Haven on July 23, 1776, they
decided to close their churches. Quite possibly St. Peter's was one of
these, as the old Record Book gives no word of vestry or parish
meetings. Oxford Anglicans seem to have gone underground.28
On April 5, 1779, Eleazer Wooster, acting as clerk,
recorded
a meeting that elected new church officers for the dormant St. Peter's.
All of which would seem to indicate that by 1779 the church in Oxford
was
again fully organized. Perhaps the bitterness between patriots and
Tories
had died down somewhat, as France allied itself with the United States
in
1778, and the focus of the was shifted to the South. Things began to
look
brighter for the American cause.29
That the vast
majority of Oxford (and Derby, as well) Anglicans avoided controversy
cannot be proven at this time by direct means. But upon examining the
fairly detailed records of town meetings called during the conflict to
impose taxes on all residents to support supplying troops in the field
from Derby, there is o subsequent mention of people who refused to pay.
Also, there were levies to offer bounties to entice men to serve in the
army. Again, there are no extant records hinting that anyone refused to
contribute. It can be inferred that Oxford's Anglicans paid more than
lip-service to the patriot cause, suggesting that they were genuine
patriots.30
One disturbing trend
that anyone examining old town records can discern is the call at more
26
Quite possibly during
the infamous Tryon "raid" that burned Danbury, and the "Pork Hollow"
raid in
Derby.
27 George T. Davis,
Genealogy
of the Descendants of Col. John Davis (New Rochelle, New York,
1910)
288.
28 Litchfield,
St.
Peter's 11.
29 Litchfield,
St.
Peter's 11.
30 Orcutt, 177-178.
