this area, there were strong pro-British feelings. These feelings often collided with the patriot fever which was beginning to be felt in this area. This division of belief - this difference in patriotic loyalties - led to many conflicts, even among family members.
    The American Revolution did not start as a war for independence. At the beginning of the struggle, most colonists viewed it as an effort to assert their rights as Englishmen. There were few so radical as to call for independence. Most of the men who marched to Lexington and Concord had little thought of national independence, at least at that time. The struggle was viewed as an internal affair among Englishmen. Many of the colonists who participated in the struggle then considered themselves as loyal Englishmen, and most of them thought their differences could be settled without a separation.
    It was after many long months of strife and warfare that the idea of proclaiming independence took form. The opening of the hostilities was in April of  1775, and it was not until July, 1796 that the Continental Congress declared American independence. The struggle had begun almost as a family quarrel - the mother country and her colonies not agreeing on the form of their government and the parental rights and duties of England over her colonies. The colonists themselves were not unanimous in their opinions concerning the dispute. While the question was theoretical, and military action was not in progress, the presence of those on the side of the British crown was tolerated. But when the family quarrel turned into a Revolution, the presence of the Tories was not so well accepted by the patriots of the area.
    As the differences between the mother country and the colonies broke up a family-type relationship between England and her settlements in the New World, so also the bitterness of the struggle between Tory and Patriot often hurt families in the colonies. One area family which was well known for both its Tories and Patriots was the Wooster family of old Derby.
    The Wooster family is common in this area. It was established many years prior to the American Revolution. The Wooster in this area was Edward Wooster, who settled Paugasset (now Derby) in 1654, with three other families. Ever since that time, members of the Wooster family have