purchased from the Indians, and the deed was signed by Joseph Chuse and John Howd as chief men of the tribe.
    At the time of the American Revolution, Captain John Wooster lived at the corner of Park Road and the Oxford Turnpike, now known as Route 67. He lived in an old house which was on the site now occupied by the home of Mr. Frank Folger and Mrs. Frances Sitar.
    The old house was a popular tavern in Oxford, known as the Captain John Wooster Tavern. More or less across the street was another tavern, owned by another brother, Thomas Wooster. In the Captain John Wooster Inn or Tavern several Tory incidents took place, as related in the story of Chauncey Judd.
    Before going into the Tory activities of Captain John's little inn, we must digress to include a few interesting anecdotes of Captain John's life. Park Road got its name from one of Captain John Wooster's idiosyncrasies. Captain John owned a special wildlife area in which he alone could hunt deer. It was called "The Park." J.W. Barber wrote in his 1838 "Historical Collections," of the park. He said:
    "About one mile and a half south of the center is the 'Park', formerly a place for deer. . .  A Mr. Wooster owned and enclosed about one hundred acres of land for the purpose of keeping deer. It is said that he had the exclusive privilege by law of restraining any person from hunting deer in the limits of  'the park'. Upon the outside of part of the enclosure, there was a kind of precipice, from which the deer, when pursued, would sometimes leap into the enclosure, much to the mortification and disappointment of unprivileged hunters."
    Another noteworthy aspect of Captain John's life includes his ownership of slaves. He owned several slaves throughout most of his life in Oxford, usually keeping a couple and one or two others to help run the tavern. Slaves were not too unusual in Oxford, but they were generally a possession restricted to the wealthier classes. It seems that the town folks did not take too kindly to Captain John's Tory proclivities, and it may be they resented his wealth. For whatever reason, the townspeople of Derby met at a town meeting in January, 1781. The meeting voted to authorize and direct the selectmen to give Captain John Wooster a certificate to free and emancipate his Negro men, on the condition that they enlist in the state regiment for the term of one year.