At 49 Camp Bethel Road in Haddam is a Greek Revival house erected by Daniel Melvin Tyler (1804-1868) shortly after he acquired the land, south of Rutty Creek, in 1839 from Heman Tyler. It was part of the old house lot of Daniel M. Tyler’s great-grandfather, Nathaniel Tyler (1699-1744). Daniel Tyler married Dolly Shailer, sister of Florilla Shailer, who lived with her husband Jared Shailer on Bridge Road. Daniel and Dolly’s youngest sons, Albert and George, both attended Wesleyan University and Yale Law School.
In 1908, the family sold the house to Emil Schutte, whose main residence was on Middlesex Turnpike. One of Haddam’s most notorious residents, Schutte ran a gas station and grocery store on Middlesex Turnpike and served as town constable and tax collector. He also engaged in shady real estate deals and terrorized his wife and seven sons. In 1921, he was put on trial for murdering four people in Haddam. After he was declared guilty, Schutte attempted suicide at the Haddam jail, but he was eventually hanged at the state prison in Wethersfield on October 22, 1922.
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