Ebenezer Dayton House (1730)

The house at 388 Amity Road in Bethany was built c. 1730. Its earliest known owner, c. 1780, is Ebenezer Dayton, a privateer of the Revolutionary War. A dramatic robbery took place in this house in 1780. The robbery was planned at the Turel Whittemore Tavern in Seymour. The incident is described by John Warner Barber in Connecticut Historical Collections (1836):

On the night following the 14th of March, 1780, the house of Capt. Ebenezer Dayton, then residing in this place, was broken into and robbed by seven men, who were tories, and headed by a British officer, from Long Island. Mr. Dayton’s house was situated nearly opposite where the first meeting house in Bethany was erected, about half a mile south of the present Congregational church, and about ten miles N. W. of New Haven.

The particulars of this robbery, were obtained from the Rev. Mr. Dayton, son of Capt. Dayton, mentioned above. Mr. Dayton, who belonged to Long Island, was on account of his attachment to the American cause, obliged to leave that island, and bring his effects with him to Bethany. A number of men, some of his neighbors, were obliged to leave the island for the same cause, and brought a considerable quantity of money with them, and for a while resided in Mr. Dayton’s house. With these facts, the robbers appear to have become acquainted. At the time of the robbery, Mr. Dayton was absent on business at Boston, and the men who had been staying in the house, had left the day before, so that there was no one in the house but his wife, Mrs. Phebe Dayton, three small children and two servant colored children. About midnight while they were all asleep, the window in the bedroom where Mrs. Dayton was sleeping, was burst in at once, seven armed men rushed in, passed through the room and immediately rushed into the chambers, expecting (it is supposed,) to find the men who had left the day before. While they were up stairs, Mrs. Dayton went to the front part of the house, raised the window and endeavored to alarm the neighbors. Mr. Hawley, the minister of the parish, and Dr. Hooker, the physician of the place, both lived within 20 rods distance; both had lights in their houses at the time, and both heard the alarm, but did not know from whence it proceeded. The robbers hearing Mrs. Dayton, came down, and tearing a sheet into strips tied her hands behind her, made her sit in a chair and placed her infant (about six months old,) in her lap, while one of the robbers placing the muzzle of his gun near her head, kept her in this position for about two hours, while the house was thoroughly ransacked from top to bottom. They found about 450 pounds in gold and silver, which belonged to Mr. Dayton, besides other valuable articles; what they could not conveniently carry off they wantonly destroyed, breaking in pieces all the crockery, furniture, &tc. The whole amount of property carried off and destroyed, including bonds, notes, &c. amounted to five thousand pounds.

The robbers left the house about 2 o’clock and went to a place in Middlebury, called Gunn town, where they were secreted in a cellar by a family who were friendly to the British cause. While they were on their way to Gunn town, they met a young man by the name of Chauncey Judd of Waterbury, on a bridge, who had been to see the young lady he afterwards married. Fearing he might discover them, they took him along with them. In the cellar kitchen where they were all secreted, there was a well. Into this well they talked of putting Mr. Judd; but the old lady of the house begged they would not think of it, as it would spoil the water. They stayed in this house a number of days: afterwards they went to Oxford, where they were secreted for several days longer in a barn; from thence they went to Stratford, took a whale boat and crossed over to Long Island. The people at Derby, having received information of their passing through that place two whale boats and crews, commanded by Capt. William Clarke and Capt. James Harvey, pursued them to the Island, and were fortunate enough to catch them all but one, just within the British lines. They were brought back, tried condemned and sent to Newgate; they however, broke prison and finally fled to Nova Scotia.

In the 1830s the house was owned by Colonel Elihu Sanford. In 1929 the house was moved 300 feet north of its original location to its current address.