dudleyhist

History

There is so much myth about Dudleytown and it's history, it is difficult to find an reliable accurate account. This page is a combination of
information from different sources (books, articles, and maps, sources noted at the bottom). The story probably begins by settlers of Connecticut
poorly planning out a site for a town. It was and still is in an isolated area with rocky soil and many trees in the mid-1700's. The area that they
chose was poor farming grounds, and was in between three mountains, so there was limited sunlight. The town is believed to be originally settled
by a man named Thomas Griffis, who was a farmer in the year 1747. More settlers came to the town including members from the Dudley family.
The Dudley families' history was rich before the settled in "Dudleytown", although it is a little tough to follow their history.

The history of the Dudley family is believed to begin in England before coming to Connecticut. Versions of the Dudley name stem back to 725 AD,
but we will begin the "Dudley curse" started. It supposedly starts in 1510 when Edmund Dudley who was imprisoned in the Tower of London, and
lost his head by displeasing King Louis VII. Edmund's title was financial advisor, or "Exchequer" to King Henry VII. The people of England blamed
him for the financial loss during the reign of Henry VII, so he was used as a scapegoat. Then his son John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland was
also eventually beheaded because he tried to take the throne of England. John did this by marrying his son, Guilford Dudley, to Lady Jane Grey.
Lady Grey lasted only nine days on the throne before being replaced by her cousin Mary Tudor. John, Guilford and Lady Jane all lost their heads in
attempt to rule England. At this time, John's other son returned from France to England with the plague, which eventually killed himself and
thousands of Englishmen. Finally John's third son, Robert, Earl of Leicester, supposedly left for America, but he actually went to Italy. Most people
think that Robert was the beginning of the Dudley curse, but this line of the family never came to America.

A different line of Dudley's were the one's that started Dudleytown. This begins with William Dudley who was born in Richmond, Surrey, England on
September 11, 1608. His son William II was born on the ship the "St. John" bound for America on June 8, 1639. His other three children were later
born in Guilford Connecticut. William II married Mary Roe on November 4, 1661 in Saybrook Connecticut. Then he had 12 children named: Sarah,
Deborah, Israel, Gideon, Abigail, Abiel, Joseph, Cyrian, Mehetabel, Jemina, Ester and Barzillai. Of these children Gideon, Abiel and Barzillai were
the Dudley's the came to the area known as Dudleytown. Most of the myth starts with these Dudley brothers. They came to Cornwall in Gideon in
1748, Barzillai in 1750, and Abiel in 1754, according to tax records. Later more Dudley's came to the area, so the name Dudleytown over the name
Owlsbury which was also being considered. Some other family names in the community were the Porters, Hollister, Pattersons, Carter, Carters,
Jones, Greeley, Cheney, and Andrews.

This set up the new town in northwestern Connecticut for the curse of the Dudley's. There are many deaths that people like to attribute to the curse
of Dudleytown, but I am sticking to the ones contained within Dudleytown. The person that everyone always mentions being stuck by lightening
was not in Dudleytown, nor was the person that died raising a barn. There was never a separate town called Dudleytown, it was apart of the
Cornwall Township, sharing its churches and other resources. The first one to die was Abiel Dudley. When he neared death, he went totally insane
speaking about "hoofed creatures." This could easily be attributed to him being 90 years old, and not many individuals at this time lived to that age,
so simple senility might have been mistaken for insanity. His house was sold to Nathaniel Carter, which brought the "Dudley curse" outside of the
family. In 1763 he went to live in Binghamton New York, and returned in the October of 1764. When they did the Carter home was attacked by
Indians, "they split Mother Carther's head open with a tomahawk, bashed baby Carter's brains out against a wall, burned the cabin, and took the
three living children (two daughters and a son) captive. Nathaniel himself was scalped immediately upon his return from a hunting trip, the children
were never seen again..." (Dudley) In 1774 Nathaniel's brother Adoniram and his family of six died from an unknown epidemic. Gershom Hollister, in
1792 was found murdered at William Tanner's home. William Tanner was found innocent, but the incident caused him to go insane, and would cry
out about "demons" and other creatures. (possibly from ergot poisoning because the town grew rye)

In 1813 another unexplained epidemic broke out, killing many people including half of the Jones' family. At this time unexplained epidemics were
common in the colonies. Then the curse continued with the wife of Horace Greeley, Mary Cheney, who died violently by committing suicide with a
noose, and stepping off of a chair. With the towns crops dying and farm animals that just seemed to disappear, by the year 1880 Dudleytown was
a ghost town.

This is where the myths, hauntings, and experiences take over...