MARY CLAP WOOSTER

Mary Clap Wooster was the wife of Major General David Wooster, and a daughter of Thomas Clap, President of Yale College from 1740 to 1766. She was a woman of rare qualities, and entered with great ardor into the cause of independence, sustaining her husband with her brave and patriotic spirit throughout his military career.

General Wooster, a native of Connecticut, was born in 1711, received a degree from Yale College in 1738, and then commanded the war sloop that conveyed the Connecticut troops in the expedition against Louisburg in 1745. During the French War in 1756, he was given command of one of the regiments raised by Connecticut for that service. In 1755 he was appointed the first Major General of the militia in his native state, and held the position until he fell, mortally wounded by the British in their attack on Danbury, 1777.

The home of General Wooster and his wife was in New Haven, where Mrs. Wooster continued to live throughout her long widowhood, suffering loss of fortune through the disasters of the War. She endured these privations with the same stoic fortitude that she manifested throughout the many vicissitudes of her life.

Mary Clap Wooster was laid to rest in the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, where a simple monument stands in memory of her noble life.