Captain Vivus DAUCHY

1707 - 1795  (88 years)

• Name	Vivus DAUCHY  [1]
  Prefix	Captain
  Birth	1706 or 1707	France   [2]
  Gender	Male
  Residence	Abt 1725	Ridgefield, Fairfield County, Connecticut
  Burial	Dec 1795	Ridgefield, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA   [3]
  Death	16 Dec 1795	Ridgefield, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA   [4, 5]
  	æ 89
  Notes	He left France at 18, arrived in New Rochelle, New York, about 1725, then moved to Ridgefield. In February 1741 he purchased the "home lot" from his father-in-law, David Scott, and built a new house with a connecting link to the original home in which his father-in-law continued to reside for another nineteen years. According to Town Land Records "a certain negro woman named Dinah, and a negro boy, named Peter" were sold in 1740 by David Scott to Vivus Dauchy, his son-in-law. "Know all men by these presents, that I, David Scott, of Ridgefield, in the county of Fairfield and Colony of Connecticut for the consideration of two hundred pounds, current money of said colony, to me in hand well and truly paid by Vivus Danchy [sic]of Ridgefield, aforesaid have bargained and sold and by these presents do fully and freely and absolutely bargain, sell, convey and confirm unto the said Vivus Danchy, his executors and administrators, a certain negro woman, named Dinah, and a negro boy, named Peter, to be servants or slaves during the term of their natural lives, together with all their wearing apparel. To have and to hold the said slaves as aforesaid to the said Danchy, his executors and administrators for the term of their lives. And I, the said David Scott do hereby convenant to defend said slaves to said Danchy, his executors and administrators against the lawful claims of every person whatsoever. In witness whereof I have hereunto signed, sealed and delivered this deed of sale, together with the said negro woman named, Dinah, and the negro boy, named Peter, this 13th day of February, A.D. 1740. [Signed] David Scott, Witness, Ebenezer Smith, Timothy Keeler. Recorded June 19, 1749" At the General Assembly, convened at Hartford from 11 May 1749 to 3 June 1749, "This Assembly do establish and confirm Mr. Vivus Dauchy to be Ensign of the company or trainband in the town of Ridgefield, and order that he be commissioned accordingly." Vivus was commissioned as Captain of the First Ridgefield Company in 1756. His son Peter was killed in the French and Indian Wars (1755-1757). His eldest son James also enlisted in March of the next year. Vivus, at age 70, did not participate in the Battle of Ridgefield (1777 -- see below) but General Tryon's British troops torched St. Stephens Episcopal Church, which was next door to his home. From that time until his death, Captain Dauchy became a devoted Episocopalian. According to Robert Haight's history of Saint Stephen's Church, "Until the new church was constructed, all the church meetings were held in the captain's home because of its proximity to the church." In 1777, the "Battle of Ridgefield" was fought by American Generals Wooster and Arnold, who attempted to hold off the British in one of only two land battles in Connecticut during the Revolution. Arnold's horse was shot out from under him on Ridgefield's Main Street and General Wooster was mortally wounded along the North Salem Road (now Route 116). It is not clear why David Scott is described as Vivus Dauchy's father-in-law when the vital records indicate that Rachel Wallace was born to James and Mary Wallace. Married second Hannah Sherwood, born 7 Nov 1712, died 10 Sep 1754. Married third Mary Keeler Olmsted, born 10 Oct 1725, died 22 May 1816. [6, 7, 8]
  Person ID	I7005	Ellingboe
  Last Modified	6 Jan 2011

  
  

• Headstones

  Gravestone of Captain Vivus Dauchy (abt 1706-1795)

  
  

• Sources

  [S131] Gravestone, Cemetery Transcriptions from NEHGS Manuscript Collection, Titicus Graveyard, Ridgefield, Fairfield Co., Connecticut, USA (Reliability: 3). [S60] Barbour, Lucious Barnes, Barbour Collection, (Connecticut State Library, 1918-1928), Ridgefield, VR Vol. 1, p. 208, death record, REF/F93/C7. (Reliability: 3). [S131] Gravestone, Transcriptions from NEHGS Manuscript Collections (Reliability: 3). [S131] Gravestone, Transcriptions from NEHGS Manuscript Collections, Record 239, Titicus Graveyard, Ridgefield, Fairfield Co., Connecticut, USA (Reliability: 3). [S43] Family Bible, Bible of George Kellogg and Lavinia Otis Dauchy. Transcription submitted to the Rensselaer County, NY GenWeb Site by James Corsaro, Librarian, Rensselaer County Historical Society. (Reliability: 3). [S90] David Scott House, (URL: http://www.ridgefieldhistoricalsociety.org/scotthis.htm). [S272] Hoadly, Charles J. (State Librarian), Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut 1774-1755, (Hartford, Press of the case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., 1876), p. 422 (Reliability: 3). [S321] Ridgefield, Connecticut 1708-1908 Bi-Centennial Celebration, (Hartford, Connecticut: Bi-Centennial Committee, 1908.), p. 50., CT/RID/12. (Reliability: 3).