Edward Wooster

EDWARD WOOSTER
1622 - 1689
"WOLF KILLER"
FIRST PERMANENT  
EUROPEAN SETTLER
OF DERBY

 
There are no known pictures of Edward Wooster. However This is an AI generated rendering of what Woosters may have looked like as created by committee member Randy Ritter.

According to the grave marker above, Edward Wooster was the first permanent settler (other than Native Americans) of Derby. He served the settlement in a variety of ways, but earned the nickname (and a bounty from the town) as the "wolf killer" for helping to drive the predators out of the area. In 1659, he petitioned the court in New Haven for pay for the seven wolves he had killed in or near "Paugassett" which was what Derby was called at that point. Ironically, Wooster lived in the area at a time when the court in New Haven was still having concerns about the future of the area and considering possibly removing Wooster and anyone else in the area because of the failure to make progress on settling the area.

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