David Hoyt (1722-1814) was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts. He was the fourth of six children born to Jonathan and Mary (Field) Hoyt. He ran an inn and made wigs and "foretops" (hairpieces) from the family home in the village. This was the house that became known as the Old Indian House from its association with a devastating raid on the town in 1704 by French forces and their Native allies. (The Indian House Children's Museum, owned by the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, is a reproduction of that house.) David participated in the final French and Indian Wars (1744-48; 1754-1763). David Hoyt died in 1814.
Like his father and his younger brother, Jonathan, David was known for his loyalist sympathies in the years leading up to the American Revolution and his tavern became a loyalist gathering place. Inns and taverns often sold a few goods in addition to supplying meals, alcoholic beverages, and sometimes lodging. In 1755, David sold salt to Heber Honestman, a free African American who lived in Ashfield. Hoyt also recorded numerous transactions with Cilla (Drucilla) Prince, the daughter of Abijah and Lucy Terry Prince. Although the Princes had moved from Deerfield to Guilford, Vermont, in 1775, David Hoyt's daybook reveals that Drusilla was working in Deerfield in the early 1780s.
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