church to support the Revolution as "guided. .. by the influence of Captain John Holbrook, who 'for many years had entertained a disgust against him and his brethren of the Church and seemed to have meditated revenge, merely because they did not gratify some private views he had about the place on which to build the Oxford Church." (quotation from Beardsley's History of the Church in Connecticut.)
    Samuel Orcutt, author of the History of Old Derby, took an opposite view. He wrote:
    "It was an imputation of a very small spirit to suppose that Captain Holbrook would leave all he had done for the Episcopal Church, under such pretense to gratify some 'private views' about the location of the Oxford church."
    Whatever his motivation, in 1777, when all men of legal age were required to take an oath of fidelity to the Revolutionary cause, John Holbrook took the oath. Those who refused were considered suspect by the Committee of Inspection.
    In the autumn of 1778, Holbrook was appointed to a Derby committee to encourage the donation of clothing to the soldiers. It was voted to give each soldier a bounty of ten pounds each, instead of the linen overalls, linen shirts and shoes that were given to them the previous year. This money was raised by local taxation.
    Captain John Holbrook had four sons who served in the American Revolution. They were John, Philo, Nathaniel and Abel. Philo was with General David Wooster in Danbury when Wooster was killed. Nathaniel was presented at the surrender of General Burgoyne. He brought home a musket, through the breech of which an English bullet had passed while he was lifting it to aim.
    John Holbrook also owned a number of slaves, The old Episcopal records of Derby record the baptisms of Jeffrey, 1747; Moll, 1748; Beck, 1750; Titus, 1752: Dinah, 1756; and Zodac, 1759.
    Titus served Captain John Holbrook through the American Revolution. He had a wish to go fight for the colonies. But, as all the older Holbrook sons had gone to war, Titus was needed at the Holbrook farm. Captain John promised Titus his freedom and a tract of land if he stayed throughout the war. He did so, and the land which was given him served as the basis for the name Titus Lane in Seymour.