For the Lesson “Deerfield Families”
This page contains information on the following:
- Williams Family
- Samuel Williams (1690 – 1713)
- Esther Williams (1691 – ?)
- Stephen Williams (1693 – 1782)
- Eunice Williams (1696 – c. 1786)
- Warham Williams (1699 – 1751)
The Williams Family
From The History of Deerfield, Vol. II, George Sheldon, 1895, pgs. 377 & 378
John, s. [son] of Samuel, b. [born] 1664; ‘The Redeemed [rescued] Captive’;… began preaching here June, 1686…soon became the guide, counselor and friend of all the people…He m. [married] July 21, 1687, Eunice,…she was k. [killed] the next day after the captivity, Mar. 1, 1704…
He m. [married] (2) [his second wife] Sept. 16, 1707, Abigail, wid. [widow] of Benj. [Benjamin] Bissell…she d. [died] June 21, 1754, a. [age] 81.
Ch. [children]: Eliezer, [born] July 16, 1688
Samuel, [born] Jan. 24, 1690; town clerk 1713; lieut. [lieutenant], cap. [captured] 1704 and redeemed [rescued]; in July, 1711, he ‘having the French Tongue’, was sent to escort a party of French prisoners by land to Can. [Canada]; d. [died] June 30, 1713
Esther, [born] Apr. 10, 1691; cap. [captured] 1704; red. [redeemed- rescued] and m. [married] June 21, 1715 Rev. [reverend- minister] Joseph Meacham of of Coventry, Ct.
Stephen, [born] May 14, 1693
Eliakim, [born] May 1, 1695, d. [died] Apr. 15, 1696
Eunice, [born] Sept. 17, 1696; cap. [captured] 1704; m. [married] in Can. [Canada] 1713, Amrusus, an Indian of Caghnawaga, and became herself an Indian in habit and feeling; nothing could induce [make] her to ret. [return] to a civilized life…she d. [died] abt. [about] 1786
John, [born] Jan. 19, 1698; k. [killed] 1704
Warham, [born] Sept. 16, 1699; cap. [captured] 1704 and returned
Jemima, [born] Sept. 3, 1701; d. [died] Sept. 11, 1701
Jerusha, [born] Sept. 3, 1701; d. [died] Sept. 16, 1701
Jerusha, [born] Jan. 15, 1704; k. [killed] by Indians Feb. 29, 1704
Abigail, [born] Sept. 27, 1708
John, [born] Nov. 23, 1709; d. [died] June 11, 1714
Eliakim, [born] Feb. 6, 1711
Elijah, [born] Nov. 13, 1712
Sarah, [born] Sept. 8, 1716; d. [died] Feb. 19, 1737
From New England Captives Carried to Canada Vol. I, Emma L. Coleman, 1925, pgs. 44 & 45
Williams
Rev. [Reverend] John Williams and His Family.
He, his wife Eunice (Mather), five children- Samuel, Esther, Stephen, Eunice and Warham- and the negro man Frank, were taken. Two little children and the negro woman were killed. Eliezer the eldest alone was spared; he, aged fifteen, was away at school. Mrs. Williams and Frank were killed on the journey.
Williams Family
“At a town meeting on January 5, 1687, it was voted to provide the Reverend [minister] John Williams with a house lot on ‘meeting house hill’ and to ‘build him a House 42 feet long 20 wide with a lentoo [leanto] on the back side of the house & finish sd [said] House, To fence his Homelot & within 2 years after this agreement to build him a Barn.’ The agreement was to ‘encourage Mr. John Williams to Settle amongst them.’”
On February 29, 1704, in the French and Indian attack, the minister’s house was targeted, and he and five of his children were taken captive to Canada. His wife, Eunice Mather Williams , was killed on the ‘march to Canada’, and two of their children were killed on the Williams doorstep. It was reported that the house, valued at L300 [300 pounds], was lost and that the barn was burnt, as well as everything in the house and barn.
The Reverend [minister] John Williams was ransomed [rescued] in 1706 by Ensign John Sheldon who had traveled to Canada…On December 6, the General Court voted him L40 [40 pounds] on the condition that he return to Deerfield within three weeks and remain for a year. At a town meeting in Deerfield on January 9, 1707, it was voted that ‘the Town would build a house for Mr Jno [John] Williams in deerfield as big as Ens [ensign] Sheldons a back room as big as may be thought convenient’.
The minister, who did return to Deerfield, remarried in September 1707. His second wife was Abigail, widow of Benjamin Bissell of Hartford, Connecticut. Mr. Williams and his second wife had five children, one of whom died young. Mr. Williams died on June 12, 1729, just prior to [before] the completion of the town’s fourth meeting house on the Common.
From The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion, John Williams, 1706, pgs. 10 & 11
“On Tuesday, the 29th of February, 1703-4, not long before break of day, the enemy came in like a flood upon us; our watch being unfaithful…They came to my house in the beginning of the onset, and by their violent endeavors [attempts] to break open doors and windows, with axes and hatchets, awaked me out of sleep; on which I leaped out of bed, and, running towards the door, perceived [saw] the enemy making their entrance into the house. I called to awaken two soldiers in the chamber, and returning toward my bedside for my arms, the enemy immediately broke into the room, I judge to the number of twenty, with painted faces, and hideous acclamations [exclamations]. I reached up my hands to the bed-tester [bed curtains] for my pistol…Taking down my pistol, I cocked it, and put it to the breast of the first Indian that came up; but my pistol missing fire, I was seized by three Indians, who disarmed me, and bound me naked, as I was in my shirt, and so I stood for near the space of an hour. Binding me, they told me they would carry me to Quebeck.”
Samuel Williams
From New England Captives Carried to Canada, Vol. II, Emma L. Coleman, 1925, pgs. 49-51
Samuel, b.[born] January, 1690
Samuel was kept by the Indians until his father reached Montreal; the ‘a merchant [storekeeper] of the city obtained [got] him.’…The little boy was told that he had not really been bought from the Indians, and that if he did not accept this new religion he would be given back to them. He was sent to school to learn to read and write French and was taught by Father Meriel. He said that ‘the school-master sometimes flattered him with promises, if he would cross himself [make the sign of the cross]; then threatened him if he would not…
From The Redeemed Captive, John Williams, 1706, pg. 59
‘The priests would spend whole days in urging him [to become Catholic]…But when he [the priest] saw flattering promises of rewards, and threatenings, were ineffectual [didn’t work], he struck him with a stick he had in his hand; and when he saw that would not do, he made him get down on his knees about an hour, and then came and bid [made] him make the sign of the cross, and that without any delay. He still refused. The he gave him a couple of strokes with a whip he had in his hand,– which whip had three branches, and about twelve great knobs tied to it,– and again bid [made] him make the sign of the cross;…and so, through cowardice and fear of the whip, he made the sign…
They told my child, if he would stay he should have an honourable pension [would receive good pay] from the king every year, and that his master, who was an old man, and the richest in Canada, would give him a great deal; telling him if he returned [to Deerfield] he would be poor, for (said they) your father is poor has lost all his estate, it was all burnt; but he would not be prevailed with [forced] to stay.’ [from the writings of John Williams]
Samuel came back with his father and served later as a lieutenant. In 1712, ‘because he hath [has] the Frentch tongue [he can speak French], he is sent to Canada as one of an escort [guard] for some French prisoners.
‘On the evening of June 30th 1713’ he died.
From The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion, John Williams, 1706, pg. 22
“My son Samuel and my eldest daughter were pitied so as to be drawn on sleighs when unable to travel; and though they suffered very much through scarcity [lack] of food and tedious [tiresome] journeys, they were carried through to Montreal…”
Esther Williams
From New England Captives Carried to Canada, Vol. II, Emma L. Coleman, 1925, pg. 51
Esther, b.[born] April, 1691.
She, like Samuel, was ‘pitied’ on the journey and ransomed [bought] from the Indians through the kindness of the governor; after which ‘she was carefully tended [taken care of] in the hospital until she was well of her lameness and by the governor provided for with respect, during her stay in the country.’
She was the first of her family to be redeemed [returned for money], leaving Montreal with John Sheldon early in May, 1705, and coming by way of Albany [NY]. In 1715 she married the Rev. [reverend- minister] Joseph Meacham of Coventry, Connecticut.
Stephen Williams
From The History of Deerfield, Vol. II, George Sheldon, 1895, pgs. 379 & 380
Stephen, s. [son] of John, b. [born] 1693; cap. [captured] 1704;…minister at Longmeadow, Oct. 17, 1716…he d. [died] June 10, 1782. He m. [married] Abigail, dau. [daughter] of Rev. [reverend-minister] John Davenport…she d. [died] Aug. 26, 1766 (2) [married his second wife on] Sept. 17, 1767, Sarah, wid. [widow] of Nath’l [Nathaniel] Burt…she d. [died] Nov. 18, 1790, a. [age] 84.
Ch.: John, [born] Mar. 8, 1720
Stephen, [born] Jan. 26, 1722
Eunice, [born] Sept. 1, 1723
Warham, [born] Jan. 7, 1726
Samuel, [born] May 31, 1729
Davenport, [born] May 11, 1731
Martha, [born] May, 1733
Nathan, [born] Oct. 28, 1735
From New England Captives Carried to Canada, Vol. II, Emma L. Coleman, 1925, pgs. 52 & 53
“Stephen, b. [born] May, 1693.
When the Indians searched their prisoners they took from little Stephen the silver buttons and buckles which were on his shirt.
At White River he was separated from all the rest. He, his master and an Indian lad were alone and very hungry. “I travailed about 50 miles yt [that] day and night; for my supper I had one spoonful of indian corn; in ye [the] morning 5 or 6 cornels, but must travail.’ His master once threatened to kill him because when lost in the woods, he ‘Hellowed,’ and ‘yr [their] manner is to make a noise like wolves or any other wild creatures, when they would call to one another.’ After meeting and again parting from other groups, and tarrying [staying] for hunting near Cowass, they ‘set away for Canada’, carrying so much ‘lumber’ that they had to carry a pack a mile or two, then go back to fetch another. In August he reached Chambly where the French dressed [put medicine on] his wounded feet, gave him bread and let him lie upon ‘a couach’. But the savages, fearing that he might be taken from them, did not allow much intercourse [conversation] with the kindly French people. From Sorel he was taken to St. Francis and there given to a kinsman [relative] of his master…
Stephen says that ‘one Mr. Shamble’ (Hertel de Chambly, brother of Hertel de Rouville) ‘agreed to buy him, but Sachamore George refused.’ In 1705, when Livingston and Sheldon came to seek and ransom [rescue] prisoners, Stephen’s mistress ‘removed up in ye [the] woods about half a mile from ye [the] river, yt [that] if they came, they might not find me,’ he says. Once, having disobeyed her- not getting wood on ‘a tempestuous [stormy] day,’ when he considered the supply adequate [enough]- she told ‘ye jesuit [the priest]’ to punish him, which was done, but when he spoiled a whole barrel of sap by failing to stir it at the moment ‘when it comes almost to sugar,’ he was only deprived of [kept from having] ‘vituals’ [food],
In the spring he was taken to his ‘master’s island’ at St. Francis, but before they planted the corn the governor came a bought him for forty crowns. Taken to Sorel he saw Captain Livingstone and several captives, but the governor said he was not to go home with them. With the lord intendant [superintendent] he went down to Quebec where he saw several English prisoners. ‘One Mrs. Hill took care of me, cut my hair for me (now my hair was like an Indian one side long and the other short). She got me a shirt & a pair of breeches & a jacket & stockings &c. for me.”
From The History of Deerfield, Vol. I, George Sheldon, 1895, pg. 356
“Stephen Williams, then ten years old, was taken by an ‘Eastern Indian’, named Wattanamon, who, after two or three weeks, gave the boy to his brother, who took him the next summer to the fort at St. Francis, an Abenaki settlement…leaving the captive with his kinsman [relative], Sagamore George, a Pennicook chief, who had settled at St. Francis. The latter [Sagamore George] was a faithless, avaricious [greedy] fellow, who, while Stephen was yet in the hands of his second master, had taken money of Mr. Williams for his redemption [rescue] and appropriated [put] it to his own use. He now set a price of forty crowns upon the boy, which, after a long parley [discussion], was paid by Vaudreuil [governor of Canada].
Eunice Williams
From New England Captives Carried to Canada, Vol. II, Emma L. Coleman, pgs. 54-62
Eunice, b. [born] 17 Sept., 1696.
“Many little girls were left behind; some to marry Indians, more to marry Frenchmen and a few to become nuns; but no other captive-child caused so much trouble to the two Governments as little Eunice, and the name of no other is so well known to later generations.
Her father wrote: ‘My youngest daughter, aged seven years was carried all the journey and looked after with a great deal of tenderness.’
She was taken to the Sault saint-Louis. The Jesuit [priest] at the Mission would not allow her father to go there because the Macquas [Mohawk] ‘would as soon part with their hearts as the child,’ but Governor de Vaudreuil, angry and insistent, went ‘in his own person’ to the fort with Mr. Williams and the child was brought into her father’s presence. She repeated to him her Catechism, for she had already learned to read, he says, and she complained that the Indians ‘profaned God’s Sabbath’ [worked on Sundays] and that she was forced ‘to say some prayers in Latin,’ but she did not ‘understand one word of them’ and hoped it did her no harm.
The Governor labored much for her redemption [rescue]; at last he had the promise of it, in case he would procure [if he would get] for them an Indian girl in her stead.’ When, however, the Indian girl was offered she was refused. So was ‘An hundred pieces of eight.’ [a form of money].
‘His lady [governor’s wife] went over, to have begged her from them, but all in vain; she is there still and has forgotten to speak English.’ So wrote her father immediately after his own return to Boston.
‘…She is in good health, but seemed unwilling to returne, and the Indian not very willing to part with her, she being, as he says, a pretty girl but perhaps he may Exchange her if he can gett a very pretty Indian…’ [written by Colonel John Schuyler of Albany]
“Eunice had said ‘only that she would goe & see her Father as soon as peace should be proclaimed,’ but it was not until after another war and another peace that she came- in 1740. then her father was dead and a strange mother with two or three strange half-brothers and sisters were in the Deerfield home, so she did not go there.
…She seems to have been both Marguerite and Maria; both 8aongote (written also Gon’aongote, Aongote and 8aon’got), which may be translated: ‘They took her and placed her as a member of their tribe,’ and Gannenstenhawi, ‘She brings in corn.’
We know that Eunice had three children; John, who died childless in 1758 at Lake George, and two daughters, Catharine (Flying Leg) and Marie (New Fish).
Eunice came four times to New England. In 1740 the friendly Schuylers persuaded her to come to Albany, and sent a letter to her brother Stephen early in August bidding him to come and meet her. With him went his brother Eliezer…and Esther’s husband…to this ‘joyfull Sorrowful meeting of or [our] poor Sister yt [that] we had been separated from for above 36 years.’
With great difficulty they persuaded her and her husband to go to Longmeadow…Joseph Kellogg was summoned as interpreter [as to interpret]. ‘Ye [the] whole place seemed to be greatly moved.’ Even Jonathan Edwards [a famous minister] came down from Northampton, hoping perhaps to bring Eunice back to the fold. Indeed, so many came that Stephen described one day as ‘Clutterd & full of care & company, joy & sorrow, hope & fear.’ He says: ‘or [our] Sister & Family Din’d [dined] in ye room wth [with] ye Company Sister M [Esther] & I sat at ye table wth ym [with them].’ So ‘the table’ was probably an unusual trial for the Caugnawaga people.
Twenty years later Stephen writes:
‘1761 June 30 This day my Sister Eunice, her Husband her daughter Katharine and others come thither from Canada…We have no interpreter and So can’t say what her intentions and pretensions [plans and claims] are.’…They encamped in the orchard behind the parsonage [minister’s house- Stephen’s home] and as before ‘Great numbers’ of people came to see them. Stephen fears ‘it may not be agreeable to be gazed upon.’ Perhaps that was why they stayed only ten days.”
Warham Williams
From The History of Deerfield, Vol. II, George Sheldon, 1895, pg. 380
Warham, s. [son] of John, b. [born] 1699; cap. [captured] 1704; when redeemed [rescued] he had lost the English tongue, but spoke French fluently;…minister at Waltham, June 11, 1723; d. [died] in office, June 22, 1751. He m. [married] May 23, 1728, Abigail Leonard of Newton; she d. [died] Sept. 18, 1789, a. [age] 86.
Ch.: John, [born] Mar. 21, 1729; d. [died] Mar. 24, 1729
Abigail, [born] Mar. 21, 1730
Anna, [born] May 24, 1732
Eunice, [born] 1733
Sarah, [born] Sept. 20, 1737
Leonard, [born] July 30, 1739
Samuel, [born] Apr. 23, 1743
From New England Captives Carried to Canada, Vol. II, Emma L. Coleman, 1925, pgs. 63 & 64
Warham, b. [born] September, 1699.
‘My youngest child was redeemed [rescued] by a gentlewoman in the city, as the Indians passed by. After the Indians had been at their fort, and discoursed [talked] with the priests they came back and offered to the gentlewoman a man for the child, alleging [saying] that the child could not be profitable [useful] to her, but the man would, for he was a weaver…but God overruled [over ruled] so far, that the temptation to the woman prevailed not [she was not tempted]…for had the child gone to the Indian fort in an ordinary way it had abode there still [he would still be there], as the other children now do.’
When Warham returned with his father he had forgotten how to speak English. He became the minister of Watertown, married Abigail Leonard, and died in 1751.
It is said that a silver cup taken from their Deerfield home came into the possession of Eunice in Canada, and she, in 1732, gave it to Warham…”