Wednesday, August 15, 2012

1704 Deerfield Raid

Deerfield was on the frontier for much of the late 1600s and early 1700s. I think some of my ancestors lived there, but I need to prove the links. John Plympton was carried away by Indians and apparently burned at the stake in the 1670s.

In 1704 the French and Indians carried out a devastating raid on Deerfield. About 50 or 60 people were killed and more than 100 were carried off to Canada. Some eventually returned, but many chose to stay.

In many cases, some members of families carried away chose to return and others in the same family chose to stay in Canada. I need to read The Redeemed Captive (written by John Williams, minister, who returned) and The Unredeemed Captive, written by his daughter Eunice, who chose to stay.

The ones who I think were my ancestors were the Field family.

The Memorial Hall Museum in Deerfield has an excellent display on the 1704 raid and the controversy that still exists and how it is being reinterpreted today. Part of the display includes panels that were contributed about 100 years ago by descendants of the victims of the Deerfield Raid to commemorate their ancestors.


This one for Sarah is rewritten as of about 2000. Notice the difference between this and the original panel below. Much of the exhibit concentrated on the descendants of the victims of the Deerfield Raid who chose to stay in Canada. It was very interesting.

 


Check out their website on the Deerfield Raid

2 comments:

Lorin and Marilyn said...

What a difference in the two stories about the same women. That was really interesting

Lorin and Marilyn said...

What a difference in the two stories about the same women. That was really interesting