Mailing List:2001-05-31 06, Re: Re: (GM-L) Groton, Mass. men in Lovewell's Fight 1724/1725, by Carolyn Whitney Branagan
Mailing List Archives > 2001-05-31 06, Re: Re: (GM-L) Groton, Mass. men in Lovewell's Fight 1724/1725, by Carolyn Whitney Branagan
From: Chris Branagan <slainte -at- together.net> Subject: Re: [WHITNEY-L] Re: [GM-L] Groton, Mass. men in Lovewell's Fight 1724/1725 Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 21:18:04 -0400 References: <[email protected]> <004b01c0e9dc$7e04e1e0$d9a859cf@grandma> Hi Everyone! The thought provoking message from Lee Castleton regarding Indian captivity appeared on the WhitneyL list today. I agree with Lee's statement that as genealogists we have to take the good with the bad and cannot change history because we don't like it. But, I would like to offer that neither can we judge too quickly people who lived in a different time and place.Their sense of right and wrong came from the experiences they lived and from the morals and values they were taught. Our experiences and education are different because we live in a different time. We cannot know what their lives were really like, we cannot know what they really thought. We can only take information from the resources available to us and imagine what it must have been like, based upon our modern experiences and education. Our most enduring image of the Indian as the bloodthirsty savage comes from the early Puritan writers, such as Rev. John Williams, who tried to make sense of Indian captivity by claming the raids were the result of sinful acts within communities, that the Indians were the Devil, and that those held in captivity were given the chance by God to test the strength of their Christian faith.The Puritans thought if there was enough prayer and repentance a captive would be set free. The bondage and redemptionidea was used frequently by the Puritan writers and preachers. Indian life was very different from the life lived by most settlers. Many raids took place in the winter when frostbite, snow and lack offood was a problem. Can you imagine walking the length of Vermont inwinter to get to Montreal? How about doing it with 2 or 3 cold and frightened children in hand? The Indians moved quickly through the wilderness hardly ever resting. Food was scarce and unfamiliar to the captives. There was no shelter. Sometimes the Indians brought extra moccasins and food to help their captives survive, but usually the captives were just expected to keep up or they were killed to eliminate the Indian's liability. One famous exception is Susanna Johnson, taken from Charlestown, New Hampshire in 1754. Mrs. Johnson gave birth to a child, Elizabeth Captive, while on the way to the Indian village of St. Francis. Both the child and Mrs. Johnson survived. Colin G. Calloway has compiled an excellent book entitled North Country Captives, that tells the stories of several white men and women taken into captivity from Vermont and New Hampshire during the mid 1700's. . Indians raided newly established settlements for the purpose of taking captives to be held for English ransom ( as was our own Samuel Whitney and son) or to be adopted for replacement of Indian family members. Over 1600 people were taken captive from New England between 1689 and 1763. Some of these people died in captivity, some made new lives for themselves in French Canada, some lived the rest of their lives in Indian communities. Among the examples of captives living happily with their Indian captors are Eunice Williams, taken from Deerfield, Mass in 1704 and Squire Howe, taken from Bridgman's Fort in Vernon, Vermont in 1755. The New England frontier was not really a very large area and as the white population grew, Indians and settlers co-mingled in the same regions. I do not believe there was an extermination campaign against the Indians such as what was mounted against the Jews in 1930-45 in Europe. I would be very interested in research with sources that shows there was such a campaign. To the contrary, the history of Vermont is full of stories of settlers and Indians living in close proximity, sharing resources and blending culture. In my own town there is a story of an Indian man who "borrowed" pies daily from a farm woman's kitchen window where she had placed them to cool. He became a close friend and protector of that family. The State of Vermont assumed the cost of caring for many Indians in the 1800's, such as the Indians known as Joe and Molly in what is now the town of Hardwick. Town records show that Joe and Molly were from"Canada" but resided in Hardwick. Readers may have driven by Joe's Pond or Molly's Pond along Vermont route 15. The ponds were named for the old Indian residents of the town. Without a doubt the process of living together was not always easy and not always non-violent. Certainly today we in Vermont are still striving to attain equity for all citizens, including Indians. Last weekend in the village of Swanton, Vermont, near my home, there was an Abenaki Heritage Festival, where celebrations of Abenaki culture continued for 2 days. Pottery, art, baskets, story telling, dancing and even Abenaki language was highlighted in this community event that drew people from 3 states and Canada. My point is that the relationships between Indians and early New England settlers were not superficial, nor easily understood. They were affected by influences that were political, economic, cultural and religious. Therelationships evolved and are continuing to evolve into what seems just in all eyes. I'm interested to know what others think . from, Carolyn Whitney Branagan PS. Yesterday, May 30, it snowed on Mt. Mansfield, the highest mountain in Vermont! Here in the valley it only rained. White Dove wrote: > Kate, > We have ancestors on both sides of this issue. Hannah Duston is one of > ours............... > We are genealogists, and this is on topic. We are searching for not > only our > ancestors, but what kind of life that they lived. Those were people too, > capable > of good and evil is varying amounts. We are reaching back into history to > find them, and will have to take the bad with the good. There is no > re-making > the truth in the history, and one man's glory is another's story of a crime. > None > of this is our fault. We cannot change these histories simply because we do > not like them. > I suspect that on another interest group, there may be other stories > told > from the other side with an equal amount of passion. Read the book, "Bury > My Heart at Wounded Knee". It should be at your local library, loanable > for no money at all. > > Lee Castleton > maxlee -at- net-link.net <mailto:maxlee -at- net-link.net> > > researching: COWLEY, ROOT, MERRIAM > > >
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