Susanna Johnson Hastings

ID: I56831 Name: Susanna Willard Given Name: Susanna Surname: Willard Sex: F Birth: 20 Feb 1730 Death: Nov 1810 Note: They and three children were taken captive by the Indians Aug. 29, 1754. She gave birth to another child the next day, and another in Canada before they could get released from captivity. She was taken to England and at length reached home. She wrote a thrilling account of the experiences of the family, which was printed. She outlived Mr. Johnson and m. (2) in 1762, John Hastings, who d. Nov. 21, 1804. She d. in Nov., 1810.

Source:

WILLARD GENEALOGY, SEQUEL TO WILLARD MEMORIAL MATERIALS GATHERED CHIEFLY BY JOSEPH WILLARD AND CHARLES WILKES WALKER

EDITED AND COMPLETED BY CHARLES HENRY POPE

PRINTED FOR THE WILLARD FAMILY ASSOCIATION, BOSTON, MASS., 1915*

Digital Edition © 2001 by Richard Bingham Oceanport, New Jersey ISBN 1-930968-20-5

Copyright, 1915 By THE WILLARD FAMILY ASSOCIATION

Murray and Emery Company Kendall Square Cambridge

Father: Moses Willard b: Abt 1703 in Lancaster, Worcester Co, MA Mother: Susanna Hastings b: Abt 1708

Marriage 1 James Johnson b: Abt 1725 Married: 15 Jun 1747 Children Has No Children Sylvanus Johnson b: 25 Jan 1748 Has No Children Esther Johnson b: 23 Dec 1749 Has No Children Susanna Johnson b: 19 Dec 1750 Has No Children Mary Johnson b: 8 Nov 1752 Has No Children Elizabeth Johnson b: 30 Aug 1754 Has No Children James Johnson b: 10 Dec 1756 Has No Children James Johnson b: 12 Mar 1758

Marriage 2 John Hastings Married: 1762

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A narrative of the captivity of Mrs. Johnson containing an account of her ...

Title: A narrative of the captivity of Mrs. Johnson containing an account of her sufferings during four years with the Indians and French.

Principal Author: Hastings, Susanna Willard Johnson, 1730-1810.

Imprint: New York : [s.n.], 1841.

General Note: Title from title screen.

Document Source: Scanned from a CIHM microfiche of the original publication held by the Library of the Public Archives of Canada.

Subject: Indian captivities -- North America.

Abnaki Indians.  

Collection: Native Studies

CIHM no.: 35424

Page Count: 113

Mrs. Susanna Willard Johnson. Charlestown, originally known as No. 4, was first settled in 1740 by three families from Lunenburg by the name of Farnsworth. In 1744 a fort was begun for safety reasons; the Cape Breton war had commenced and the Indians had taken up their hatchets. The cessation of arms was called between Great Britain and France in 1749, and Susanna (Willard) Johnson, but two years the wife of James Johnson, moved with her husband to Charlestown. In 1754, news of another impending rift between France and England was again on everyone's tongue. The Indians were increasingly restless; on August 29, 1754, they descended upon the Johnson home, taking as captives James and Susanna Johnson (who was nine months pregnant and ready to deliver her next child), the three Johnson children, the Johnsons' neighbor Peter Labarree and their hired man Ebenezer Farnsworth, and Mrs. Johnson's sister, Miriam Willard. The following day, August 30, Mrs. Johnson gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth Captive Johnson, the third white child born in Vermont; she lived to womanhood and married Colonel George Kimball. Mrs. Johnson describes in detail her struggles to recover from childbirth, her walk to St. Francis (the Indians' home), the sale of all the captives to the French, the dispersal of her family, and her eventual return to Charlestown

Colonial American author and historian. Her memoirs, "A Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs Johnson" was first published in 1796.

8 30 1754 early am, Susanna and her husband James, 3 kids, sister-Miriam, and 2 neighbors-Peter Labarree and Ebenezer Farnsworth were captured by Abenaki Indians marched to Montreal and sold into slavery to the French.

She was released in 1758 and returned home to Charleston, New Hampshire.

She is buried with her first husband at Forest Hill Cemetery. A memorial stone was erected years later by relatives.