John Enneson Hanson, I

John Hanson – Elizabeth Meader

Notes for John:

(3) John Hanson, born about 1681 at Dover, N. H., died about 1727. Married Elizabeth Meader 23 May 1703, who was born 1684 and died 1737. Two sons were killed by the Indians in a massacre of the settlement of Deerfield, and wife and other children captured, taken to Canada, and sold to the French, and later ransomed for 700 £s. The daughter Elizabeth (sic) married and remained in Quebec. The father died then returning from trying to ransom her. (Sarah is the daughter who remained in Quebec; the house she and her husband, Jean Baptiste Sabourin, lived in still exists as part of the much larger home in Greenwood Village in Quebec.

The family of John Hanson, grandson of Thomas Hanson, was attacked 27 August 1724 by thirteen Mohawk Indians, who killed two children and carried the mother, Elizabeth Hanson, with her remaining children, Daniel, Sarah, Mary and Elizabeth, into captivity to Canada, where they were sold to the French, who held them for a Year, when all, with the exception of Sarah, were ransomed by the father of the family.

This was the last Indian massacre in Dover, New Hampshire.

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From the records of DANIEL GERALD HANSON, ST. ANDREWS, N.B., CANADA, JANUARY 1952

Son of THOMAS HANSON and MARY KITCHEN ROBINSON, born about 1681. Married 23 May 1703 to ELIZABETH MEADER, who was born in 1684 and died 1737, daughter of JOHN MEADER and SARAH FOLLET of OYSTER BAY, N.H. (or could this be N.Y.?)

Resided in DEERFIELD N.H., died 1727

During absence of father, the family of JOHN HANSON was attacked by 13 Mohawk Indians on 27 August 1724. The Mohawks killed two children and carried the mother and four remaining children, Dan, Sarah, Elizabeth, Mary, and a Negro servant to Canada, where they were sold to the French. Without the exception of Sarah who had married a Frenchman, all the rest were ransomed for 700 Pounds. This large sum was probably raised by the Society of Friends, for there is a record of such a sum being raised for the man by this Society in Pennsylvania. JOHN HANSON on the return passage with his ransomed family, died at the "HALFWAY" between ALBANY and CANADA, 1727. (Small volume in New Hampshire State Library, "AN ACCOUNT OF THE CAPTIVITY OF ELIZABETH HANSON AND FAMILY", published in England in 1760, written by SAMUEL (B)OWNEND as told by ELIZABETH HANSON to him. (Copy of this is in the possession of DANIEL G. HANSON, ST. ANDREWS, N.B., supplied by the library.)

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Indian Attacks Around Dover

From Dover History by Robert Whitehouse, c 1987

28 January, 1703, when the ground was covered with snow, a small party of Indians fell upon a garrison at Berwick, but a sentinel saw them coming and gave the alarm in season for the armed men to offer successful resistance. A young man and a girl, who were at some distance from the garrison, ran for their lives. The girl was quickly overtaken and tomahawked. The lad almost reached the garrison, when they shot him and supposed he was dead; they pushed on to attack the garrison when a well aimed volley killed the leader, and while Indians were trying to drag his body away, the lad up and ran into the garrison. Then the Indians withdrew, and fell upon the Smith garrison. They were soon beaten off, however. Captain Brown aroused by the firing, rushed to their assistance with a dozen good men. He came upon the Indians as they were binding up their plunder, and put them to flight, firing (at them) and wounding some of them as the blood on the snow showed. The Indians left all their plunder, hatchets and blankets. This time they burned two houses, and killed seventy cattle.
In October 1703 they again attacked Berwick and destroyed the village. In 1704, a hundred friendly Indians, Piquods, Mohigans and Mautics were posted here to keep off the Indians from the East and Canada. They were under the command of Major Samuel Mason. They were fed and clothed by Massachusetts and given twelve pence a day by Connecticut. In July, the Piscataqua settlements were terrorized, at Dover, three were killed, three wounded, and three captured. July 18 they killed one man at Niwichawanock and captured Wheelwright’s “Sambo”. David Garland was (illegible) Hane and Humphrey Foss taken prisoners, but were released by the determined efforts of Lieutenant Heard.
May 14 at Spruce Creek they killed one lad, and carried others away. They then went to Oyster River where they shot Jeremiah Cromett and burned a saw mill at Dover. Ensign Tuttle was killed and a son of Lieutenant Heard wounded while standing guard. John Bickwell was shot at Spruce Creek as he was locking his door, his wife wounded, and his child knocked on the head and scalped. The two children of John Waldron were seized outside of Heard’s Garrison (this was the old garrison of Waldron’s) and their heads cut off, as the Indians did not have time to scalp them. This time there were no men in the fort, and Esther Jones deceived the Indians by calling out “come on, come on, here they are”, which had the effect desired and the Indians withdrew. On October 25, 1704, the Indians appeared at Oyster River again. And on that same day in Berwick, two men were shot going home from church. The Indians, being vigorously attacked, dropped their packs, and in them were found three scalps. In the spring of 1705 they were on the east side of the Piscataqua River, killing five settlers at Spruce Creek and captured many more. Mrs. Hall was killed, Enoch Hutchins lost his wife and children. Three weeks later John Rodgers was wounded and James Toby shot. In May, 1705, they wounded Mark Gile, W. Pearl and Nathan Tibbets were shot. These attacks were by bands of roving Indians. Pearl lived in a cave up Oyster River and he had been urged to come into the settlement, but he would not.
On May 27, 1707 they captured two at Oyster River. In July they came upon John Bunker and Ichabod Rawlins, aged 20 and 30 of Dover, and killed them both, as they were driving a cart from Dover to Oyster River. They also killed many cattle.
In 1710 the settlers were warned of a new outbreak, and 400 soldiers were posted in the New Hampshire towns, In 1711 they appeared at Dover and found Thomas Downs and three men at work in a field. These they killed and lay in ambush for the settlers as they came from church. They succeeded in killing one and came near killing another, but the alarm was given and the Indians withdrew. In 1712, they killed Ensign John Tuttle at Cochecho and Jeremiah Cromwell at Oyster River, later they killed Joseph Ham at Dover, carrying off his three children. Next Tristram Heard, Jr. was killed. In the spring of 1705, the Indians made a descent on Oyster River and Nathanial Meader was shot while in his field.

Some Quakers who did not share in the ideas of war and lived out on Knox Marsh were singled out for attack, as they would not go to the garrisons. Ebenezer Downs was taken and used very roughly because he would not dance before the Indians. John Hanson was urged repeatedly to come to the garrisons but he would not, so the French Mohawks singled him out. One day when Hanson and his eldest daughter were away at church, the two eldest boys out in the field and the wife at home with four children, the time they had been waiting for, the Indians went to the house and killed the younger children, took the wife and a fourteen days old infant with the nurse and two other daughters and a young son and carried them into captivity after sacking the house. This was so quietly done that the first to discover it was the eldest daughter when she returned home, and beheld the horrible sight. The alarm was given. Mrs. Hanson was at the time at the edge of the woods but could not cry out. She was taken to Canada and sold, she has left a very interesting history of that journey.

Mrs. Hanson was a woman of slight build and tender constitution. But she had a firm and vigorous mind, and passed through the Indian captivity with much resolution and courage. When her milk gave out- she nourished the babe by warming water in her mouth and letting it fall on her breasts fed the child, until the squaws taught her how to beat the kernels of walnuts and boil them with husked corn, which proved a nourishing food for the baby. They were all sold to the French in Canada. Mr. Hanson went next spring and redeemed his wife and three young children and the nurse, but could not persuade the eldest daughter to return home although he saw her and urged her to join the family. She married a French man and never returned. He redeemed Elizabeth Downs. Mr. Hanson made another trip, but died at Crown Point, on his way to try and get his daughter. Mr. Hanson, after the first attack, went to live with another Quaker, who had several lusty sons, “who kept the guns loaded for big game”. After he returned to his old home the Indians determined to make another attack, watching for a favorable opportunity. They secreted themselves in a barn when three men when by. The Indians, fired, and killed William Evans; John Evans was slightly wounded, but bleeding freely, The Indians thinking him dead, scalped him, turned him over and pounded him with their guns and left him. He was taken to the Fort where he recovered and lived fifty years longer. He was great uncle to the poet John G. Whittier. The Indians made their escape taking Benjamin Evans as a captive. He was at this time 13 years old, and was later redeemed in the usual way, Sept. 25, 1725.

This was the last foray into Dover, New Hampshire, as three months later a treaty was signed at Boston, and in the spring was ratified at Falmouth, 1726. After peace was declared, the Indians often visited the very home they had despoiled, and were always friendly.

This historical essay is provided free to all readers as an educational service. It may not be reproduced on any website, list, bulletin board, or in print without the permission of the Dover Public Library. Links to the Dover Public Library homepage or a specific article's URL are permissible.

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FROM THE BOOK "ABRAHAM IN ARMS" War and Gender in Colonial New England, by Ann M. Little, 2006

ABRAHAM IN ARMS: WAR AND GENDER ON THE NEW ENGLAND FRONTIER, 1620-1763

by Ann M. Little

CHAPTER FOUR "A JESUIT WILL RUIN YOU" (excerpt)

…returned captive who nevertheless lost a daughter to Canada. Many other ex-captives had teenaged or young adult daughters who refused to return to New England with them. Elizabeth Hanson's captivity narrative reveals the difficulties New England families faced when a daughter refused to return home with them after captivity among the Indians and the French. It also suggests that captive girls and women retained some control over their eventual fates. Hanson and her family were taken from their home in Dover, New Hampshire, in 1724, a party of captives that included sixteen-year-old Sarah, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth, a young servant girl, a six-year-old son, and her newborn daughter (the child baptized "Mary Ann Frossways" mentioned above). After a few days on the run, Hanson's daughters and the servant were given to other Indians, while she, her six-year-old son, and her infant daughter remained together for the year of their captivity with French-allied Eastern Abenaki and then the French in Montreal. Her husband John Hanson successfully retrieved their youngest daughter from captivity, but Sarah proved more difficult to deal with. She had been settled with a family at Lac des deux Montaignes (Lake of Two Mountains, now Oka, Quebec), a mission town on the Ottawa River populated for the most part with Iroquois Indians as well as a few Hurons and Algonquins. In her captivity narrative, Hanson first suggests that Sarah's Indian family at Lake of Two Mountains refused to part with her, explaining "for the Squaw, to whom she was given, had a Son which she intended my Daughter should in Time be prevailed with to marry." It was probably easier psychologically and politically to think of unredeemed captive teenagers as victims who had no control over their own destinies. However, in reassuring her reading audience that Sarah was not in any danger of rape or defilement, Elizabeth Hanson suggests the possibility that Sarah's preferences mattered to her Indian family: "the Indians being very civil toward their captive Women, not offering any Incivility by any indecent Carriage (unless they be much overgone in Liquor, which is commendable in them so far)." If Sarah was not free to leave her new family, neither was she being utterly manhandled. After several "Attempts and Endeavors" to retrieve Sarah, Elizabeth and John Hanson turned regretfully homeward, as the Indians' "Affections…for their Daughter, made them refuse all Offers and Terms of Ransom." Further evidence of her Indian family's affections, and of their intention to keep her as an adoptee, is indicated by the fact that she was given an Iroquois name for her Catholic baptism: "Catherine Kijitekak8e" (sic).

Sarah's English family did not give up, and in the spring of 1726 John Hanson undertook another journey to Canada to retrieve her, along with another family member and his wife who were after their own captive children as well. Sarah's rejection of the New England way might have been especially difficult for her father to bear, since disorderly households and disobedient children reflected most poorly on their fathers. Also, as a Quaker, John Hanson's manhood and patriotism had been questioned by his puritan neighbors. Quakers were always under suspicion in early New England, and they were especially disparaged for their pacifism in wartime. Although puritan families always made up the vast majority of victims of Indian attacks and captivity on the New England frontier, disapproving observers blamed John Hanson's faith for his family's ordeal. Samuel Penhallow wrote condescendingly that Hanson, "being a stiff quaker, full of enthusiasm, and ridiculing the military power, would on no account be influenced to come into garrison; by which means his whole family (then at home) being eight in number, were all killed and taken." Perhaps Elizabeth Hanson wrote to avenge this portrait of her husband as a foolish and heedless man, when she wrote, "my dear Husband, poor Man! could not enjoy himself in Quiet with us, for want of his dear Daughter Sarah." The Lake of Two Mountains mission was an arduous journey from coastal New Hampshire at any time of year. But, "not willing to omit any thing for her redemption which lay in his Power, he could not be easy without making a second Attempt." The trip proved too much for John Hanson, who died in his kinsman's arms along the way.

Although their relative continued his mission to try to bring Sarah home, not even the tragic death of her father could induce her to come away. Once again, Elizabeth Hanson suggests that her daughter did not make this decision herself. The "old Squaw," Sarah's mistress, "intended to marry her in time to her Son, using what persuading she could to effect her end, sometimes by fair Means, and sometimes by severe." Hanson never suggests what these "severe" means were for coercing Sarah to marry but in a surprising twist, she reveals that "in the mean time a Frenchman interposed and they, by persuasion enticed my Child to marry [the Frenchman], in order to obtain her Freedom, by reason that those Captives married by the French, are by that Marriage made free among them." Having renamed Sarah and adopted her, however, her Indian mistress more likely treated her like a daughter and allowed her to marry the man of her choice. Hanson insists that Sarah married only to gain her freedom from the Indians, but her convoluted explanation nevertheless reveals that Sarah's preference in the end wins the day with her Indian mistress, "and she was accordingly married to the Frenchman." Hanson makes no further comment on her daughter's fate and, very much like Hannah Swarton, ends her narrative rather abruptly after this strange explanation for her daughter's failure to return home. Although she said nothing further about Sarah in her captivity narrative, Hanson may have carried on her husband's quest to bring their daughter home, this time with Sarah's French husband. In the summer of 1728. the Dover Men's Monthly Meeting considered offering Sarah's husband, Jean Baptiste Sabourin, "a Sum of money to get him in a way to Live in This Country," if he "returns from Canada with his wife the next spring to settle and take up his abode here." In the end, they refused to offer him a set price, but they allowed people to contribute to a fund for that purpose if they so chose. Instead, Sarah and Jean Baptiste married at the Lake of Two Mountains mission and raised a family of six in Canada.

Mary Swarton and Sarah Hanson seem to have married men of their choosing, a decision that bound them to Canada more closely. However, at least one of the women who stayed in Canada fled some of the more dramatic consequences of New England patriarchy.

The book goes on to speak of Abigail Willey, 32, an "unredeemed captive". It seems she chose to stay in Canada with her two daughters, 13 and 8, because of her husband's (Stephen Willy) chronic violence against her, and her isolation as an abused woman.

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  • ******************************************************************************************************************

NEW ENGLAND CAPTIVES CARRIED TO CANADA Between 1677 and 1760 During the French and Indian

Wars

By Emma Lewis Coleman

(By author of website: The two books were obtained on Interlibrary loan from the Toronto

Reference Library. My local library had no trouble getting them. I do not

have a copy of my own so please don't ask for details beyond these two web

pages as I do not have anything I can add. If you are unable to get the books

for reference, I'd suggest trying to get someone in Toronto to do a lookup for

you.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

INDEX

425

HANSON, EBENEZER, or DANIEL, I, 143; II, 139, 161-166.

Elizabeth, I, 143, 146; II, 139, 161-166.

Elizabeth, Jr. See Varney.

JOHN, I, 100, 146; II, 161-166, 170

MARY ANN FROSSWAYS (FRANÇOISE), I, 143, 146; II, 161-166.

SARAH. See Sabourin.

SABOURIN, SARAH HANSON, I, 143, 239; II, 109, 110, 139, 161-166.

449

VARNEY, ELIZABETH HANSON, I, 143 II, 139, 161-166.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hanson-193

John Hanson, born about 1681 at Dover, N. H., died about 1727. He was a carpenter and a farmer. Married Elizabeth Meader 23 May 1703, who was born 1684 and died 1737. Two sons were killed by the Indians in a massacre of the settlement of Deerfield, and wife and other children captured, taken to Canada, and sold to the French, and later ransomed for 700 £s. The daughter Elizabeth (sic) married and remained in Quebec. The father died then returning from trying to ransom her. (Sarah is the daughter who remained in Quebec; the house she and her husband, Jean Baptiste Sabourin, lived in still exists as part of the much larger home in Greenwood Village in Quebec.

The family of John Hanson, grandson of Thomas Hanson, was attacked 27 August 1724 by thirteen Mohawk Indians, who killed two children and carried the mother, Elizabeth Hanson, with her remaining children, Daniel, Sarah, Mary and Elizabeth, into captivity to Canada, where they were sold to the French, who held them for a Year, when all, with the exception of Sarah, were ransomed by the father of the family.

This was the last Indian massacre in Dover, New Hampshire.

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From the records of DANIEL GERALD HANSON, ST. ANDREWS, N.B., CANADA, JANUARY 1952

Son of THOMAS HANSON and MARY KITCHEN ROBINSON, born about 1681. Married 23 May 1703 to ELIZABETH MEADER, who was born in 1684 and died 1737, daughter of JOHN MEADER and SARAH FOLLET of OYSTER RIVER, N.H.

Resided in DEERFIELD N.H., died 1727

During absence of father, the family of JOHN HANSON was attacked by 13 Mohawk Indians on 27 August 1724. The Mohawks killed two children and carried the mother and four remaining children, Dan, Sarah, Elizabeth, Mary, and a Negro servant to Canada, where they were sold to the French. Without (sic) the exception of Sarah who had married a Frenchman, all the rest were ransomed for 700 Pounds. This large sum was probably raised by the Society of Friends, for there is a record of such a sum being raised for the man by this Society in Pennsylvania. JOHN HANSON on the return passage with his ransomed family, died at the "HALFWAY" between ALBANY and CANADA, 1727. (Small volume in New Hampshire State Library, "AN ACCOUNT OF THE CAPTIVITY OF ELIZABETH HANSON AND FAMILY", published in England in 1760, written by SAMUEL (B)OWNEND as told by ELIZABETH HANSON to him. (Copy of this is in the possession of DANIEL G. HANSON, ST. ANDREWS, N.B., supplied by the library.)

A newer copy is also in the possession of Douglas Hanson Ewing, Red Hook, NY. Republished with an Introduction and Notes by Simon Webb, 2007. FGC Bookstore

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Indian Attacks Around Dover

From Dover History by Robert Whitehouse, c 1987

28 January, 1703, when the ground was covered with snow, a small party of Indians fell upon a garrison at Berwick, but a sentinel saw them coming and gave the alarm in season for the armed men to offer successful resistance. A young man and a girl, who were at some distance from the garrison, ran for their lives. The girl was quickly overtaken and tomahawked. The lad almost reached the garrison, when they shot him and supposed he was dead; they pushed on to attack the garrison when a well aimed volley killed the leader, and while Indians were trying to drag his body away, the lad up and ran into the garrison. Then the Indians withdrew, and fell upon the Smith garrison. They were soon beaten off, however. Captain Brown aroused by the firing, rushed to their assistance with a dozen good men. He came upon the Indians as they were binding up their plunder, and put them to flight, firing (at them) and wounding some of them as the blood on the snow showed. The Indians left all their plunder, hatchets and blankets. This time they burned two houses, and killed seventy cattle.

In October 1703 they again attacked Berwick and destroyed the village. In 1704, a hundred friendly Indians, Piquods, Mohigans and Mautics were posted here to keep off the Indians from the East and Canada. They were under the command of Major Samuel Mason. They were fed and clothed by Massachusetts and given twelve pence a day by Connecticut. In July, the Piscataqua settlements were terrorized, at Dover, three were killed, three wounded, and three captured. July 18 they killed one man at Niwichawanock and captured Wheelwright’s “Sambo”. David Garland was (illegible) Hane and Humphrey Foss taken prisoners, but were released by the determined efforts of Lieutenant Heard.

May 14 at Spruce Creek they killed one lad, and carried others away. They then went to Oyster River where they shot Jeremiah Cromett and burned a saw mill at Dover. Ensign Tuttle was killed and a son of Lieutenant Heard wounded while standing guard. John Bickwell was shot at Spruce Creek as he was locking his door, his wife wounded, and his child knocked on the head and scalped. The two children of John Waldron were seized outside of Heard’s Garrison (this was the old garrison of Waldron’s) and their heads cut off, as the Indians did not have time to scalp them. This time there were no men in the fort, and Esther Jones deceived the Indians by calling out “come on, come on, here they are”, which had the effect desired and the Indians withdrew. On October 25, 1704, the Indians appeared at Oyster River again. And on that same day in Berwick, two men were shot going home from church. The Indians, being vigorously attacked, dropped their packs, and in them were found three scalps. In the spring of 1705 they were on the east side of the Piscataqua River, killing five settlers at Spruce Creek and captured many more. Mrs. Hall was killed, Enoch Hutchins lost his wife and children. Three weeks later John Rodgers was wounded and James Toby shot. In May, 1705, they wounded Mark Gile, W. Pearl and Nathan Tibbets were shot. These attacks were by bands of roving Indians. Pearl lived in a cave up Oyster River and he had been urged to come into the settlement, but he would not.

On May 27, 1707 they captured two at Oyster River. In July they came upon John Bunker and Ichabod Rawlins, aged 20 and 30 of Dover, and killed them both, as they were driving a cart from Dover to Oyster River. They also killed many cattle.

In 1710 the settlers were warned of a new outbreak, and 400 soldiers were posted in the New Hampshire towns. In 1711 they appeared at Dover and found Thomas Downs and three men at work in a field. These they killed and lay in ambush for the settlers as they came from church. They succeeded in killing one and came near killing another, but the alarm was given and the Indians withdrew. In 1712, they killed Ensign John Tuttle at Cochecho and Jeremiah Cromwell at Oyster River, later they killed Joseph Ham at Dover, carrying off his three children. Next Tristram Heard, Jr. was killed. In the spring of 1705, the Indians made a descent on Oyster River and Nathanial Meader was shot while in his field.

Some Quakers who did not share in the ideas of war and lived out on Knox Marsh were singled out for attack, as they would not go to the garrisons. Ebenezer Downs was taken and used very roughly because he would not dance before the Indians. John Hanson was urged repeatedly to come to the garrisons but he would not, so the French Mohawks singled him out. One day when Hanson and his eldest daughter were away at church, the two eldest boys out in the field and the wife at home with four children, the time they had been waiting for, the Indians went to the house and killed the younger children, took the wife and a fourteen days old infant with the nurse and two other daughters and a young son and carried them into captivity after sacking the house. This was so quietly done that the first to discover it was the eldest daughter when she returned home, and beheld the horrible sight. The alarm was given. Mrs. Hanson was at the time at the edge of the woods but could not cry out. She was taken to Canada and sold. She has left a very interesting history of that journey.

Mrs. Hanson was a woman of slight build and tender constitution. But she had a firm and vigorous mind, and passed through the Indian captivity with much resolution and courage. When her milk gave out- she nourished the babe by warming water in her mouth and letting it fall on her breasts, fed the child, until the squaws taught her how to beat the kernels of walnuts and boil them with husked corn, which proved a nourishing food for the baby. They were all sold to the French in Canada. Mr. Hanson went next spring and redeemed his wife and three young children and the nurse, but could not persuade the eldest daughter to return home although he saw her and urged her to join the family. She married a French man and never returned. He redeemed Elizabeth Downs. Mr. Hanson made another trip, but died at Crown Point, on his way to try and get his daughter. Mr. Hanson, after the first attack, went to live with another Quaker, who had several lusty sons, “who kept the guns loaded for big game”. After he returned to his old home the Indians determined to make another attack, watching for a favorable opportunity. They secreted themselves in a barn when three men when by. The Indians, fired, and killed William Evans; John Evans was slightly wounded, but bleeding freely, The Indians thinking him dead, scalped him, turned him over and pounded him with their guns and left him. He was taken to the Fort where he recovered and lived fifty years longer. He was great uncle to the poet John Greenleaf Whittier. The Indians made their escape taking Benjamin Evans as a captive. He was at this time 13 years old, and was later redeemed in the usual way, Sept. 25, 1725.

This was the last foray into Dover, New Hampshire, as three months later a treaty was signed at Boston, and in the spring was ratified at Falmouth, 1726. After peace was declared, the Indians often visited the very home they had despoiled, and were always friendly. (Dover NH Library)

• *******************************************************************************************************************

FROM THE BOOK "ABRAHAM IN ARMS" War and Gender in Colonial New England, by Ann M. Little, 2006

ABRAHAM IN ARMS: WAR AND GENDER ON THE NEW ENGLAND FRONTIER, 1620-1763

by Ann M. Little

CHAPTER FOUR "A JESUIT WILL RUIN YOU" (excerpt)

…returned captive who nevertheless lost a daughter to Canada. Many other ex-captives had teenaged or young adult daughters who refused to return to New England with them. Elizabeth Hanson's captivity narrative reveals the difficulties New England families faced when a daughter refused to return home with them after captivity among the Indians and the French. It also suggests that captive girls and women retained some control over their eventual fates. Hanson and her family were taken from their home in Dover, New Hampshire, in 1724, a party of captives that included sixteen-year-old Sarah, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth, a young servant girl, a six-year-old son, and her newborn daughter (the child baptized "Mary Ann Frossways" mentioned above). After a few days on the run, Hanson's daughters and the servant were given to other Indians, while she, her six-year-old son, and her infant daughter remained together for the year of their captivity with French-allied Eastern Abenaki and then the French in Montreal. Her husband John Hanson successfully retrieved their youngest daughter from captivity, but Sarah proved more difficult to deal with. She had been settled with a family at Lac des deux Montaignes (Lake of Two Mountains, now Oka, Quebec), a mission town on the Ottawa River populated for the most part with Iroquois Indians as well as a few Hurons and Algonquins. In her captivity narrative, Hanson first suggests that Sarah's Indian family at Lake of Two Mountains refused to part with her, explaining "for the Squaw, to whom she was given, had a Son which she intended my Daughter should in Time be prevailed with to marry." It was probably easier psychologically and politically to think of unredeemed captive teenagers as victims who had no control over their own destinies. However, in reassuring her reading audience that Sarah was not in any danger of rape or defilement, Elizabeth Hanson suggests the possibility that Sarah's preferences mattered to her Indian family: "the Indians being very civil toward their captive Women, not offering any Incivility by any indecent Carriage (unless they be much overgone in Liquor, which is commendable in them so far)." If Sarah was not free to leave her new family, neither was she being utterly manhandled. After several "Attempts and Endeavors" to retrieve Sarah, Elizabeth and John Hanson turned regretfully homeward, as the Indians' "Affections…for their Daughter, made them refuse all Offers and Terms of Ransom." Further evidence of her Indian family's affections, and of their intention to keep her as an adoptee, is indicated by the fact that she was given an Iroquois name for her Catholic baptism: "Catherine Kijitekak8e" (sic).

Sarah's English family did not give up, and in the spring of 1726 John Hanson undertook another journey to Canada to retrieve her, along with another family member and his wife who were after their own captive children as well. Sarah's rejection of the New England way might have been especially difficult for her father to bear, since disorderly households and disobedient children reflected most poorly on their fathers. Also, as a Quaker, John Hanson's manhood and patriotism had been questioned by his puritan neighbors. Quakers were always under suspicion in early New England, and they were especially disparaged for their pacifism in wartime. Although Puritan families always made up the vast majority of victims of Indian attacks and captivity on the New England frontier, disapproving observers blamed John Hanson's faith for his family's ordeal. Samuel Penhallow wrote condescendingly that Hanson, "being a stiff Quaker, full of enthusiasm, and ridiculing the military power, would on no account be influenced to come into garrison; by which means his whole family (then at home) being eight in number, were all killed and taken." Perhaps Elizabeth Hanson wrote to avenge this portrait of her husband as a foolish and heedless man, when she wrote, "my dear Husband, poor Man! could not enjoy himself in Quiet with us, for want of his dear Daughter Sarah." The Lake of Two Mountains mission was an arduous journey from coastal New Hampshire at any time of year. But, "not willing to omit any thing for her redemption which lay in his Power, he could not be easy without making a second Attempt." The trip proved too much for John Hanson, who died in his kinsman's arms along the way.

Although their relative continued his mission to try to bring Sarah home, not even the tragic death of her father could induce her to come away. Once again, Elizabeth Hanson suggests that her daughter did not make this decision herself. The "old Squaw," Sarah's mistress, "intended to marry her in time to her Son, using what persuading she could to effect her end, sometimes by fair Means, and sometimes by severe." Hanson never suggests what these "severe" means were for coercing Sarah to marry but in a surprising twist, she reveals that "in the mean time a Frenchman interposed and they, by persuasion, enticed my Child to marry [the Frenchman], in order to obtain her Freedom, by reason that those Captives married by the French, are by that Marriage made free among them." Having renamed Sarah and adopted her, however, her Indian mistress more likely treated her like a daughter and allowed her to marry the man of her choice. Hanson insists that Sarah married only to gain her freedom from the Indians, but her convoluted explanation nevertheless reveals that Sarah's preference in the end wins the day with her Indian mistress, "and she was accordingly married to the Frenchman." Hanson makes no further comment on her daughter's fate and, very much like Hannah Swarton, ends her narrative rather abruptly after this strange explanation for her daughter's failure to return home. Although she said nothing further about Sarah in her captivity narrative, Hanson may have carried on her husband's quest to bring their daughter home, this time with Sarah's French husband. In the summer of 1728. the Dover Men's Monthly Meeting considered offering Sarah's husband, Jean Baptiste Sabourin, "a Sum of money to get him in a way to Live in This Country," if he "returns from Canada with his wife the next spring to settle and take up his abode here." In the end, they refused to offer him a set price, but they allowed people to contribute to a fund for that purpose if they so chose. Instead, Sarah and Jean Baptiste married at the Lake of Two Mountains mission and raised a family of six in Canada.

Mary Swarton and Sarah Hanson seem to have married men of their choosing, a decision that bound them to Canada more closely. However, at least one of the women who stayed in Canada fled some of the more dramatic consequences of New England patriarchy.

The book goes on to speak of Abigail Willey, 32, an "unredeemed captive". It seems she chose to stay in Canada with her two daughters, 13 and 8, because of her husband's (Stephen Willy) chronic violence against her, and her isolation as an abused woman.

• *******************************************************************************************************************

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GEDCOM Note

John “lived on the outside of town” [at Knox’s Marsh”] suffered the killing of two children in 1724. His wife, a fourteen day old child, two daughters and a son were carried off. He redeemed all byut Sarah the next year and died at Crown Point in 1727 whilst on a journey to redeem her.

Al McMillen’s inpressive research has sent me the descendants of Sara Catherine Hanson in a wonderful document. He is descended from her.

It was nice to hear from you.
I will see what I have at home on Sarah and descendants, probably mostly my
line.
I used to do some research just for my own records,
but haven't had as much time recently.

I am sure you have seen this, but in case you haven't
here is a site which has some of the text of her mother's story.
It sounded like quite the ordeal.
In some records I have seen they had her listed as Sarah Enneson which was
probably how
someone French might mispronounce Hanson.
http://www.canadiana.org/ECO/ItemRecord/45560?id=20f9c39b986f3493

I am sending a small word file of the first 2 generations
of Sarah Hanson and Jean-Baptiste Sabourin for your interest.
I am descended from Therese-Amable Sabourin, their daughter.
The link to me continues through ;

iv. ANGELIQUE VILLENEUVE b. WFT Est. 1755-1777, QUEBEC, CANADA m.
JOSEPH SAUVE, October 14, 1793, ST. MICHEL, MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA; b.
Bef. 1770

Their daughter Marie-Reine Sauve married Jean-Baptiste Vachon in Rigaud.
My mother was Florence Vachon.

I sent you a word file under a separate letter.

Here is an interesting bit.
Way back in my history I am descended from
a Martin Prevost marrying an Abenaki woman named Marie Olivier
Manitouabewich. The following link relates to some info on the Abenaki
website
pertaining to history of families who were kidnapped in New England.
Amongst them you will find the name Rising or Raizenne as listed in
the link.

If you look in the info I sent you in the word file you will
find one of the children of Sarah Hanson married a Jean Raizenne
who would be a descendant of Josiah Rising as outlined in that link.
Josiah was also a New England Indian captive.
The second link shows that connection/descendancy.

http://www.avcnet.org/ne-do-ba/gen_tip9.html

http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~lheureux/la2/d0000/g0000040.html

Bye for now, Al McMillen

1. SARA CATHERINE11 HANSON (JOHN10, THOMAS9, THOMAS8, JOHN7, THOMAS6, JOHN5, JOHN4, JOHN3, JOHN2, JOHN1)1,2,3,4 was born November 13, 1707 in Knocks Marsh, Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire.5,6, and died 1787 in Vaudreuil, Quebec7,8. She married JEAN BAPTISTE SABOURIN9,10,11,12 July 29, 1727 in Lac deux Motagnes, P.Q.13,14, son of PIERRE SABOURIN and MADELEINE PERRIER. He was born WFT Est. 1675-170715,16, and died WFT Est. 1730-176717,18.

Notes for SARA CATHERINE HANSON:
[sabourin1.FTW]

[Br%C3%B8derbund WFT Vol. 30 (Disk #2), Ed. 1, Tree #0655, Date of Import: Jul 10, 2000]

When the father John was away from their cabin on August 7, 1724, Indians entered and killed two children, then Kidnapped the mother, Sarah and other children, and forced them on a long 26 day march to Quebec. The husband John, went to Ville Marie (Montreal) in the summer of 1725. Seven year old son Daniel, a younger daughter and a baby were successfully ransomed, but Sarah then 14 or 15 years old could not be redeemed! Sarah was called Kigilek-Weet (meaning she who burns the food) by her captor indians. Later on, Priests were able to obtain the release of Sarah and others by bartering.

Cyprien Tanguay recorded her name as Sarah Ennson. Marriage notes are also recorded as married at Oka, Quebec.[ancmadeleineSabourin.FTW]

[Br%C3%B8derbund WFT Vol. 8, Ed. 1, Tree #2966, Date of Import: Jun 10, 2000]

Sara dite Catherine Ennson m Jean Baptiste Sabourin=Chauiniere # 768
see attached note to #768

When the father John was away from their cabin on Aug. 7,1724 Indians came to the cabin and killed 2 children. They kidnapped the mother Sarah and the other children. They forced them on a 26 day march to Quebec. In the summer of 1725 John went to Montreal (Ville Marie) and ransomed Daniel(7 years old),a younger daughter and a baby.
Sarah who was about 14 could not be ransomed. She was called Kigilek-Weet(she who burns food) by the indians. She was later freed after priests bartered for her.
(FTM vol 30 disc 2 edition 1 tree #655)

More About SARA CATHERINE HANSON:
Aka/Nickname: Enneson

Notes for JEAN BAPTISTE SABOURIN:
[ancmadeleineSabourin.FTW]

[Br%C3%B8derbund WFT Vol. 8, Ed. 1, Tree #2966, Date of Import: Jun 10, 2000]

n 06 b 08-10-1701 Lachine m 1727 Sara Ennson;enfant naturel (mere
Marie-Josephe Outagamie,Amerindienne,domestique du siuer Guillet:)
Pierre n et b 16-03-1719 Bellevue,Canada
Married at Oka,Quebec (ct 20 Raimbault fils)
It is conjectured that J.B. first union ended upon the early death of his
common wife,he and his second wife probably raised the son Pierre with
their own son Paul,as always though,questions remain unanswered.
[sabourin1.FTW]

[Br%C3%B8derbund WFT Vol. 30 (Disk #2), Ed. 1, Tree #0655, Date of Import: Jul 10, 2000]

He was a captain in the Militia, in Vaudreuil. He was also known as Jean Baptiste dit Choiniere.

More About JEAN BAPTISTE SABOURIN:
Dit: Choiniere

Children of SARA HANSON and JEAN SABOURIN are:
2. i. JACQUES PHILIPPE12 SABOURIN, b. February 15, 1704/05; d. WFT Est. 1758-1797.
3. ii. PAUL SABOURIN, b. 1731, Deux Montagnes, Oka, Quebec; d. March 15, 1798.
iii. JEAN BAPTISTE SABOURIN19,20, b. February 01, 1733/34, Lac des Deux Montagnes, Oka, Quebec21,22; d. WFT Est. 1735-182423,24.
iv. MARIE ANNE SABOURIN25,26, b. December 1735, Lac des Deux Montagnes, Oka, Quebec27,28; d. WFT Est. 1736-182929,30.

Notes for MARIE ANNE SABOURIN:
[sabourin1.FTW]

[Br%C3%B8derbund WFT Vol. 30 (Disk #2), Ed. 1, Tree #0655, Date of Import: Jul 10, 2000]

Marie Anne was a Roman Catholic Nun, Soer St. Barthelmy, Congregation of Notre Dame (Montreal).

v. CATHERINE SABOURIN31,32, b. September 25, 1737, Lac des Deux Montagnes, Oka, Quebec33,34; d. WFT Est. 1738-183135,36.
vi. CATHERINE LORETTE SABOURIN37,38, b. July 20, 1739, Lac des Deux Montagnes, Oka, Quebec39,40; d. WFT Est. 1740-183341,42.
4. vii. MARIE ELIZABETH CHARLOTTE SABOURIN, b. February 15, 1740/41, Lac des Deux Montagnes, Oka, , Quebec; d. WFT Est. 1781-1836.
viii. PIERRE SABOURIN43,44, b. March 12, 1742/43, Lac des Deux Montagnes, Oka, Quebec45,46; d. 174347,48.
ix. ELIZABETH SABOURIN49,50, b. April 26, 1745, Lac des Deux Montagnes, Oka, Quebec51,52; d. WFT Est. 1746-183953,54.
5. x. THERESE AMABLE SABOURIN, b. October 26, 1746, Lac des Deux Montagnes, Oka, Quebec; d. September 29, 1810, Rigaud, Quebec.
xi. JEAN BAPTISTE GUILLAUME SABOURIN55,56, b. January 31, 1751/52, Lac des Deux Montagnes, Oka, Quebec57,58; d. 175259,60.
Source Link: https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000144050309825label=@S97@
Source Link: https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000203949796644label=@S685@