Mary Ann Fouracre

Mary Ann also took the Oath of Allegiance to the New Government in 1776 during the Revoluntionary War. After Clement Trigg Jr. died, Mary Ann remarried to Thomas Hatfield.

The Adventure

• from http://huskey-ogle-family.tripod.com/ancestorarchives/id14.html

As a young girl, Mary Ann had an adventure that has been retold for over 250 years.   For some reason in about 1750 when she was around twelve years old, Mary Ann was not living with her own family but with a neighbor lady.

One day the lady sent Mary Ann to her nearest neighbor’s house.  That nearest neighbor lived three miles away, and to get there, the girl had to go through a heavily wooded area and across a creek.  Mary Ann made the trip just fine.  She accomplished her errand and started her trip back to her mistress’s house.
  On the way home she heard the unmistakable cry of a mountain lion or panther some distance behind her.  It seemed to be on the same road or path she was traveling.  Mary Ann grew frightened.  Perhaps the animal was stalking her.  
The twelve year old began to run as quickly as she could.  Behind her she could still hear the panther.  Its cries were getting louder.  It was gaining on her.  What could she do?  She knew that she could not possibly outrun the panther.  It would be on her before she could get home.  Suddenly she saw the creek before her, and an idea came to her mind.  She waded out into the water and then downstream for as far as she dared.  She saw a tree growing in the water or near its edge and quickly climbed up into the thickest part of its branches, covering herself as best she could with the boughs and leaves.  
Very shortly after she had hidden herself, Mary Ann peeked through the leaves.  To her horror she saw that what she had feared was true.  A panther moved steadily down the path to the creek.  He sniffed the ground then moved into the water and crossed to the other side.  There he tried to pick up the girl’s trail again. Of course he couldn’t find the trail because Mary Ann had gone downstream, not across it.  She sat silently, holding her breath while she waited to see what the panther would do.  All the time the panther kept screaming his awful cries.  Luckily the wind was blowing downstream so the panther could not detect Mary Ann’s scent.  
Mary Ann could see the panther clearly.  She watched his search and listened to his cries.  Finally the beast appeared to give up and wandered slowly away, up the valley.  Again Mary Ann was lucky in that the panther kept up its fearful screams.  When the cries became faint, the girl assumed that the time was safe to try to escape.  She quickly climbed down the tree and ran home to her mistress.

Mary Ann’s life was fairly tame after that horrible adventure.

links

• http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/d/e/p/Dixie-H-Depp/WEBSI...
• Updated from MyHeritage Match by SmartCopy: Sep 26 2014, 21:23:31 UTC