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About Mercy Carter
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5821601/mercy-carter
Mercy (Brooks) Carter was born on August 25, 1669 to William and Mary (Burt) Brooks in Deerfield, [SIC: Springfield] Massachusetts. She married Samuel Carter on December 4, 1690. They were the parents of Samuel, Mercy, John, Ebenezer, Thomas, and Marah. Mercifully, she died on January 22, 1700 before the terror that would beset her family in a few short years.
Deerfield was the northernmost outpost of Colonial settlement. Not surprisingly, great hostilies between the Indians of the area and the Colonists were frequent. At dawn on February 29, 1704, a group of 247 Frenchmen, Abenaki, Kanienkehaka, Wyandot, and Pocumtuck attacked Deerfield. Fifty-six colonists were killed including 9 women, and 25 children. Of the survivors, 109 were taken captive and marched to Quebec some 300 miles. The brutal trek combined with harsh treatment and exposure to the cold weather killed many of the captives.
Somehow, Samuel survived the attack. Tragically, his 2nd wife, Hannah and the children were taken captives on the 40 day trek to Quebec in the freezing winter. Hannah died on the trek near Lake Champlain, Canada. Daughter Hannah (Mary?)(aged 7 months) died near Lake Champlain. Son Samuel died in Quebec around 1714. Thomas (age 4) died on the day of the raid. Son Ebenezer was ransomed in 1707 and returned to Massachusetts.
While most ransomed captives returned to New England, some of the younger English captives were adopted into the tribes where they became assimilated and married into French or Mohawk society. Such was the case with Samuel and Mercy's son John and daughter Mercy. Mercy married a Mohawk man at age 16. John became a captive of the French, and became a pensioner of the Jesuit Fathers at the Mission located near Fort Lorette at Sault-au-Recollet. Here he assimilated into the French culture, became a Catholic, and changed his name to Jean Chartier.
A version of Mercy's daughter's experiences (also Mercy) is contained in a teen read book by Caroline B. Cooney titled, "The Ransom of Mercy Carter", New York: Delacorte Press, 2001.
Bio by Pam Wilson
FamilySearch.org (Church of the Latter-Day Saints) Sources:
Paybook of 1798 (History of the Attack at Deerfield, Mass)
https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/177300082?cid=mem_copy
Deerfield, Massachusetts, Attack 1704
https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/100552293?cid=mem_copy
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Mercy Carter's Timeline
| 1669 |
August 25, 1669
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Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts, Colonial America
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| 1692 |
November 1, 1692
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Deerfield, Franklin, Massachusetts, USA
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| 1693 |
December 17, 1693
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Deerfield, Franklin, Massachusetts, USA
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| 1695 |
September 22, 1695
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Deerfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, British Colonial America
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| 1697 |
September 9, 1697
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Deerfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, USA, Deerfield, MA, United States
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| 1699 |
October 6, 1699
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Deerfield, Franklin, Massachusetts, USA
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| 1701 |
January 22, 1701
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Deerfield, Franklin, Massachusetts, USA
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January 22, 1701
Age 31
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Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts, colonial America
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1701
Age 31
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Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States
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