Sarah Price

Captives of the French and Indian Wars: Part 1: Captured from New England, by Susan Melanie Colby:

http://fchsm.org/pdf/Captives.pdf

Elizabeth Price's mother's people, the Webbs, came to New England in 1629. The first Webb to come to the New World was Alexander Webb, II, William Shakespeare's first cousin. With Alexander were his four sons, one of whom was Elizabeth's great grandfather, Richard Webb. It was in Boston in 1640 that Elizabeth's grandmother, Anne Bassett, married John Webb. The family moved back and forth between Boston and Hartford for the next 14 years. It was during one of their stays at the latter in 1646 that Elizabeth's mother, Sarah Webb, was born. Then in 1654, the Webbs and their seven children became settlers of the frontier town of Northampton (Massachusetts) where John worked as an innkeeper, speculator in real estate, and trader in furs. [6]

Sarah Webb held no strong religious views. She listed herself as "independent." Her life story echoes the hardship of frontier life. Her first marriage was to Zachariah Field on Dec. 17, 1668, in Deerfield. (From this union, by the way, descended the founder of Marshall Field department store.) [7] This young couple had three children before tragedy struck. Zachariah died in 1674 at the age of 30. (Because to date I have not been able to clarify the information on Fields' children, I am not sure of their names.) Three years later, the young widow married Robert Price, a soldier, who listed himself as "Episcopalian."

Robert Price had served in King Philip's War under Captain Turner in the Falls Fight above Deerfield, and was listed as a freeman in Northampton in 1678. [8] This new family settled down in Northampton. Elizabeth, the third of their five children was born Aug. 23, 1683 (Sarah, b. 1678; Mary, b. 1681; Samuel, b. 1686; and John, b. 1689, were her brothers and sisters). About five years later, Robert moved his family to Deerfield. Originally called Pocumtuck, this town had been wiped out in the Indian War of 1675 (King Philip's War) only to be resurrected 10 years later as Deerfield. Its luck, however, did not change. It was raided six times in the 1690s (King William's War). This was followed by five rare, peaceful years from 1697 to 1702, and then war again (War of the Spanish Succession).

The Prices arrived in Deerfield with few prospects. They had just one share of land when most folks had 10 or 20. [10] Deerfield itself, with a population of only 291 souls in 1704, was one of the poorest towns in Massachusetts, so poor it had been excused from paying any taxes. Along with poverty came the constant worry of attacks. It needed all the revenue it could muster to shore up its defenses.

By 1704, Elizabeth Price's older sister Mary had married Samuel Smead (Mar. 17, 1699) in Deerfield, and she was the mother of two children. Her younger brother, Samuel Price, age 18, was a soldier there like his father. Elizabeth had just married. Her marriage was highly unusual - unheard of in all of New England at the time. [11] On Dec. 6, 1703, just two months before the raid, she had married a Christianized Indian, Andrew Stevens. Sheldon refers to him as "Andrew Stevens, ye Indian" of whom nothing more is known, save that he was killed in the assault on Feb. 29. [12] Although unheard of in this culture, somehow this match was acceptable to the community. Elizabeth and Andrew were married by Pastor Williams and allowed to remain part of the Deerfield Community. [13]

The Raid on Deerfield in 1704 [14]

There had been omens. Two Deerfield men had been captured and marched to Canada in October 1703. Afterwards, the town had been allocated funds to fortify its defenses and to support more soldiers. Other New England towns had been struck in mid-February as well. Yet Deerfield was not prepared for the events to follow. It was in the early morning hours of Feb. 29, 1704, that Deerfield was attacked by about 50 Frenchmen and 200 of their Indian allies. It was an easy mark. The snowdrifts were so high that the French and Indians could climb right up them to mount palisades, and there was no one on watch that night to alert the town. The attack was swift and deadly. Not only was Andrew Stevens killed, but also Elizabeth's mother, Sarah, and her sister, Mary Price Smead, and Mary's two little children, Sarah (age 4) and William (age 2). Mary and her mother-in-law and her children had been smothered by smoke as they hid in the cellar of the Smead house. Elizabeth's father was probably with the other soldiers, and he survived. Otherwise, all Elizabeth had left was her 18-year-old brother, Samuel, who was taken captive with her.

Footnote:

• 6. Descendants of John Bassett. Personal communication from Bill Kreis.
• 7. From a plaque at Deerfield Museum dedicated to the Field/Webb family by Marshall Field.
• 8. New England Historical and Genealogical Registry, 1994, v.3, p. 484.
• 9. From the names of these wars, we can see how years of bloodshed in the New World were extensions of some of the ancient hostilities of European rivals.
• 10. George Sheldon. A History of Deerfield, Massachusetts, 2 vols. (Deerfield, Mass. 1895-96; rep. 1983), p. 208.
• 11. Sheldon, p. 265, "the only case I have seen in Massachusetts of intermarriage between the races."
• 12. Sheldon, p. 292.
• 13. How I would love to learn his story, but no one has ever been able to discover more about him to date.
• 14. The account is taken from John Demos, The Unredeemed Captive. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., NY, 1994.

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"killed in Deerfield, Mass." by French & Indian forces in 1704 Raid on Deerfield

Families of Early Guilford, I:423

See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1704_Raid_on_Deerfield

novel "The Ransom of Mercy Carter"