Gravestone of the Day: Thomas French

Thomas French, 1733, Deerfield, MA

Here lyeth the body

of Deacon Thomas

French who dyed

April ye 5th 1733

Aged 76 Years

Thomas French and his family were captured during the 1704 raid on Deerfield. He survived the ordeal and was ransomed in 1706, but was never able to put his family back together. His wife, Mary Catlin French, and the couple's 1-month-old son, John were killed during the raid. The other French children, Mary (17), Thomas (14), Freedom (11), Martha (8), and Abigail (6), survived the raid and the march to Canada. Mary and Thomas were ransomed along with their father, but the three younger girls never returned to New England. Freedom was given to a French merchant in Montreal and was re-named Marie Francoise. She remained in contact with her sister Martha — the two girls eventually married into the same French Canadian family. Abigail was adopted by a Mohawk family and lived out her life as a Mohawk woman.

Gravestone of the Day: Sarah Childs

Sarah Childs, 1752, Deerfield, MA

Mrs. SARAH

Wife of Deac

SAM'L CHILDS

Died March

21, 1752, In

ye 64 year

of her age.

Sorry about the lack of posting lately. In addition to the imminent start of the semester and my looming dissertation chapter deadline, Pete and I have decided to move to a new house. Also, there's the whole 3-month-old infant thing going on. So, I've been pretty busy. I hope that I'll be able to post some interesting things as I work on my chapter.

Gravestone of the Day: Mehuman Hinsdell

Mehuman Hinsdell, 1736, Deerfield, MA

HERE LYES BURIED THE BODY

OF LIEVT. MEHUMAN HINSDELL

DECd. MAY ye 9th 1736.

IN THE 63d. YEAR OF HIS

AGE WHO WAS THE FIRST

MALE CHILD BORN IN THIS 

PLACE AND WAS TWICE CAPTIVATED

BY THE INDIAN SALVAGES

Math. 5.7. Blessed are the mercifull

for they shall obtain mercy.

In February of 1704, 31-year-old Mehuman Hinsdell (or Hinsdale) lived in Deerfield, MA with his wife, Mary, their 16-month-old son, Samuel, and Mehuman's younger cousin, Josiah Rising. He held a special place in the history of the settlement — as the first white male born in Deerfield, he was a symbol of town's ability to reproduce itself (a fact which would have meant different things to the major players in the region).

Gravestone of the Day

Forty-eight of the fifty-six Deerfield residents who were killed during the raid of 1704 are buried in a common grave behind the Deerfield Academy ice rink.

Gravestone of the Day

MA, 1696, Deerfield, Massachusetts

I've been so busy lately and this blog is suffering. I think that I'll try posting a gravestone of the day without much comment, just so that there is something new here every day.