A kind friend passed the following information on to me regarding the events of 27 July, 1694 at Groton, MA: . The second attack on Groton came in the summer of l694 and the accounts of it I prefer to give in the words of contemporary writers. Sometimes there are discrepancies, but in the main, such narratives are trustworthy. The attack was made on Friday, July 27th and Cotton Mather in his "Magnalia" thus refers to it: "Nor did the Storm go over so: Some drop of it fell upon the Town of Groton, a town that lay, one would think, far enough off the place that was the last Scene of the Tragedy. On July 27, l694 about break of day Groton felt some surprising blows from the Indian hatchets. They began their attacks at the House of one Lieutenant Lakin in the out- skirts of the town; but not with a repulse there, and lost one of their crew. Nevertheless, in other parts of that plantation (when the good people had been so tired out as to lay down their military watch there were more than twenty persons killed and more than a dozen carried away. Mr. Gersom Hobart, the minister of the place with part of his family, was remarkably preserved from falling into their hands, when they made themselves the masters of his house; though they took two of his children, wherof the one was killed and the other some time after happily rescued out of his captivity." Governor Hutchinson in his "History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay," published during the following century wrote: "Having crossed Merrimack on the 27th of July l694 they fell upon Groton about 40 miles from Boston. They were repulsed at Lakin's garrison house, but fell upon other houses where the people were off their guard, and killed and carried away from the vicinity about forty persons. Toxus's two nephews were killed by his side, and he had a dozen bullets through his blanket according to Charlevoix who adds that he carried the fort or garrison and then went to make spoil at the gates of Boston; in both whichfacts the French account is erroneous." In the assault of July l694 the loss on the part of the inhabitants was con- siderably greater than when the town was destroyed in the attack of l676. It is said that the scalps of the unfortunate victims were given to the Count de Frontenac, Governor of Canada. A large majority and perhaps all of the prisoners taken at this time were children. The Indians had learned that captives had a market value; and children, when carried off could be more easily guarded than adults. It was more profitable for the savages to exchange prisoners for a ransom or sell them to the French than it was to kill them. It is now too late to give the names of al the sufferers, but a few facts in regard to them may be gathered from frag- mentary sources. The families that suffered the severest, lived for the most part in the same general neighborhood which was near the site of the first meeting house. Lieut. William Lakin's house, where the fight began, was situated in the vicinity of Chicopee Row. The following list of casualties, necessarily incomplete and in part conjectural is given as an approximation to the loss sustained by the town: John Longley's Family..........killed - 7 captured - 3 Rev. Mr. Hobart's.................. killed - l captured - l John Shepley's........................killed - 4 captured - l James Parker Jr.'s....................killed - 2 captured - 3 Alexander Rouse's................. killed - 2 captured - l Mr. Gershom Hobart, the minister whose house was captured in this assault lived where the Baptist meeting house now stands (in l894) One of his boys was killed and another, Gershom Hobart Jr. was carried off. There is a tradition extant that a 3rd child was concealed under a tub in the cellar and thus saved from the fury of the savages. Judge Sewall writes in his diary under the date of May l, l695: "Mr. Hobarts son Gershomis well at a new fort a days journey above Nerigaway (Norridgewock). Masters name is Nassacombewit, a good master and mistress. Master is chief captain, now Bambazeen is absent." -"Massachusetts Historical Collections" V. Fifth Series, 403, 404. According to a letter written by Rev. John Cotton to his wife at Plymouth and dated "Election Night, Boston May 29, l695 - he was rescued from captivity that month." The inscription on the Shepley monument says that "the Indians massacred all the Sheples in Groton save a John Sheple l6 years old who they carried captive to Canada and kept him 4 years, after which he returned to Groton and from him descended all the Sheples or Shepleys in this vicinity." But there is no record toshow how many there were in his family. Mr. Butler in his History (p.97) makes substant- ially the same statement. Shepley lived near where the Martin's Pond Road starts off from the North Common. The knowledge which the boy John obtained of their language and customs, while a prisoner among the Indians was of muchuse to him in after life. Traditionsays that when buying furs and skins of them, he used to put his foot in one scale of the balance instead of a pound weight. In the summer of l704 while he and thirteen other men were reaping in a field at Groton, they were attacked by a part of about twenty Indians. After much skirmishing, Shepley and one of his comrades - Butterfield by name, succeeded inkilling one of the assailants for which act they were each granted four pounds by the Prov- incial authorities. He was the direct ancestor of the late Honorable Ether Shepley of Portland, formerly chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of the State of Maine and his son, the late Gen. George Foster Shepley formerly a justice of the Circuit Court of the lst Circuit of the U.S. John's petition to the General Court asking that an allowance be made for this service and giving the particulars of the attack is found among the Massachusetts Archives (XXX, 496, 497) at the State House. End Part 5 Source: "An Historical Sketch of Groton, Massachusetts l655 - l890 by Dr. Samuel A. Green pub. Groton, l894 - Selected Excerpts on Indians Does any one have information relating to the rescue of any of these captives? ----- Original Message ----- From: Peter Vanderbrouk <rpckvv@swbell.net> To: <CT-RIVER-VALLEY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, August 11, 2000 7:11 PM Subject: [CRV] Parker Captives/Groton, MA > Can anyone elighten me regarding Sgt. James Parker and his children? This > event occurred in the early 1690's, I believe. Thanks. > > 3. James (Sgt.), b. 4/15/1652 at Billerica (Woburn), Middlesex County, MA, > m. Mary Parker (his first cousin, b. 11/20/1655 at Chelmsford, Middlesex > County, MA), daughter of Abraham and Rose (Whitlock) Parker, 12/11/1678 at > Groton, MA, d. 7/27/1694 at Groton, MA. Both James and Mary were slain by > Indians at Groton and several of their children were carried away as > captives > > > > ==== CT-RIVER-VALLEY Mailing List ==== > Any misbehaving on this list will be warned --ONCE--no second chances.. > THIS WARNING ONLY APPEARS ONCE > Listowner: NewEnglander1621@msn.com > > ============================== > Genealogy calendars, guestbooks and more: > Visit RootsWeb's Resource Center at > http://resources.rootsweb.com/ >