The book "Follow the River" by James Alexander Thom is a story based on the experiences of Mary Draper Ingles who, in 1755, was captured in Montgomery Co, VA, by the Shawnee Indians, & taken to Ohio. She escaped and walked all the way back home, following the Ohio River, then the New River. Legend is that the 800 mile trek took her 6 weeks during Fall & Winter. This book was made into a movie and airs every now & then on the Hallmark Channel. www.amazon.com has the book & the DVD. Another book about the same story is "Shawnee Captive: The Story of Mary Draper Ingles" by Mary Furbee. I haven't read this one, but did find it on Amazon. The description sounds like it gives more background on Mary & her family before her capture, as well as telling the story of her capture and escape. Mary's capture took place near what is now called the Duck Pond on the Virginia Tech campus, in Blacksburg, VA. This area used to be named Draper's Meadow. (Note that there is some disagreement over the exact location of her capture, though.) The Palisades which Mary climbed are located at Eggleston, VA (Giles Co), off Rt. 460. See websites below for a photo of the Palisades. Here's a site written by a descendant of Mary Draper Ingles. http://www.rootsweb.com/~nwa/draper.html Here are some sites with more of the story.....and some with photos. http://www.blueridgecountry.com/ingles/ingles.html http://www.aceraft.com/mediapg/medapg13.html http://maryinglestrailblazers.homestead.com/ Smithfield Plantation gift shop sells the first version of the story which was written by Mary's son. http://www.smithfieldplantation.org/giftshop.html Here's a site for descendants of Mary Draper Ingles, and a notice for a family reunion. http://genforum.genealogy.com/ingles/ As you can probably tell, I'm fascinated by this story! :-) Sandy in Montgomery Co, VA ----- Original Message ----- From: <chp_hays@yahoo.com> To: <VAMONTGO-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 1:42 PM Subject: [VAMONTGO] Indian captive stories > This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. > > Classification: Query > > Message Board URL: > > http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/yAC.2ACE/954 > > Message Board Post: > > In tracing my various family lines I have come across some "Indian > captive" stories that are very interesting as well as entertaining. I > would like to collect some of these stories. If you have an "Indian > captive" story in your family, please email me, I would love to read about > them. > > Thanks, > > Curtis >

What is Mary Draper Ingles' genealogy? I have Eleazer Cole's copy of the Montgomery Court document that is a bond for him to perform marriages in VA. John Ingles and James Craig signed with Eleazer, who incidentally signed his name Leazer Cole. There is a matching document that is on file in the Montgomery County VA court house. Lee Anne