John A. Williams (7) (1664–1729)

John Williams, well known gentleman, was a New England Puritan minister of the same generation as Cotton Mather (Salem Witch Trials). In 1704, in the frontier town of Deerfield, Williams and family (and 60+ others) were taken captive by Mohawk Indians and pressed into a forced march through the wilderness ultimately to Quebec. Stragglers were killed on the spot, usually with a quick chop to the head. His account is as brutal as it is proper in that 18th century way. The book was very popular show more in its day going through many editions and later was an inspiration for Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. The edition I read is from 1908, available on Internet Archive. It contains a fascinating Appendix giving a detailed chronology of all the deaths that occurred in and around Deerfield over the years, each one a miniature story of conflict small and large in an alien yet familiar world. show less

I've read and reread this book many times. Combined with Demos' The Unredeemed Captive, it helps paint a picture of seventeenth century America, when western Massachusetts was the frontier. John Williams is buried in Deerfield.

Fair for its age, "S & E Kingsbury Book June 1819" "LM Boltwood"