Alexander Emerson
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: in England
Christening:
Death: Abt 19 Dec 1605 - Searbye, Lincolnshire, England 1
Burial:
Spouses and Children
1. *Jenytt Hornsey
Marriage:
Children:
1. Thomas Emerson 1
Notes
General:
Will dated April 10, 1604 1
Gartrett Emerson
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth: 1629 - England
Christening:
Death: 1702
Burial:
Spouses and Children
1. *Francis Davis
Marriage: 1649 - Amesbury, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts
Children:
1. Francis Davis II
2. Gartrett Davis
3. Gideon Davis
4. Anna Davis
Hannah Webster Emerson
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth: 23 Dec 1657 - Haverhill, Massachusetts 1 2
Christening:
Death: 1736 1
Burial:
Parents
Father: Michael Emerson
Mother: Hannah Webster
Spouses and Children
1. *Thomas Dustin 1 2
Marriage: 3 Dec 1677
Children:
1. Hannah Dustin 3
2. Elizabeth Dustin 3
3. Mary Dustin 3
4. Thomas Dustin 3
5. Nathaniel Dustin 1 3
6. John Dustin 3
7. Sarah Dustin 3
8. Abigail Dustin 3
9. Jonathan Dustin 3
10. Mehetable Dustin 3
11. Timothy Dustin 3
12. Martha Dustin 3
Notes
General:
"Legends of New England" by John Greenleaf Whittier copy right 1831
(The poet's first book, John Greenleaf Whittier (pictured above) grew up in Haverhill Massachusetts. where Hannah Emerson Duston/ Dustin lived many years earlier.)
THE MOTHER'S REVENGE"..... Woman's attributes are generally considered of a milder and purer character than those of man. The virtues of meek affection, of fervent piety, of winning sympathy and of that " charity which forgiveth often", are more peculiarly her own. Her sphere of action is generally limited to the endearments of the home- the quiet communion with her friends, and the angelic exercise of the kindly charities of existence. Yet there have been astonishing manifestations of female fortitude and power in the ruder and sterner trials of humanity; Manifestations of a courage rising almost to sublimity; the revelation of all those dark and terrible passions, which madden and distract the heart of manhood. The perils that surrounded the earliest settlers of New England were of the most terrible character. None but such a people as were our forefathers could have successfully sustained them. In the dangers and the hardihood of that perilous period, woman herself shared largely. It was not unfrequently her task to garrison the dwelling of her absent husband, and hold at bay the fierce savages in their hunt for blood. Many have left behind them a record of their sufferings and trials in the great wilderness, when in the bondage of the heathen, which are full of wonderful and romantic incidents, related however without ostentation, plainly and simply , as if the authors felt assured that they had only performed the task which Providence had set before them, and for which they could ask no tribute or admiration. In 1698 the Indians made an attack upon the English settlement at Haverhill (Mass.)- now a beautiful village on the left bank of the Merrimack. They surrounded the house of one Duston, which was a little removed from the main body of the settlement. The wife of Duston was at that time in bed with an infant child in her arms. Seven young children were around her. On the first alarm Duston (Thomas) bade his children fly towards the garrison house, and then turned to save his wife and infant. By the time the savages were presenting close upon them. The heroic women saw the utter impossibility of her escape- and she bade her husband fly to succor his children and leave her to her fate. It was a moment of terrible trial for the husband- he hesitated between his affection and his duty- but the entreaties of his wife fixed his determination. He turned away and followed his children. A part of the Indians pursued him, but he held them at a distance by the frequent discharge of his rifle. The children fled towards the garrison ,where their friends waited, with breathless anxiety, to receive them. More than once, during their flight , the savages gained upon them ; but a shot from the rifle of Duston, followed, as it was , by the fall of one of their number , effectually checked their progress. The garrison was reached, and Duston and his children, exhausted from fatigue and terror, were literally dragged into its enclosure by their anxious neighbors. Mrs. Duston , her servant girl ( Mary Neff her mid wive) and her infant were made prisoners by the Indians, and were compelled to proceed before them in their retreat towards their lurking place . The charge of her infant necessarily impeded her progress; and the savages brook delay when they knew the avenger of blood was following closely behind them. Finding that the wretched mother was unable to keep pace with her captors, the leader of the band approached her ,and wrested the infant from her arms. the savage held it before him for a moment, contemplating, with a smile of grim fierceness the terrors of its mother , and then dashed it from him with all of his powerful strength. Its head smote heavily on the trunk of an adjacent tree, and the dried leaves around were sprinkled with brains and blood. " Go on !" said the Indian. The wretched mother cast one look upon her dead infant, and another to Heaven, as she obeyed her savage conductor. She has often said , that at this moment , all was darkness and horror- that her very heart seemed to cease beating, and to lie cold and dead in her bosom, and that her limbs moved as only involuntary machinery. But when she gazed around her and saw the unfeeling savages ,grinning at her and mocking her and pointing to the mangled body of her infant with fiendish exultation, a new and terrible feeling came over her . It was the thirst of revenge; and from that moment her purpose was fixed. There was the thought of death at her heart-an insantiate longing for blood. An instantaneous change had been wrought in her very nature ; the angel had become a demon,-and she followed her captors with a stearn determination to embrace the earliest opportunity for blood retribution. The Indians followed the course of the Merrimack, until they had reached their canoes, a distance of seventy or eighty miles. They paddled to a small island ( now known as Duston Island, N.H.), a little above the upper falls of the river. Here they kindled a fire; and fatigued by their long marches and sleepless nights, stretched themselves around it, without dreaming of the escape of their captives. Their sleep was deep- deeper than any which the white man knows,- a sleep from which they were never to awaken. The two captives lay silent, until the hour of midnight; but the bereaved mother did not close her eyes. There was a gnawing of revenge at her heart, which precluded slumber. There was a spirit within her which defied the weakness of the body. She rose up and walked around the sleepers, in order to test the soundness of their slumber. They stirred not a limb or muscle. Placing a hatchet in the hands of her fellow captive, and bidding her stand ready to assist her, she grasped another in her own hands, and smote its ragged edge deeply into the skull of the nearest sleeper. A slight shudder and a feeble groan followed. The savage was dead. She passed on to the next. Blow followed blow, until ten out of twelve, the whole number of the savages, were stiffening in blood. One escaped with a dreadful wound. The last- a small boy-still slept amidst the scene of carnage. Mrs. Duston lifted her dripping hatchet above his head, but hesitated to strike the blow. "It is a poor," she said, mentally, "a poor child, and perhaps he has a mother!" The thought of her own children rushed upon her mind, and she spared him. She was in the act of leaving the bloody spot, when, suddenly reflecting that the people of her settlement would not credit her story, unsupported by any proof save her own assertion, she returned and deliberately scalped her ten victims. With this fearful evidence of her prowess, she loosed one of the Indian canoes, and floated down the river to the falls, from which place she traveled through the wilderness to the residence of her husband. Such is the simple and unvarnished story of a New England woman. The curious historian, who may hereafter search among the dim records of our "twilight time"- who may gather from the uncertain responses of tradition, the wonderful history of the past-will find much, of the similar character, to call forth by turns, admiration and horror. And the time is coming, when all these traditions shall be treasured up as a sacred legacy- when the tale of the Indian inroad and the perils of the hunter--of the sublime courage and the dark superstitions of our ancestors, will be listened to with an interest unknown to the present generation,- and those who are to fill our places will pause hereafter by the Indian's burial place, and on the site of the old battle-field, or the thrown-down garrison, with a feeling of awe and reverence, as if communing, face to face, with the spirits of that stern race, which has passed away forever. END
More notes on Hannah Emerson Dustin\\Duston,
"On May 17, 1724, Hannah expressed her desire to be admitted to the church. While that of Thomas contains nothing unusual, we quote her as follows:"
" I desire to be thankful that I was born in the land of Light I was Baptized when I was young; and had a good education by my Father, Tho I took but little notice of it in the time of it:- I am Thankful for my Captivity, twas the Comfortablest time that I ever had; In my Affliction God made his Word Comfortable to me. I remembered 43d ps. ult- and those words came to my mind- ps. 118.17.....I have had a great Desire to come to the Ordinance of the Lords Supper a Great while but fearing I should give offence & fearing my own un worthiness has kept me back; reading a Book concerning +s Suffering Did much to awaken me. In the 55th of Isa. beg. we are all invited to come;- Hearing Mr. Moody preach out of ye 3d of Mal. 3 last verses it put me upon Consideration. Ye 11th of Matthew has been encouraging to me- I have been resolving to offer my Self from time to time ever since the Settlement of present Ministry: I was awakened by the first Sacram'I Sermon (Luke 14.17) But delays and fears preveiled upon me:- But I desire to Delay no longer, being Sensible it is My Duty-.I desire the Church to receive me tho' it be at the Eleventh hour: & pray for me - that I may hon'r God and obtain the Salvation of the soul. Hannah Duston wife of Thomas AEtat 67"
The letter above was found in the Church, in the early 1920's.
Found on the Internet - http://www.hannahdustin.com/hannah_files.html
Michael Emerson
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 19 Apr 1627 - Cadney Parish, Lincolnshire, England
Christening:
Death: 1715 - Massachusetts (probably)
Burial:
Parents
Father: Thomas Emerson 1
Mother: Margaret Froe 1
Spouses and Children
1. *Hannah Webster
Marriage: 1 Apr 1657 - Haverhill, Massachusetts
Children:
1. Hannah Webster Emerson 1 2
Stephen Emerson
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth:
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Spouses and Children
1. *Elizabeth Dustin 3
Marriage:
Thomas Emerson
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: Abt 1587 - England (probably) 1
Christening:
Death: 25 Dec 1657 - Cadney Parish, Lincolnshire, England 1
Burial:
Parents
Father: Alexander Emerson 1
Mother: Jenytt Hornsey
Spouses and Children
1. *Margaret Froe 1
Marriage: 10 Aug 1612 1
Children:
1. Michael Emerson
Notes
General:
"Yoeman" 1