I freely admit to being a member of the Baby Boom generation (aka a Boomer), my childhood was in the 1950s and 1960s with the bulk of my education being in the 1960s. I thought I was awake during my American History courses. I remember studying about the French and Indian War, but I really missed a lot (or a lot was not covered).
In my research into my various lineages, I had determined Godfrey Nims and Mary Miller were my 8th Great-Grandparents through their daughter Thankful Nims who married Benjamin Munn — it seems my breakthrough grandmothers are all named Thankful. Well, I decided to delve deeper into grandfather, Godfrey Nims and found a book titled “The Story of Godfrey Nims” as read to the Nims Family Association at Deerfield, Massachusetts on August 13, 1914, by Francis Nims Thompson. I started reading it just to see what storied I might encounter to spice up my colonial ancestors with more than birth, marriage, death information. I figured I would start at my nearest direct line relative and work back up to Godfrey. I found a reference to grandmother, Thankful Nims Munn, which started out that “at the age of 19 she had married Benjamin Munn at age 20, and bore him eleven children, most of whom were given the names of Godfrey’s children. Then the ah-ha moment in the next sentence: ” the young couple’s humble and snow-covered home preserved them from death or capture in 1704, when all at the Nims home, except her father, were taken.” What?
Going back in the volume, I found that the entire Nims household, except Godfrey, was either taken captive or slain in a combined raid on Deerfield by the French and Indian forces from New France. This raid occurred on 29 February 1704.
Around this time, the New England Genealogical and Historic Society offered a lecture by James L Swanson about his new book, The Deerfield Masacre. I signed up for the lecture and a copy of the book. Well, it was eye-opening. I really never knew the colonial farmers were in such danger from the French and native tribes of New France.
On page 61 of The Deerfield Masacre, “Godfrey Nims lost not only his burned house, barn, and all his possessions, but four of his children had been killed and his wife and three other children taken captive.” On page 64, “Most horrifying was the fate of the children. The Nims family suffered terribly; twins Mary and Mercy, age five, and sister Mehitable, age seven, were recorded in a tally of the dead as ‘burned in the cellar'”.
Some of the captors died in route from Deerfield to Quebec in New France. Remember,it was early March and it was about 300 miles that needed to be covered over snow and ice. The captors were divided up between the native tribal members and the French. Some escaped and came back to New England, others chose to remain in New France. [My 7th great-grand uncle, John Nims, was one of those that escaped. His sister, Abigail Nims, chose to stay]
I was able to obtain a copy of Barbars R Austen’s thesis titled Captured … Never Came Back: Social Networks Amoung Female New England Captives, 1689-1763. In her paper which covers New England citizens captured during King William’s War (1688-1697), Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713), and “Dummer’s War” (1722-1725), she not only covers the 1704 raid on Deerfield, but many other raids / captures as well.
The text, page 24, calls out my 7th great-grand aunt, Abigail Nims who married within her captor’s tribe and remained in New France, only returning to New England to visit twice.
The thesis puts forth the concept that the female captors, more than the males, found the society in New France, whether French of Native, a much more welcoming and free society than the one they left in New England. This was especially true of the younger girls who were taken to New France. They soon forgot their original homes and within a few years could no longer speak or understand English. A great number were enrolled in convent schools and then married or joined the religious order.
I think they left out the part about the taking of hostages when I was in school back in the 1960s. The hostages were used as:
1 Sources of income in the way of ransom paid to their captures
2 Replacement members of the tribe for those lost in various battles
3 Coverts to the Roman Catholic Church from the Protestant Faith
4 Wives for the heavily male population of New France.
I never really appreciated all that my ancestors went through 300 years ago which led to my being.
A Tree Grew in Oakland 