.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
DEERFIELD MASSACRE – CHAPIN, Josiah. Autograph letter signed, to his brother Jaspeth Chapin in Springfield, Mendon, 8 April 1704.
Details
DEERFIELD MASSACRE – CHAPIN, Josiah. Autograph letter signed, to his brother Jaspeth Chapin in Springfield, Mendon, 8 April 1704.
One page (300 x 195mm), bifolium. Addressed on last panel (pinholes at fold intersections infilled). Matted and framed.
An extraordinary and rare letter concerning the most dramatic episode of Queen Anne’s War: the 1704 French and Native American raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts. Josiah Chapin writes to his brother in Springfield, expressing his horror over the abduction of his cousin Hannah Chapin Sheldon.
A moving letter from Josiah Chapin to his brother Jaspeth, offering his moral support after receiving news that his niece, Hannah Chapin Sheldon, had been abducted in the 1704 raid on Deerfield: “I can not with my pen express the consernednes of sperit that is in mee for you and my deare cosen that is led captive by the bare backed heathen. god is by such dispensations tyring the faith and patience of his children, it is therefore my dayly Request that god will support her in body and sperit & her bodely captivity may prove to her Speuetral englargment, and that god will please to giv yow comfort in hope knowing that god is able to find out a way for her to escape...” But Chapin did not blame the French, nor their native allies for the raid and abductions: “we are redy to complaine of our french and indian enemies, but they are not the cause... So ma[ny] new england[ers] say that our sins have brought the Sword of the wildernes upon us, I do therefore believe there must be a general Reformation before the rod of god will be taken off from us...”
A rare contemporary letter from the infamous raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts on 29 February 1704, led by the French and their Native American allies. According to family tradition, during the raid, Hannah Chapin Sheldon (1680-1765) and her husband, John Sheldon, attempted escape by jumping from the second story window, but upon landing Hannah sprained her ankle. She urged her husband to leave her behind so he could run to neighboring Hatfield and sound the alarm. The French and native raiders captured Hannah, and she and 111 other captives were forcibly marched to Montreal. Ninety-six survived the journey to Canada. Hannah, like most of the captives, was settled in one of the native villages surrounding Montreal for nearly two years. She was ransomed in 1706 and returned to Massachusetts soon afterwards. See: The Chapin Book of Genealogical Data, 1924, p.12.
One page (300 x 195mm), bifolium. Addressed on last panel (pinholes at fold intersections infilled). Matted and framed.
An extraordinary and rare letter concerning the most dramatic episode of Queen Anne’s War: the 1704 French and Native American raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts. Josiah Chapin writes to his brother in Springfield, expressing his horror over the abduction of his cousin Hannah Chapin Sheldon.
A moving letter from Josiah Chapin to his brother Jaspeth, offering his moral support after receiving news that his niece, Hannah Chapin Sheldon, had been abducted in the 1704 raid on Deerfield: “I can not with my pen express the consernednes of sperit that is in mee for you and my deare cosen that is led captive by the bare backed heathen. god is by such dispensations tyring the faith and patience of his children, it is therefore my dayly Request that god will support her in body and sperit & her bodely captivity may prove to her Speuetral englargment, and that god will please to giv yow comfort in hope knowing that god is able to find out a way for her to escape...” But Chapin did not blame the French, nor their native allies for the raid and abductions: “we are redy to complaine of our french and indian enemies, but they are not the cause... So ma[ny] new england[ers] say that our sins have brought the Sword of the wildernes upon us, I do therefore believe there must be a general Reformation before the rod of god will be taken off from us...”
A rare contemporary letter from the infamous raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts on 29 February 1704, led by the French and their Native American allies. According to family tradition, during the raid, Hannah Chapin Sheldon (1680-1765) and her husband, John Sheldon, attempted escape by jumping from the second story window, but upon landing Hannah sprained her ankle. She urged her husband to leave her behind so he could run to neighboring Hatfield and sound the alarm. The French and native raiders captured Hannah, and she and 111 other captives were forcibly marched to Montreal. Ninety-six survived the journey to Canada. Hannah, like most of the captives, was settled in one of the native villages surrounding Montreal for nearly two years. She was ransomed in 1706 and returned to Massachusetts soon afterwards. See: The Chapin Book of Genealogical Data, 1924, p.12.