How did this heroic 18th century New Hampshire Quaker woman survive five months of harrowing captivity among the hostile Wabanaki tribe, eventually to be reunited with her surviving children?
In 1760, the short 40-page book authored by former captive Elizabeth Hanson(1684-1737) would be published posthumously under the title "An Account of the Captivity of Elizabeth Hanson."
Elizabeth Hanson (September 17, 1684-c1737) was a colonial Anglo-American woman from Dover, New Hampshire, who survived Native American Abenaki capture and captivity in the year 1725 alongside four of her children. Five months after capture, a French family ransomed Elizabeth and her two children in Canada. Her husband was then able to secure them and find another daughter before having to return home, leaving the eldest daughter, Sarah, behind. Elizabeth's captivity narrative became popular because of its detailed insights into Native American captivity, which was a threat to the people in New England due to the almost constant wars with the Native Americans and French in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Her religious take on her experiences was heavily emphasized in her story.
Because Elizabeth and her family were Quakers, they refused to take refuge in the garrison when the Abenaki first attacked their area during Dummer's War. Elizabeth and four of her children, Sarah, Elizabeth Jr, Daniel, and her two week old daughter, were taken from her home in Dover, New Hampshire on August 27, 1724. They were held captive by Native Americans until early 1725. Two of her six children were killed during the capture. The first was killed to intimidate them and the other because he wouldn't be quiet and the Indians were afraid they would be discovered.
Their journey from New Hampshire to Canada was difficult especially because Elizabeth had given birth two weeks before hand. The lack of nourishment and clothing resulted in inadequate milk production and therefore had a hard time feeding her baby. The youngest barely made it to the camps where the Native American women showed Hanson how to make a nut and corn infant formula milk that saved the baby's life. Journalist Avery Yale Kamila wrote that Hanson's account pre-dates the development of packaged infant formula and does show the Wabanaki tribes "had been nourishing their infants with a plant-based food for hundreds, if not thousands, of years."
The second eldest, Sarah Hanson, was separated from her mother and taken to a different group. Her third daughter, Elizabeth, and her female servant were taken shortly after, which left Elizabeth with her son Daniel and new born baby daughter.
Her captivity narrative:
