THE TARBELL FAMILY AND THE INDIAN WARS PT3

The story of the capture of the Tarbell children and their susequent fate was written about in books and magazine articles right up into the early 20th century.  Samuel Abbott Green wrote quite a bit about them in his book Groton in the Indian Wars, starting with this:

In a list of prisoners held by the French and Indians in Canada, March 5, 1710-11, are the names of "Zech: Tarbal, John Tarbal, Sarah Tarbal, Matt. Farnsworth [and] Lydia Longley" (Archives, LXXI. 765), all of Groton, though no date of capture is given. Lydia Longley was taken by the Indians on July 27, 1694, and the particulars of her case have already been told. The Tarbell children were carried off on June 20, 1707; but it is unknown when Matthias Farnsworth was captured, and this entry appears to be the only record of the fact. Sarah, John, and Zechariah were children of Thomas and Elizabeth (Wood) Tarbell, who, with a large family, lived on Farmers' Row, near where James Lawrence's house now stands. Sarah was a girl nearly fourteen years of age, John a lad of twelve years, and Zechariah only seven, at the time when they were taken. They were near kindred of the Longley family, who had been massacred thirteen years before. The father was unquestionably the Corporal Tarbell who commanded, in the autumn of 1711, one of the eighteen garrisons in the town.

The story of their capture and captivity is a singular one, and sounds like a romance. They were picking cherries early one evening, — so tradition relates, — and were taken before they had time to get down from the tree. It should be borne in mind that the date of capture, according to the new style of reckoning, was July I, when cherries would be ripe enough to tempt the appetite of climbing youngsters. These children were carried to Canada, where, it would seem, they were treated kindly, as no inducement afterward was strong enough to make them return permanently to their old home. The girl, Sarah, was sold to the French, and placed in a convent at Lachine, near Montreal; but what became of her subsequently I am unable to say.

Thomas Tarbell, the father of these children, made his will September 26, 1715, which was admitted to probate six weeks later, and is now on file at the Middlesex Probate Office in East Cambridge. After making certain bequests to different members of his family, he says: —

all the rest & residue of my Reall Estate I give to be Equally divided between my three children, John, Zachary, & Sarah Tarbell, upon their return from Captivity, or In Proportion unto any of them that shall return, & the rest, or the parts belonging to them that do not return, shall be Equally divided among the rest of my children.

pp109-110

 Groton During the Indian Wars  : J. Wilson and Sons, Cambridge , Ma. 1883

Even after eleven years since their capture, my 8x great grandfather held out hope for their eventual return


His sons would come back to Groton after his death, but not as he had hoped they would.


To be continued.

THE DEATH OF JOHN NUTTING 13MAR 1676

337 years ago today, my 10x great grandfather John Nutting died. according
to family tradition and some historians. The reason there is no record is that
John was killed during an Indian attack on Groton, Massachusetts during the
conflict known as the King Philip's War.  John Keep Nutting, another  of John's
descendants, a century ago wrote about the incident

"Trouble actually began March 2, 1676. That night, Indians came and rifled
some of the deserted houses, carried off cattle and swine, and pretty thoroughly
waked up the town.

March 9, four men, who had gone out with two carts to bring hay, were attacked.
One was killed, two reached shelter, and one was made prisoner. He however
escaped, and reached Lancaster, up the River south ward.

March 13, a body of about 400 Indians stealthily came to the place. They were
under the command of a chief named Monoco, or Monojo, the latter indicating
that he had been among the Spaniards. He could speak English brokenly, and
was well acquainted with Captain James Parker, and probably with all the men
of Groton. The settlers translated his name, calling him One-eyed John, indicating
that he had lost an eye. This chief knew his business. Scouts from town had been
out in all directions the day before, and reported no Indians. Either the attacking
body had been hidden, or had come from a distance later.

Early in the morning, the watch at Nutting's garrison reported two Indians skulking
about,—no doubt "vpon discouery", or scouting. As there were supposed to be
no other Indians in the neighborhood, it seemed to all a desirable thing to capture
or kill these rascals. It would be easy, it seemed, if a sufficient force went out, to
surround them. Accordingly the whole fighting force of that garrison, and some
from Parker's (which was within speaking distance) sallied forth, led as we
suppose by our Founder himself.

Monojo had planned wisely. The two supposed scouts led the whites on and on,
till they were in the midst of the ambuscade prepared for them, which rose up
and poured in a volley. Thanks probably to the worthless guns furnished to the
Indians by traders, or to the equally worthless ammunition-—perhaps also to
poor markmanship—only two shots took effect. One man was killed outright,
and another was wounded. A panic ensued, and the men, apparently thinking
nothing of the defenceless women and children at the Nutting garrison, fled to
Parker's en masse. Meanwhile the other part of Monojo's plan had also succeeded,
a second ambush having risen up behind Nutting's, pulled down some of the
palisades, and effected an entrance.

However, the women and children all escaped to Parker's. The enemy found only
an infant, already dead. Whose, it is not recorded. There were five families in
refuge there.

Monojo lost no time in occupying the garrison thus captured, from which he kept
up such fire as he could upon the other houses. Night put an end to active hostilities,
but Monojo called up Captain Parker, reminding him that they were old neighbors,
and held quite a conversation with him. He discussed the cause of the war, and
spoke of making peace. He naturally ridiculed the white man's worship of God in
the Meetinghouse, seeing that God had not helped them. He boasted that he had
burnt Medfield and Lancaster, would now burn Groton, then "Chelmsford, Concord,
Watertown, Cambridge, Charlestown, Roxburv, and Boston", adding, "What me
WILL that me DO!" The chronicler, however, is pleased to add to his account that
not many months later this boaster was seen marching through the Boston streets
which he had threatened to burn "with an halter about his neck, wherewith he was
hanged at the town's end"', in September of the same year.

The Indians cut off the head of him who had beep killed by their first fire, and "did
set it vpon a pole, looking unto his own lande". " -pp54-56

Nutting genealogy: A record of some of the descendants of John Nutting, 
of Groton, Mass (Google eBook) by John Keep Nutting,  (C. W. Bardeen,
Syracuse, N.Y. 1908)

A few pages later he gives the reasoning for March 13th being the date of
John Nutting's death:

"Monojo was undoubtedly acquainted with John Nutting, and knew well where
"his own lande lay"—namely, at his garrison, a few rods to the north of where he
fell. It seems to me likely also, that the particular direction toward which the gory
trophy was made to "look". would hardly have been noticed,had not the chief called 
attention to it by way of boasting, in his talk with Captain Parker.

The Town and Church Records, of course were in abbeyance for some time following
the catastrophe, so that the absence of any entry concerning the death of John Nutting
is not to be wondered at. (The Church Record is hopelessly lost.) But it is significant
that his name never appears after, in any connection. The names of his sons, John,
James, and (once or twice) Ebenezer, naturally take the place of his. Sarah, his widow,
is found some time later at Woburn, living, it is supposed with her married sister—
Blodgett." -pp57-58

Nutting genealogy: A record of some of the descendants of John Nutting, of Groton,
Mass (Google eBook) by John Keep Nutting,  (C. W. Bardeen, Syracuse, N.Y. 1908)

So once again, thanks to Google books I've found a story about one of my ancestors!

THE AMES MURDER PT2

((Originally published in March 2007))


Jonathan Ames Jr. married Ruth Perley on Dec 19th, 1768 and
took his new bride home to live in his parents house which might
very well have been the same one built by Robert (E)Ames. The
story goes that, as often happens with newlyweds, the bride and
mother in law didn't seem to get along very well. The couple’s
first child was born in May in 1769 and there was no sign of
anything out of the ordinary until the morning of June 5th when
a neighbor, Mrs. Kimball, came to call on the young wife and was
informed by the elder Mrs. Ames that Ruth was ill.



Despite Mrs. Ames’ objections Mrs. Kimball insisted on seeing
Ruth and found the younger woman in agony and frothing at the
mouth. The illness has begun at 7 am in the morning and within
four or five hours Ruth Perley Ames was dead. The funeral and
burial was swift and the townsfolk of Boxford became highly
suspicious of the cause of the young bride’s death. They petitioned
for a coroner’s inquest and on July 10th the proceedings began
looking into whether Ruth had been poisoned.


It’s not my intention to recount the whole story. It can be read
here in the article from the Essex Antiquarian. But I did want to
point out some interesting aspects of the case. It’s probably the
last recorded instance of the medieval custom of “ordeal by
touch” in New England if not in America as a whole. Briefly, the
accused was made to touch the corpse’s neck with the index finger
of his left hand. If the touch caused the body to bleed at the point
of contact then the accused was guilty. There had been insufficient
evidence presented so far and apparently the townsfolk or one of
the jury proposed that Jonathan Ames and his mother be put to
the test with the exhumed body of Ruth Perley Ames.


Both Jonathan and his mother refused to take part in the ordeal
and so were taken off to jail in nearby Salem where a grand jury
indicted Mrs. Ames for murder and Jonathan as her accessory.
On November 9th Jonathan’s sister Elizabeth was also arrested
as an accessory and the trial began in Superior Court on November
14th.


The account of the trial reads almost like an episode of Law &
Order. The Crown was represented by Jonathan Sewall. The
accused was represented by Sewall’s old friend and fellow law
student, John Adams. By this time Jonathan had turned King's
Evidence against his mother and accused her of killing Ruth by
poisoning her with “rats bane”. There were four judges who
heard the case, three of whom seemed to feel the evidence was
sufficient for a guilty verdict. The fourth judge was unconvinced
due to the uncertainty of physicians as to whether it had indeed
been “rat’s bane“ (or arsenic as we now call it ) that had killed
the victim and also because it was not certain who administered
the poison in the first place.


The trial lasted late into the night and the jury got the case at 2am
on November 15th. At 9am, they came back with a verdict: Not
guilty. The Ames family was freed but would soon after leave town.


So, what relation is Jonathan Ames to me? What of the identity of
his mother, known only in the Antiquarian account as “Elizabeth
Ames”? Where did they all go to when they left Boxford in
shame? And what of Mrs. Kimball?

THE AMES MURDER PT1

((I originally posted this series back in March 2007. Since
there was an echo of  the witchcraft hysteria in it, I thought
I'd revisit it for Halloween)) 

I was surfing through the US GenWeb’s Essex County site
the other night and came across a reference to a murder
in Boxford Ma. It happened in 1769 and involved a Jonathan
Ames who was accused of murdering his wife Ruth(Perley)
and involved testimony by a neighbor, a Mrs. Kimball.



This got my attention quickly. My 3x great grandmother was
Arvilla Ames and she was a descendant of Priscilla Kimball.
The Ames or Eames line is one of my favorites because the
family has been part of interesting events in New England
Colonial history. Robert (E)Ames, whose ancestry is unknown,
married Rebecca Blake who was one of those convicted of
witchcraft in the Salem witch hysteria. She later was given a
reprieve and the couple lived out their lives in the town of
Boxford.


Their son John married Priscilla Kimball, the daughter of
Thomas Kimball and Mary Smith The Kimball family was
living in Rowley Ma. when they were attacked by Indians on
May 2nd ,1676. Thomas was killed and Mary and their five
children, including Priscilla, were taken captive for forty-one
days before the chief of the Pennacook tribe persuaded the
raiding Indians to release their captives.


Priscilla grew to adulthood and married John Ames. They
hada farm in Boxford but they sold it in March of 1715 or 1716
and moved to Groton, Ma. John was standing one day at the
front door of what is referred to as “his garrison” (Was this
simply a fortified farmhouse or a trading post sort of building?)
when he was shot by an Indian on July 9th, 1724. He is said to
have been the last man slain by an Indian in Groton although
there appears to be some debate over that.


The Indian who was presumed to be the murderer was killed
in turn by Jacob Ames, John and Priscilla’s second oldest son.

So as you see, the Ames and Kimballs had gone through some
trying times already. When I ran across the reference of an
article in the Essex Antiquarian on a murder involving Jonathan
Ames and someone named Kimball, I had to look into it to see
how it related to my family genealogy.


Which I’ll go into next time!

BEDTIME GENEALOGY 4: THE AMES MURDER

I was surfing through the US GenWeb’s Essex County site
the other night and came across a reference to a murder
in Boxford Ma. It happened in 1769 and involved a Jonathan
Ames who was accused of murdering his wife Ruth(Perley)
and involved testimony by a neighbor, a Mrs. Kimball.



This got my attention quickly. My 3x great grandmother was
Arvilla Ames and she was a descendant of Priscilla Kimball.
The Ames or Eames line is one of my favorites because the
family has been part of interesting events in New England
Colonial history. Robert (E)Ames, whose ancestry is unknown,
married Rebecca Blake who was one of those convicted of
witchcraft in the Salem witch hysteria. She later was given a
reprieve and the couple lived out their lives in the town of
Boxford.


Their son John married Priscilla Kimball, the daughter of
Thomas Kimball and Mary Smith The Kimball family was
living in Rowley Ma. when they were attacked by Indians on
May 2nd ,1676. Thomas was killed and Mary and their five
children, including Priscilla, were taken captive for forty-one
days before the chief of the Pennacook tribe persuaded the
raiding Indians to release their captives.


Priscilla grew to adulthood and married John Ames. They
hada farm in Boxford but they sold it in March of 1715 or 1716
and moved to Groton, Ma. John was standing one day at the
front door of what is referred to as “his garrison” (Was this
simply a fortified farmhouse or a trading post sort of building?)
when he was shot by an Indian on July 9th, 1724. He is said to
have been the last man slain by an Indian in Groton although
there appears to be some debate over that.


The Indian who was presumed to be the murderer was killed
in turn by Jacob Ames, John and Priscilla’s second oldest son.

So as you see, the Ames and Kimballs had gone through some
trying times already. When I ran across the reference of an
article in the Essex Antiquarian on a murder involving Jonathan
Ames and someone named Kimball, I had to look into it to see
how it related to my family genealogy.


Which I’ll go into next time!