Montague




Beginnings of New England



Deerfield: Old Pocumtuck Valley



Parson Williams's House, Built by the Town, 1707 - Standing 1898

Parson Williams’ House, Built by the Town, 1707 — Standing 1898

Soon after, Major Peter Schuyler sent a similar warning to Rev. John Williams. These warnings were emphasized in July by news that the Eastern Indians had made a simultaneous attack on all the settlements in Maine, only six weeks after signing a treaty of peace with the most solemn declarations of eternal friendship. Twenty soldiers were sent here to reinforce the home guard, and all were on the alert; two men, however, were captured October 8, and were carried to Canada. On the alarm which followed sixteen more men were sent here. October 21, Rev. John Williams writes, on behalf of the town, to Governor Dudley:


We have been driven from our houses & home lots into the fort. (there are but to houselots in the fort); some a mile, some two miles, whereby we have suffered much loss. We have in the alarms several times been wholly taken off from any business, the whole town kept in, our children of 12 or 13 years and under we have been afraid to improve in the field for fear of the enemy. . . . We have been crowded togather into houses to the preventing of indoor affairs being carryd on to any advantage, . . . several say they would freely leave all they have & go away were it not that it would be disobedience to authority & a discouraging their bretheren. The frontier difficulties of a place so remote from others & so exposed as ours, are more than can be known, if not felt ...

Nothing can add to this simple and pathetic statement.





Edited & adapted by Laurel O’Donnell.
These pages are © Laurel O’Donnell, 2006, all rights reserved
Copying these pages without written permission for the purpose of republishing
in print or electronic format is strictly forbidden
This page was last updated on 14 May 2006