Mary RISHWORTH
Biography

from worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ cgi-bin/ igm.cgi?op=GET&db=henrykin&id=I26163

"...She with some of her chidren were taken prisoners, Feb 1691/ 2, whenYork was sacked by Indians and her infant child, then but a few days oldwas killed. The mid-winter tramp through the wilderness to Montreal wasattended with unspeakable suffering, many of the captives perishing by the way, but we have no report of their ill-treatment by the French after their arrival. Mrs. Plaisted and those of her children who were with her, were baptized at Montreal, Dec. 8,1692 and were ransomed in Oct. 1695." Several of these children remained in Canada. (from "Lieut. Roger Plaisted...")


"Mary Plaisted, the wife of Mr. James Plaisted, was made a captive by the Indians about three weeks after her delivery of a male child.* They then took her with her infant off her bed and forced her to travel in this her weakness the best part of a day without any respect of pity. At night the cold ground in the open was her lodging, and for many a day she had no nourishment but a little water with a little bear flesh, which rendered her so feeble that she with her infant were not far from totally starved. Upon her cries to God there was at length some supply sent in by her master's taking a moose, the broth whereof recovered her. But she must now travel many days through woods and swamps and rocks, and over mountains and frost and snow, until she could stir no farther. Sitting down to rest, she was not able to rise until her diabolical master helped her up, which when he did, he took her child from her and carried it unto a river where, stripping it of the few rags it had, he took it by the heels and against a tree dashed out its brains and then flung it into the river. So he returned to the miserable mother, telling her she was now eased of her burden and must walk faster than she did before.

...In 1692 Mary Plaisted and two daughters by a previous marriage, eleven-year-old Mary Sayward and seven-year-old Esther Sayward, were captured at York, Maine, by Acadian Indians. Mary Plaisted was baptized by French Catholics at Montreal in 1693 but was redeemed in 1695; she returned to her family and the Congregational church. The two daughters, however, remained in Canada. The elder became a nun and was eventually the head of a mission school for girls; the younger married a Canadian merchant."

from "New Assaults from the Indians" and "The Condition of the Captives" by Cotton Mather in Puritans Among the Indians:Accounts of Captivity and Redemption, 1676 - 1724, edited Alden T. Vaughan and Edward W. Clark (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1981), pp. 140 - 14


True Stories of New England Captives Carried to Canada During the Old French and Indian Wars By Charlotte Alice Baker

"...Our next meeting with Mary Rishworth Plaisted is at her baptism in Montreal The following is a free translation of the Parish record On the 8th of December 1693 there was baptized sous condition an English woman from New England named in her own country Marie who born at York on the 8th of January O. S. 1660 of the marriage of Edouard Rishworth and Suzanne Willwright both Protestants of Lincoln in old England and married last to Jacques Pleisted Protestant of New England was captured the 25th of January O. S. of the year 1692 with two of her children Marie Genevieve Sayer born the 4th of April OS 1681 and Marie Joseph Sayer born the 9th of March O. S. 1685 by the savages of Acadia and now lives in the service of Madame Catherine Gauchet widow of M. Jean Baptiste Migeon appointed by the King first lieutenant general of the bailiwick established by his Majesty in Montreal. Her name Marie has been kept and that of Madeleine added to it. Her god father was M. Jean Baptiste Juchereau lieutenant general of the Royal bailiwick of Montreal, and her god mother Madame Madeleine Louise Juchereau.

Signed,
Mary Magdalen Pleistead signs the record in a good handwriting. So also do her god parents Juchereau and Madame his wife Catherine Gauchet and finally Jean Fremont Cure all as clear as if written yesterday..."

"...Many summers ago in an idle hour and with no purpose I copied a few pages from the old town records of York. It was long before I had heard of James Plaisted and his wife Mary Rishworth. The quaint spelling and simple directness of the language interested me but it seems to have been by what Cotton Mather would have called a Remarkable Providence that this particular page of the record should have captivated me. A humble romance seemed to unfold itself in this stepfather willing to father his wife's children by a former marriage though his own children later born are naturally put first in the record. Here is the story as it stands written more than two hundred years ago on the old book:

James Plaisted Bearths of His children
Lydia Plaisted was Borne the fouerth day of Janerwary in ye year 1696 Olife Plaisted was Borne the first day of May in ye year 1698
Mary Sayward was Borne the fouerth April 1681
Susannah Sayward was Borne the ninth day of May 1683
Esther Sayward was Borne the seventh day of March 1685
Hannah Sayward was borne the twenty one of June 1687
John Sayward was Borne second of Janerwary 1690

The last was evidently a posthumous child the only son born shortly after the death of his father John Sayward and named for him."



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