Eunice Cooley Garfield, Captured by Indians and Sold as a Slave
Eunice Cooley was born September 2, 1732, in Brimfield, Mass. and died1825-30, place unknown. At age 23, married and with a young child, she was captured by Indians in Northfield, Mass. She is the Bissell 3G generation’s third cousin, several times removed – the great-great-granddaughter of Benjamin Cooley. This captivity story of Eunice is from "The Cooley Genealogy (The Descendants of Ensign Benjamin Cooley, an Early Settler of Springfield and Longmeadow Massachusetts, and other Members of the Family in America)" by Mortimer E. Cooley in collaboration with Lyman Edgar Cooley and Ernest Linwood Cooley, compiled by Vivien Bulloch Keatley, 1941, Tuttle Publishing Co. Inc., Rutland, Vermont.
On May 4, 1752, she married Benjamin Garfield of Leicester. Benjamin Garfield and Eunice lived near Northfield, Mass., and had one or more children, of whom little is known. One report cites a son, captured with his mother by the Indians, who visited his mother in later years, but preferred to live like a savage, as he had been brought up as an Indian; another report says she had only a daughter, Eunice Garfield, concerning whose fate Mrs. Garfield was uncertain. It seems likely that the story concerning the son is "historical fiction" rather than fact; such stories were common regarding anyone with children captured by the Indians.
This is a rendering of the capture of a pioneer woman named Mary Rowlandson, captured by Indians in Lancaster, Massachusetts in 1675, 75 years before Eunice’s capture.
Hannah Duston, who was captured by Indians in 1697 in Haverhill, Mass. and taken north towards Canada. The story of her escape -- killing her captors with a hatchet while they slept, scuttling their canoes and escaping downriver in the one canoe remaining -- was written up by the Rev. Cotton Mather, a Bissell Cousin. This engraving is from the website Mike In New Hampshire, Exploring N.H. History.
Married in 1752, captured in 1755, Eunice Cooley Garfield probably had a two-year-old child and an infant; the infant was probably slain by the Indians; generally, when a long march was intended, the mothers were not permitted to carry small infants with them. Eunice and Benjamin Garfield and their children were one of three families that lived in a block-house on the Bridgman farm in Northfield. The fort, constructed in 1742, was strongly built and well-picketed, and shared by the Garfields with the families of Caleb How and Hilkiah Grout.
On the morning of June 27, 1755, three years after the marriage of Benjamin and Eunice, these three men, with the two young sons of Caleb How, went to work in a meadow on the bank of the river a little above the fort. About sunset they started to return to the block-house. Mr. How and his sons were on horseback and a little ahead of the others. Upon reaching the meadow hill north of the fort, they were fired upon from ambush. Caleb How was shot in the thigh and brought to the ground; he was then scalped by the Indians, and struck by a hatchet in the head and left for dead. His boys were taken alive. Grout and Garfield attempted to escape by crossing the river; Grout succeeded, but Benjamin Garfield was drowned.
As soon as it grew dark the Indians went to the fort, made the proper signal, which they had learned, and were admitted. They took the women and children prisoners, killing all infant children. The fort was then fired, and the captives started on their long trek to Canada.
The Indians took their captives to Canada. Eunice (Cooley) Garfield seems to have been a woman of considerable personal beauty, as well as of fortitude and presence of mind. She adapted herself to the situation by a forced cheerfulness and because of her evident courage gained favor with the Indians, and was thus treated fairly well on the long march. For many days she kept a sharp lookout for aid, expecting to be rescued by her husband, of whose death she learned only on her return. With the other two women she took turns standing all night, to be ready for quick flight, but no help came.
After many days and nights of travel, footsore and weary, the captives finally reached a French settlement in Canada. Here the Indians sold them as slaves. Eunice was sold to a French family, of which she quickly became a beloved and trusted member, and was soon entrusted with the purchase of all household goods and supplies. Longing for her freedom, she told her story to one of the tradesmen whose friendship she had gained. He was a kindly man and offered to put $10 with every dollar she could save, to be repaid after she got home, so that she could purchase her liberty; this she eventually did.
She was sent to France, and from there to England and thence to Boston. She probably reached Massachusetts some time in 1756. In 1758, she was paid a sum of money by New Hampshire to cover her last year in Canada.
On her return to Massachusetts, Eunice learned of her husband's death. Shortly thereafter she became the second wife of Ephraim Pratt, and she lived for nearly half a century in Hardwick (now Dana), where she was widely known and beloved as "Aunt Pratt." People came from a long distance to see the old lady, and to hear the story of her Indian adventures. She lived to be well past 90. The place of her burial is unknown.
The Bissell Connection to Eunice Cooley Garfield,
Third cousin, seven times removed
Bissell “3G” Generation
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Joyce, Meredith, George, Gwen, Arthur, Roger, Eleanor, Chip, Carolyn, Betsy, Clyde
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Adelaide Lyon Boutelle ---- Richard Meredith Bissell
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Mertie Ella Bisbee ---- Herbert Hunt Bissell
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Julie Ann Richardson ---- John Hatch Bissell
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Mercy Ann Searle ---- Benoni Bliss Bissell
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Tirzah Pierce ---- Solomon Bissell
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Eunice Cooley Eunice Olcott ---- Noah Bissell
b. 2 Sep 1732 ]
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Benjamin Cooley - Elizabeth Charles Benoni Olcott ---- Deborah Cooley
b. 1701 b. 1716 b. 1730
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Benjamin Cooley - Margaret Bliss Joseph Cooley ---- Mary Dorchester
b. 1681 b. 1685 b. 1694
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Daniel Cooley - Elizabeth Wolcott Lt. Joseph Cooley ---- Mary Griswold
b. 1651 b. 1661 b. 1663
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[---------------------- Benjamin Cooley ---- Sarah Colton -----------------------]
b. 1614 b. 1620