Eunice Kanenstenhawi Williams

Eunice Williams, also known as Marguerite Kanenstenhawi Arosen, (17 September 1696 – 26 November 1785) was an English colonist taken captive by French and Mohawk warriors as a seven-year-old girl from Deerfield, Massachusetts in 1704. Taken to Canada with more than 100 other captives, she was adopted by a Catholic Mohawk family at Kahnawake and became fully assimilated into the tribe. She was baptized Catholic under the name Marguerite and named A'ongonte meaning "she has been planted as a person." She married François-Xavier Arosen, a Mohawk man, had a family with him, and chose to stay with the Mohawk for the rest of her life. Although never returning to Massachusetts to live permanently, she did meet her American family several times for extended visits. Her father, the Puritan minister John Williams and her brother Samuel made continuing efforts to ransom and to persuade her to return to Massachusetts. Hers was one of the more famous Indian captivity stories.

Early life and education

Eunice Williams was born on 17 September 1696, the daughter of the Puritan minister John Williams and his wife Eunice Mather Williams. On 29 February 1704, the Williams' home was attacked during a raid on the settlement led by French and allied Abenaki and Mohawk fighters. Later called the Deerfield Massacre, the event was part of a series of raids and conflicts between the French and English, and their Indian allies, during Queen Anne's War in the early 18th century.

The Indians killed numerous settlers in their houses, including Eunice's six-week-old sister Jerusha and younger brother John Williams, Jr. They took captive more than 100 settlers, including 7-year-old Eunice, her parents, and four of her siblings. The captives were taken on a strenuous march northward. The next day, a Mohawk warrior killed her mother after she fell while crossing the icy waters of the Green River. Others of the youngest and oldest captives were killed if they could not keep up with the large party.

Eunice and the surviving members of her family reached Fort Chambly in Quebec six weeks later; from there she was taken to Kahnawake, a settlement of Catholic Mohawks south of Montreal across the St. Lawrence River. She was adopted by a woman who had recently lost her own daughter in a smallpox epidemic. Eunice was given the symbolic name Waongote, meaning "one who is planted like an Ashe", and was instructed in the Mohawk language and customs, and catechized in the Roman Catholic religion. When she converted to Catholicism, she was baptized Marguerite.

When the survivors of Deerfield learned that their captured relatives and neighbors were being held in Quebec, they began negotiations through various intermediaries to ransom them. During these years, Rev. Williams was allowed to meet with Eunice on two occasions; both times he responded to her requests for guidance by telling her to frequently recite the Puritan Catechism.

Later life

When the senior Williams' ransom and freedom were arranged about three years later, he thought to have Eunice reunited with him. The French told an intermediary that this was impossible because the Mohawk people with whom she was living "would as soon part with their hearts as the child." The French government would not generally interfere when the Mohawk adopted captives, even if they were European. He was able to redeem his other children, who returned to live in Massachusetts.^[1]

Eunice became fully assimilated into the tribe, at age 16 marrying a young Mohawk man, François-Xavier Arosen, age 25. They had three children together. Nonetheless, Rev. Williams, succeeded by his son Stephen, continued through the years to try to ransom and later persuade Eunice to rejoin her New England family.^[2]

Eunice, called Kanenstenhawi as her adult Mohawk name, finally returned to New England in 1741, by which time her father had died. Her brother Stephen had kept in touch with her. When Eunice and her husband went to Massachusetts, it was with a guide and interpreter, as they spoke only Mohawk and French. She made two more visits to her Williams family, bringing her children with her and one year staying for an extended period through the winter.^[3]

Timeline

Eunice Kanenstenhawi Williams Timeline

Source notes

Content notes

^ siblings:  Eunice's siblings who survived the raid and made the trek to Canada with her were Samuel (15), Esther (13), Stephen (9) and Warham (4). The Williams' eldest child, Eleazer (16), was away studying for the ministry and not living at Deerfield at the time of the raid. The other Williams children were eventually redeemed and returned to New England.

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