Delight Benedict

John married Esther Stebbins on 24 Jan 1744 in Ridgefield, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. Esther (daughter of Benjamin Stebbins and Sarah Mead) was born in 1724 in Ridgefield, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA; died on 10 Feb 1814 in Ridgefield, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA; was buried in Ridgefield, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Benjamin Stebbins and The Battle of Ridgefield

The Discovery Center at Ridgefield
http://ridgefielddiscovery.org/page/benstebbins

Benjamin Stebbins
September 30, 1692 - September 6, 1780

Benjamin Stebbins was born in Deerfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts in 1692. When he was 9-years-old, his family was killed in the Deerfield Massacre. He was raised by cousins and learned the tanner trade. In 1714, he was offered a large piece of land at the north end of Main Street in exchange for setting up a much-needed tannery in Ridgefield. The land was heavily forested, with steep precipices and ledges. But Stebbins gladly agreed. He started out living in a bark hut while he gradually built one of the grandest homes in town. Completed in 1727, it stayed in the Stebbins family until 1892, when its new owners demolished it.

A tanner was a very important tradesman for a pioneer community. He converted animal hides into useable leather for shoes, clothes, bags, saddles, etc. The process is long and smelly but very profitable. By 1746, the tax list showed Benjamin Stebbins to be Ridgefield’s wealthiest citizen. He was elected town Selectman five times and also represented Ridgefield in the colonial legislature.

Benjamin Stebbins married Sarah Mead in 1718 and fathered nine children. The American Revolution divided the Stebbins family. Three of his sons chose to side with the patriots. Benjamin and his sons Benjamin, Jr. and Josiah remained loyal to The Crown. Josiah loyalty was so passionate that he was brought to trial by his patriot Ridgefield neighbors for his Tory activities. As a result, he had to post a 300 pound sterling bond and promise "quiet behavior". Later he joined the British army and was involved with the burning of Danbury. Afterward, he helped guide the British forces into Ridgefield and it was said managed to get some revenge on his old neighbors by pointing out their homes to be burned.

The famous barricade in the Battle of Ridgefield was built across the road in front of the Stebbins’ house. During the fighting, 85-year-old Benjamin tried to hide in the upstairs bedroom but bullets tore holes in the door. After the battle, Josiah’s alliance with the British saved the house from being burned. Instead, it served as a makeshift hospital, with Benjamin’s daughter, Anna, treating the wounded in the west room. For generations, tourists would come to see the bullet-scarred walls and bloodstained floors. Many of the British and American soldiers who died in the battle were buried on the property. A commemorative stone near the entrance to Casagmo Condominium notes the location. Benjamin & Sarah Stebbins are buried in the Titicus Cemetery.

The Stebbins Genealogy
by Greenlee, Ralph Stebbins, 1838-; Greenlee, Robert Lemuel, 1838-
Publication date 1904
Publisher Chicago, Ill. : M.A. Donahue
pp164-165

https://archive.org/details/stebbinsgen ealog01ingree

Col Rec. of Ct XIII p. 359.

Bailey's Hist, of Danbury Ct. pp. 80-82

American Illst. (1888)


BENJAMIN STEBBINS
son of Benoni Stebbins and Widow Hannah Edwards, was born September 30, 1692 (T. R.), at Deerfield, Massachusetts; died September 16, 1780 (T. R.), at Ridgefield, Connecticut; married August 14, 1718 (T. R.), at Ridgefield, Connecticut, to SARAH MEAD, born November 3, 1695, at Greenwich, Connecticut; died May 1, 1774 (T. R.), at Ridgefield, Fairfield County, Connecticut, who was a daughter of Joseph Mead and Sarah. Occupation, farmer. Resided at Deerfield, Ridgefield, Connecticut, and Northampton, Massachusetts.

CHILDREN, all born at Ridgefield, Conn. :
368. I. Benjamin, born August 21, 1721 (T. R.) ; married Elizabeth Olmstead.+
369. II. Ebenezer, born January 24, 1723 (T. R.) ; married Ann Davis.+
370. III. Esther, born 1724; married Deacon John Benedict.+
371. IV. Theophilus, born May 16. 1726 (T. R.) ; married Ann Couch.+
372. V. Hannah, born March 28, 1728 (T. R.) ; married John Sherwood.+
373. VI. Nehemiah, born November 1, 1729 (T. R.) ; married Sarah Jessup.-f-
374. VII. Josiah, born April 21, 1733 (T. R.) ; married first, Ruth Rockwell; married second, Mary Burr.+
375. VIII. Joseph, born July 4, 1735 (T. R.) ; married Joanna Smith. +
376. IX. Sarah, born April 15, 1737 (T. R.) [see Unidentified, S.]

BENJAMIN STEBBINS was one of the earliest settlers of Ridgefield, Connecticut, and in 1770 was its Representative to the General Assembly. He built and resided in the house which in 1896 was standing on an eminence at the head of the village. From this house he witnessed the repulse of the British, by Benedict Arnold and his men.

The STEBBINS house was one of the oldest in the town, having been built in 1733, soon after the settlement was made. Its withered boards and shingles, dun and weather-stained by the sunshine and frosts of innumerable seasons, shaded by lofty trees and overhanging vines, spoke of times now almost forgotten and of vague traditions of the past. Here it was that on April 27, 1777, Arnold awaited the enemy's approach, fearless and undaunted, although the odds against him were overwhelming. The following graphic account of the repulse will be found interesting:

"On arriving at Ridgefield, Arnold hastily constructed a barricade of wagons, logs, and carts, across the village street, at its upper end, between the residence of BENJAMIN STEBBINS and a large ledge of rocks to the west of the road.

There was little military organization in a force gathered so hastily from different directions, save in the obedience to a superior's orders. The greater portion of those who stood behind the barricade were unused to war; and had gone out to save their homes from destruction rather than to do battle with an enemy.

The fight at the STEBBINS house was stubborn and bloody. Between forty and fifty Americans were killed. Several of the dead were buried beneath the apple tree, since decayed, back of the house, which afterwards became the residence of Mr. Abner Gilbert. At the time of the attack Benjamin Stebbins occupied the Stebbins house. He was a cripple and could not get away. His son, Josiah, sympathized with the Royalist cause ; and happened to accompany the British on their march from Danbury. Several times during the fight the old house was set on fire, but the son succeeded in quenching the flames. His aged and crippled father had a narrow escape. In the midst of the conflict he sought seclusion in a little bedroom with a window looking out on the meadow to the east. He had been told that the British were on their way from Danbury, and that he must flee for his life. To this entreaty he replied: "No, not one step! I am too old to fight, or I would be at them; but I will never leave this chair, and if they want to kill me, they can do it here." The window was open. The bullets of the enemy penetrated the house, passing through inner doors and partitions. All at once a musket ball whizzed close to his head, splintering the chair where the sturdy old patriot sat, and ripping a long ragged hole through the bedroom door. Fortunately he was not injured. During the battle, the house was used as a hospital for the wounded, and stains of blood that flowed from the wounds of a young British officer, who died there, are still visible on the seasoned oak floor of the long west room.

The old well now stands at it then stood, and supplies the best of water, as it did on that April day, to the suffering men who lay in agony within reach of its kindly aid.

History of Danbury, Conn., 1684-1896
by Bailey, James M. (James Montgomery), 1841-1894; Hill, Susan Benedict
Publication date 1896
Publisher New York : Burr Print. House
https://archive.org/details/historyofdanbury00baila

CHAPTER XV.

THE FIGHT IN RIDGEFIELD.
There are several accounts of this engagement, which was a part of the battle opened by Wooster. According to the accounts, Arnold and Silliman must have reached Ridgefield about the time that Wooster received his fatal wound, at eleven o'clock on Sunday morning. The firing in that fight must have been distinctly heard by Arnold and Silliman.

In the issue of the Connecticut Journal, printed the latter part of that week, May 2d, appeared an account of the raid in Danbury and the fight in Ridgefield. Of the latter it says :

" General Arnold, by a forced march across the country, reached Ridgefield at eleven o'clock, and having posted his small party of five hundred men, waited the approach of the enemy, who were soon discovered advancing in a column with three field pieces in front and three in the rear, and large flank guards of war, two hundred men in each. At noon they began discharging their artillery, and were soon within musket-shot, when a smart action ensued between the whole, which continued about an hour, in which our men behaved with great spirit, but being overpowered by numbers were obliged to give way, though not until the enemy were raising a small breastwork, thrown across the way, at which General Arnold had taken post with about two hundred men (the rest of our small body were posted on the flanks), who acted with great spirit. The general had his horse shot under him, when the enemy were within about ten yards of him, but luckily received no hurt. Recovering himself, he drew his pistol and shot the soldier, who was advancing with his bayonet. He then ordered his troops to retreat through a shower of small and grape shot.

" In the action the enemy suffered very considerably, leaving about thirty dead and wounded on the ground, besides a number of unknown buried. Here we had the misfortune of losing Lieutenant-Colonel Gold, one subaltern, and several privates killed and wounded.

" It was found impossible to rally our troops, and General Arnold ordered a stand to be made at Saugatuck Bridge, where it was expected the enemy would pass.

" At nine o'clock a.m. the 28th about five hundred men were collected at Saugatuck Bridge, including part of the companies of Colonel Lamb's battalion of artillery, with three field pieces, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Oswald ; a field piece with part of the artillery company from Fairfield, sixty Continental troops, and three companies of volunteers from New Haven, with whom General Arnold and Silliman took post about two miles above the bridge. Soon after the enemy appeared in sight their rear was attacked by Colonel Huntington (commanding an army of about five hundred men), who sent to General Arnold for instructions, and for some officers to assist him.

" General Silliman was ordered to his assistance. The enemy finding our troops advantageously posted made a halt, and after some little time wheeled off to the left and forded Saugatuck River, three miles above the bridge. General Arnold observing this motion, ordered the whole to march directly for the bridge in order to attack the enemy in the flank. General Silliman at the same time to attack their rear. The enemy, by running full speed, had passed the bridge on Fairfield side with their main body before our troops could cross it. General Silliman finding it impossible to overtake the enemy on their route, proceeded to the bridge, where the whole were formed. They marched in two columns, one with two field pieces on the right, the other on the left of the enemy, when a smart skirmishing and firing of field pieces ensued, which continued about three hours.

" The enemy having gained the high hill of Compo, several attempts were made to dislodge them, but without effect. The landed a number of fresh troops to cover their embarkation, which they effected a little before sunset, weighed anchor immediately, and stood across the sound for Huntington, on Long Island. Our loss cannot be exactly ascertained, no return being made. It is judged to be about sixty killed and wounded. Among the killed are one lieutenant-colonel, one captain, four subalterns, and Dr. David Atwater, of New Haven, whose death is greatly lamented by his acquaintances. Among the number wounded are Colonel John Lamb (of artillery), Amah Bradley, and Timothy Gorliam, volunteers from New Haven, though not mortally.

" The enemy's loss is judged to be more than double our number, and about twenty prisoners. The enemy on this occasion behaved with their usual barbarity, wantonly and cruelly murdering the wounded prisoners who fell into their hands, and plundering the inhabitants, burning and destroying everything in their way. The enemy, the day before they left Fairfield,
were joined by ten sail, chiefly small sail."

In the March number (1888) of the Magazine of American History, Clifford Bartlett gives a very interesting account of the American side of the conflict in Ridgefield. He says :

" On arriving at Ridgefield, Arnold constructed a barricade across the village street, at its upper end, near the residence of Benjamin Stebbins. The Stebbins house is one of the oldest in the town. It antedates anything of the Revolution in Ridgefield. Here it was that Arnold awaited the enemy's approach, fearless and undaunted, although the odds against him were overwhelming.

" The barricade was made of logs, wagons, and carts, anything the little army could gather for that purpose. The greater part of those who stood behind that barricade were unused to war, and had gone out to save their homes from destruction rather than to do battle with an enemy.

" It was Sunday morning. A thick mass of vapor hung over the earth, with an occasional shower, until about eleven o'clock, when the sky lightened for a moment, revealing the wooded slopes of the Danbury hills, blue and purple in the distance, only again to be hidden by the sweeping masses of clouds.

" When within a few miles of Ridgefield General Wooster fell upon the rear of the column, and a sharp engagement ensued, in which forty Hessians were captured. Still the enemy continued their advance."

The writer speaks briefly of Wooster' s second attack, when he received the fatal wound, and then continues :

" Stephen Rowe Bradley, then an aide-de-camp to General Wooster, assumed command, and gathering the scattered troops together retired from the field in good order.

" Arnold and his men awaited the coming storm with breathless anxiety. At about noon the British, advancing in three columns, came within range, when General Agnew ordered the artillery to attack. When within musket range the engagement became general. Being unable to dislodge the Continental at the front, a strong body of Hessians under Agnew finally turned the left of Arnold's position. A column of infantry suddenly appeared over the ledge of rocks, and discharged a volley at General Arnold at a distance of not over thirty yards. He escaped being hit ; his horse fell, being pierced by nine musket balls. The fact that the horse was struck nine times was vouched for by a farmer, who with the aid of some boys skinned the animal the next day.

" The fight at the Stebbins house was stubborn and bloody. Between forty and fifty Americans were killed.

" Colonel Abram Gould was shot about eighty yards east of the Stebbins house, and his body was carried on his horse to his home in Fairfield, where he was buried. His sash and uniform are now in the Trumbull Gallery in New Haven.

" Lieutenants Middlebrook* and William Thompson were killed. Several of the dead were buried beneath an apple-tree, since decayed, back of the house, now the residence of Abner Gilbert. At the time of the battle Benjamin Stebbins occupied the Stebbins house. His son, Josiah, sympathized with the Royalist cause, and happened to accompany the British on their march from Daubury. Several times during the fight the house caught fire, but the son succeeded in quenching the flames. His crippled father had a narrow escape. In the midst of the conflict he sought seclusion in a little bedroom with a window looking out on the meadow to the east, as the bullets were rattling through the gable end of the old homestead on the roadway. The window was open. All at once a bullet whizzed close to his head and ripped a long, ragged hole through the bedroom door.

The room still remains in the same condition, and the door still swings on its rusty hinges. The house was riddled with bullets, and struck several times by solid shot. There are three cannonballs yet to be seen at the house. Many others have been lost or carried away.

" During the battle the house was used as a hospital for the wounded, and stains of blood that flowed from the wounds of a young British officer, who died there, are to be seen on the seasoned oak floor of the long west room.

" The old well now stands as it then stood, and supplies the best of water, as it did on that April day to the suffering men who lay in agony within reach of its kindly aid.

" It has been thought that the battle ended with the attack by Wooster and the fight at the Stebbins house. This is probably incorrect. There are strong reasons for the belief that as the British advanced their progress through the town was contested with stubborn bravery. Had this not been so, they would not have had to employ their artillery after dislodging the patriots from behind the barricade ; and that the artillery was used throughout their progress through the village is beyond controversy.

" Besides the cannon-balls at the Stebbins house, a solid shot was unearthed a few years ago while repairing the highway in front of the residence of Governor Lounsbury. Then there is the famous shot embedded in the Keeler tavern, besides numerous cannon-balls which have been found at different points along the course of the march maintained through the town, the redcoats pressing forward and the patriots falling stubbornly back.

On the ridge, where in late years the Agricultural Society held its annual fairs, the British encamped for the night. After burning several houses and destroying other property, the enemy, on the morning of the 28th, resumed their march toward the Sound."

In the London Gazette of June 7th, 1777, was printed Sir William Howe's official report of the foray. He says (the italics closing the first paragraph are ours) :

" The troops landed on the afternoon of April 25th (Friday), four miles to the eastward of Norwalk and twenty miles from Danbury. In the afternoon of the 26th the detachment reached Danbury, meeting only small parties of the enemy on their march, but General Tryon having intelligence that the whole force of the country was collecting, to take every advantage of the strong ground he was to pass on his return to the shipping, and finding it impossible to procure carriages to bring oft" any part of the stores, they were effectually destroyed, in the execution of which the village was unavoidably burnt.

" On the 27th, in the morning, the troops gutted Danbury, and met with little opposition until they came near to Ridgefield, which was occupied by General Arnold, who had thrown up entrenchments to dispute the passage, while General Wooster hung upon the rear with a separate corps. The village was forced and the enemy driven back on all sides.

" General Tryon lay that night at Ridgefield and renewed his march on the morning of the 28th. The enemy having been reinforced with troops and cannon, disputed every advantageous situation, keeping at the same time small parties to harass the rear, until the general had formed his detachment upon a height within cannon-shot of the shipping, when the enemy advancing, seemingly with an intention to attack him, he ordered the troops to charge with their bayonets, which was executed with such impetuosity that the rebels were totally put to flight, and the detachment embarked without further molestation.

" The enclosed returns set forth the loss sustained by the king's troops, and that of the enemy from the best information .

" Return of the stores, ordnance, provisions, etc., found at the rebel stores, and destroyed by the 'king's troops, in Danbury :

" A quantity of ordnance stores, with iron, etc.; 4000 barrels of beef and pork ; 1000 barrels of flour ; 100 large tierces of biscuit ; 89 barrels of rice ; 120 puncheons of rum ; several large stores of wheat, oats, and Indian corn, in bulk, the quantity thereof could not possibly be ascertained ; 30 pipes of wine ; 100 hogsheads of sugar ; 50 ditto of molasses ; 20 casks of coffee ; 15 large casks filled with medicines of all kinds ; 10 barrels of saltpetre ; 1020 tents and marquees ; a number of iron boilers ; a large quantity of hospital bedding ; engineers', pioneers', and carpenters' tools; a printing-press complete; tar, tallow, etc.; 6000 pairs of shoes and stockings. At a mill between Ridgebury and Ridgefield, 100 banels of flour and a quantity of Indian corn.

" Returned of the killed, wounded, and missing : One drummer and fifer, and 23 rank and file killed ; 3 field officers, 6 captains, 3 subalterns, 9 sergeants, 92 i-ank and file wounded ; 1 drummer and fifer and 27 rank and file missing. Royal artillery, 2 additional killed, 3 matrosses and 1 wheeler wounded, and 1 matross missing.

" Return of the rebels killed and wounded. Killed : General Wooster, Colonel Goold, Colonel Lamb, of the artillery. Colonel Henman, Dr. Atwater, a man of considerable influence. Captain Cooe, Lieutenant Thompson, 100 privates. Wounded : Colonel Whiting, Captain Benjamin, Lieutenant Cooe, 250 privates. Taken : Fifty privates, including several committeemen."

Benjamin married Sarah Mead on 14 Aug 1718 in Ridgefield, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. Sarah was born on 3 Nov 1695 in Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA; died on 1 May 1774 in Ridgefield, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA; was buried in Ridgefield, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1679, Hatfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts, USA
• Residence: 1684, , , Massachusetts, USA

Notes:

THE FIGHT AT BENONI STEBBINS HOUSE
From George Sheldon's History of Deerfield

"The house of Benoni Stebbins stood about eight rods southwest of Ensign Sheldon's. It was occupied by Sgt. Stebbins, his wife and five children; David Hoyt, his wife and child, and probably Joseph Catlin with his wife, and Benjamin Church, a soldier."

(Note: a seasoned soldier who came to Deerfield to help after the Nims/Williams capture the previous fall.)

"There were besides three other men, and perhaps other women and children. This house being "attaqued later than some," the inmates were aroused, made ready to defend themselves, and the assailants were driven back with loss. It was again beset by a strong force, but the little garrison was a match for that. Again later in the morning nearly the whole army surrounded the house, pouring bullets upon it from every quarter. The fire was bravely returned, and several of the enemy fell before the sharp shooters; among them a French lieutenant, the second in command of the expedition. Desperate attempts were now made to set the house on fire, which cost the lives of a Macqua chief and several of his men. The fury of the assailants increased with their losses, but they were forced to leave the field and take shelter in the Sheldon house and the meeting house. From these covers they continued to shower their bullets upon the heroic garrison, which, however, kept them at bay until relieved by the reinforcement. Sgt. Stebbins was killed. Mr. Hoyt was wounded, and also a soldier, probably Church.

"In all the wars of New England there is not a much more gallant act recorded than this defense of an unfortified house, by seven men and a few women, for three hours, against, not only the fury and wiles of an unorganized horde of savages, but also a large force of French soldiers, under officers of the line trained in the wars of France.

"The check received here by the enemy, probably tended strongly to stay the tide of devastation, and so saved the south part of the town."

Biography
Benoni (Benony) Stebbins (Stebbing)

Origins
Benoni was born June 23, 1655 [1] at Springfield, Hampden Co., Massachusetts. He was a son of John Stebbins and Anne Munson. [2]

Early Life
Benoni, at age twelve, with several Northampton friends, planned to run away to join the French. The boys stole money and paid Juanguelatt, an Indian friend, to guide them to Canada. The plot was found out, and all were caught before they had really begun. Benoni was sentenced to either eleven lashes or a fine, for his part in the escapade. His father, John, paid the fine. [2]

Family
Marriages: Benoni was building a cabin for himself and his bride at his father's property at Deerfield, MA, when, on Sept 19, 1677, he was captured by Native Americans as part of the "Ashpelon Raid." As the captives were marched northward, on Oct 2nd, Benoni escaped. The remaining captives narrowly missed torture, (a usual retribution for anyone escaping). In the end, Benoni brought information on the raiders' strength and plans to Major John Pynchon, thus facilitating the rescue. [2]

1. Married 1676 at Deerfield, MA, Mary (Broughton) widow of James Bennett. She died August 2, 1689. [2]

Children: [2]

Ebenezer b 1677
Thankful b 1680
Abigail b 1683
Mindful b 1685
Joseph Feb 6, 1688
Esther Feb 6, 1688, d Jan 26, 1690

2. Married in 1691 at Hannah (Atkinson) widow of Joseph Edwards. Hannah Edwards Stebbins, (d Sept 7, 1735), afterwards married Thomas French. [1]

Children: [2]

Benjamin b 1692
Esther b 1695

Note:
Benoni STEBBINS was widowed with 2 newborns and 4 other children under age 11 (from his first marriage to widowed Mary BROUGHTON Bennett. However he waited 2 years before remarrying again - to widowed Hannah ATKINSON Edwards, another widow. Benoni and Hannah Bore two more children in 1692 and 1695.

Occupation
Benoni was chosen as one of the first recorded Deerfield town officers. Six Selectmen Townsmen or Overseers were chosen. No date is given in the record, but it was probably Dec 16, 1686. In 1692, Benoni was again chosen as one of six Selectman for the ensuing year. At this point, he is identified as "Sergeant Benoni Stebbins." [2]

Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was fought partly in Massachusetts. The French directed numerous Indian raids on towns in New England, attempting to limit English settlement. One of the more famous was the Deerfield Raid.

Benoni Stebbin's house was a legendary hold-out during the Deerfield Raid. Defended only by seven men and few women with children, they held off professional French troops and "hoards" of Indians for over three hours, until reinforcements arrived. Even attempts to burn the house were rebuffed. Benoni Stebbins was the only fatality. [3]

Benoni Stebbins took the oath of allegiance February 8, 1678

Death and Legacy
February 29, 1703/4, during the attack on Deerfield by the French and Indians, the house of Benoni Stebbins was used as a refuge for about a dozen men, women, and children. The house was beset again and again by forces of more than three hundred. The defenders held out, returning fire, until at last the whole army surrounded them firing from all angles. Every attempt was rebuffed until, at last, reinforcements from Hatfield arrived. Losses included Sargent Stebbins. [2]

NOTE: The house that Benoni Stebbins and his family lived in was the garrison house at Deerfield. His death was a fluke--an Indian shot an arrow through the window of the upper story of the house which struck Benoni in the eye, killing him. No other person who had sought safety in the house was injured.

Attack 17 Sept 1677
Upon the return of peace the scattered inhabitants began to look with longing eyes toward Pocomptuck, and some of the most adventurous returned and began to rebuild their ruined homes. On the 17th of September, 1677, as Sergt. John Plympton, Quintus Stockwell, Benoni Stebbins, John Root, and Samuel Russell were so engaged, they were surprised by a party of Pocomptuck and Nipmuck Indians under Asphelon, who fired upon them and then rushed up with knife and tomahawk. Root was killed and the others captured. Earlier in the day this same party had made a destructive assault upon Hatfield, where they killed 12, wounded 4, and took captive 17 of its inhabitants (all but one of the latter women and children). The Pocomptuck captives were soon joined with these, when the whole party began the fearful march to Canada, the first party of whites ever carried there from New England. It was near dark when they moved, and toward morning they camped in a deep hollow near the mouth of Hearthstone Brook. The next morning the party crossed the Connecticut at Sheldon's Rocks, and again at Peskcompskut, reaching Northfield Meadows the next night. Here they intended stopping to hunt, but, a party of English going in pursuit, they crossed the river and scattered. Benoni Stebbins made his escape soon after. Upon reaching Canada, Sergt. Plympton was tortured to death by fire at a celebration of their success. The rest of the captives, save two who sank on the march, were redeemed through the heroic valor of Benjamin Wait and Stephen Jennings. A full account of their adventurous journey may be looked for in another part of this work.

Sergt Benoni Stebbins part in the February 29th attack
The house of Benoni Stebbins stood about 8 rods southwest of Ensign Sheldon's house, It was occupied by Sergt Stebbins and his wife and 5 children: David Hoyt and his wife and child and probably Joseph Catlin and his wife and child and probably Joseph Church(a soldier). There were others there also. 3 men and perhaps other women and children. These people held off the attack of the French and their Indian comrades. The Stebbins house was surrounded and bullets were poured into it. The people in the Stebbin house were able to return the fire and were able to kill many. Some of those killed were important to the French cause. They were the Macqua Chief and a Frech lieutenant that was the 2nd in command. Sergt. Stebbins was killed during this attack on his house. The French later retreated to the Sheldon house and the meetinghouse and fired on the Stebbin house from those vantage points. Mrs Hoyt and probably Church(soldier) were wounded. Much of this information was taken from George Sheldon's "History of Deerfield".

The Raid on Deerfield occurred during Queen Anne's War on February 29, 1704, when French and Native American forces under the command of Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville attacked the English settlement at Deerfield, Massachusetts just before dawn, burning part of the town and killing 56 villagers.

French organizers of the raid drew on a variety of Indian populations, including in the force of about 300 a number of Pocumtucs who had once lived in the Deerfield area. The diversity of personnel involved in the raid meant that it did not achieve full surprise when they entered the palisaded village. The defenders of some fortified houses in the village successfully held off the raiders until arriving reinforcements prompted their retreat. More than 100 captives were taken, and about 40 percent of the village houses were destroyed.

The raid has been immortalized as a part of the early American frontier story, principally due to the account of one of its captives, the Rev. John Williams. He and his family were forced to make the long overland journey to Canada, and his daughter Eunice was adopted by a Mohawk family; she took up their ways. Williams' account, The Redeemed Captive, was published in 1707 and was widely popular in the colonies.

The Connecticut River valley had been identified as a potential raiding target by authorities in New France as early as 1702. The forces for the raid had begun gathering near Montreal as early as May 1703, as reported with reasonable accuracy in English intelligence reports. However, two incidents intervened that delayed execution of the raid. The first was a rumor that English warships were on the Saint Lawrence River, drawing a significant Indian force to Quebec for its defense. The second was the detachment of some troops, critically including Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville, who was to lead the raid, for operations in Maine (including a raid against Wells that raised the frontier alarms at Deerfield). Hertel de Rouville did not return to Montreal until the fall.

The force assembled at Chambly, just south of Montreal, numbered about 250, and was composed of a diversity of personnel. There were 48 Frenchmen, some of them Canadienmilitia and others recruits from the troupes de la marine, including four of Hertel de Rouville's brothers. The French leadership included a number of men with more than 20 years experience in wilderness warfare. The Indian contingent included 200 Abenakis, Iroquois,Wyandots, and Pocumtucs, some of whom sought revenge for incidents that had taken place years earlier. These were joined by another 30 to forty Pennacooks led by sachemWattanummon as the party moved south toward Deerfield in January and February 1704, raising the troop size to nearly 300 by the time it reached the Deerfield area in late February.

The expedition's departure was not a very well kept secret. In January 1704, New York's Indian agent Pieter Schuyler was warned by the Iroquois of possible action that he forwarded on to Governor Dudley and Connecticut's Governor Winthrop; further warnings came to them in mid-February, although none were specific about the target.

The raiders left most of their equipment and supplies 25 to 30 miles (40 to 48 kilometers) north of the village before establishing a cold camp about 2 miles (3.2 km) from Deerfield on February 28, 1704. From this vantage point they observed the villagers as they prepared for the night. Since the villagers had been alerted to the possibility of a raid, they all took refuge within the palisade, and a guard was posted.

The raiders had noticed that there were snow drifts all the way to the top of the palisade; this greatly simplified their entry into the fortifications just before dawn on February 29. They carefully approached the village, stopping periodically so that the sentry might confuse the noises they made with more natural sounds. A few men climbed over the palisade via the snow drifts and then opened then north gate to admit the rest. Primary sources vary on the degree of alertness of the village guard that night; one account claims he fell asleep, while another claims that he discharged his weapon to raise the alarm when the attack began, but that it was not heard by many people. As the Reverend John Williams later recounted, "with horrid shouting and yelling", the raiders launched their attack "like a flood upon us."

The raiders' attack probably did not go exactly as they had intended. In attacks on Schenectady, New York and Durham, New Hampshire in the 1690s (both of which included Hertel de Rouville's father), the raiders had simultaneously attacked all of the houses; at Deerfield, this did not happen. Historians Haefeli and Sweeney theorize that the failure to launch a coordinated assault was caused by the wide diversity within the attacking force.

Illustration by Howard Pyle showing the journey back to Canada
The raiders swept into the village, and began attacking individual houses. Reverend Williams' house was among the first to be raided; Williams' life was spared when his gunshot misfired, and he was taken prisoner. Two of his children and a servant were slain; the rest of his family and his other servant were also taken prisoner. Similar scenarios occurred in many of the other houses. The residents of Benoni Stebbins' house, which was not among the early ones attacked, resisted the raiders' attacks, which lasted until well after daylight. A second house, near the northwestern corner of the palisade, was also successfully defended. The raiders moved through the village, herding their prisoners to an area just north of the town, rifling houses for items of value, and setting a number of them on fire.

As the morning progressed, some of the raiders began moving north with their prisoners, but paused about a mile north of the town to wait for those that had not yet finished in the village.The men in the Stebbins house kept the battle up for two hours; they were on the verge of surrendering when reinforcements arrived. Early in the raid, young John Sheldon managed to escape over the palisade and began making his way to nearby Hadley to raise the alarm there. The fires from the burning houses had already been spotted, and "thirty men from Hadley andHatfield" rushed to Deerfield. Their arrival prompted the remaining raiders to flee, some of whom abandoned their weapons and other supplies in a panic.

The sudden departure of the raiders and the arrival of reinforcements raised the spirits of the beleaguered survivors, and about 20 Deerfield men joined the Hadley men in chasing after the fleeing raiders. The English and the raiders skirmished in the meadows just north of the village, where the English reported "killing and wounding many of them". However, the pursuit was conducted rashly, and the English soon ran into an ambush prepared by those raiders that had left the village earlier. Of the 50 or so men that gave chase, nine were killed and several more were wounded. After the ambush they retreated back to the village, and the raiders headed north with their prisoners.

As the alarm spread to the south, reinforcements continued to arrive in the village. By midnight, 80 men from Northampton and Springfieldhad arrived, and men from Connecticut swelled the force to 250 by the end of the next day. After debating over what action to take, it was decided that the difficulties of pursuit were not worth the risks. Leaving a strong garrison in the village, most of the militia returned to their homes.

The raiders destroyed 17 of the village's 41 homes, and looted many of the others. They killed 44 residents of Deerfield: 10 men, 9 women, and 25 children, five garrison soldiers, and seven Hadley men. Of those who died inside the village, 15 died of fire-related causes; most of the rest were killed by edged or blunt weapons. They took 109 villagers captives; this represented 40 per cent of the village population. They also took captive three Frenchmen who had been living among the villagers. The raiders also suffered losses, although reports vary. New France's Governor-General Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil reported the expedition only lost 11 men, and 22 were wounded, including Hertel de Rouville and one of his brothers. John Williams heard from French soldiers during his captivity that more than 40 French and Indian soldiers were lost; Haefeli and Sweeney believe the lower French figures are more credible, especially when compared to casualties incurred in other raids.

For the 109 English captives, the raid was only the beginning of their troubles. The raiders still had to return to Canada, a 300 miles (480 km) journey, in the middle of winter. Many of the captives were ill-prepared for this, and the raiders were themselves short on provisions. The raiders consequently engaged in a brutal yet common practice: captives were slain when it was clear they would be unable to keep up. Only 89 of the captives survived the ordeal; most of those who either died of exposure or were slain en route were women and children. In the first few days several of the captives escaped. Hertel de Rouville instructed Reverend Williams to inform the others that recaptured escapees would be tortured; there were no further escapes. (The threat was not an empty one — it was known to have happened on other raids.) The French leader's troubles were not only with his captives. The Indians had some disagreements amongst themselves concerning the disposition of the captives, which at times threatened to come to blows. A council held on the third day resolved these disagreements sufficiently that the trek could continue.

According to John Williams' account of his captivity, most of the party traveled up the frozen Connecticut River, then up the Wells River and down the Winooski River to Lake Champlain. From there they made their way to Chambly, at which point most of the force dispersed, with the captives accompanying their captors to their respective villages. Williams' wife Eunice, weak after having given birth just six weeks earlier, was one of the first to die on the trek; her body was recovered and reburied in the Deerfield cemetery.

The raid failed to accomplish one of Governor Vaudreuil's objectives: to instill fear in the English colonists. They instead became angry, and calls went out from the governors of the northern colonies for action against the French colonies. Governor Dudley wrote that "the destruction of Quebeck [sic] and Port Royal [would] put all the Navall stores into Her Majesty's hands, and forever make an end of an Indian War", the frontier between Deerfield and Wells was fortified by upwards of 2,000 men, and the bounty for Indian scalps was more than doubled, from £40 to £100. Dudley also promptly organized a retaliatory raid against Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia). In the summer of 1704, New Englanders under the leadership of Benjamin Church raided Acadian villages at Pentagouet (present-day Castine, Maine), Passamaquoddy Bay (present-daySt. Stephen, New Brunswick), Grand Pré, Pisiquid, and Beaubassin (all in present-day Nova Scotia). Church's instructions included the taking of prisoners to exchange for those taken at Deerfield, and specifically forbade him to attack the fortified capital, Port Royal.

Deerfield and other communities collected funds to ransom the captives, and French authorities and colonists also worked to extricate the captives from their Indian masters. Within a year's time, most of the captives were in French hands, a product of frontier commerce in humans that was fairly common at the time. The French and Indians also engaged in efforts to convert their captives to Roman Catholicism, with modest success. Some of the younger captives, however, were not ransomed, and were adopted into the tribes. Such was the case with Williams' daughter Eunice, who was eight years old when captured. She became thoroughly assimilated, and married a Mohawk man when she was 16. Other captives also remained by choice in Canadian and Native communities such as Kahnawake for the rest of their lives.

Negotiations for the release and exchange of captives began in late 1704, and continued until late 1706. They became entangled in unrelated issues (like the English capture of French privateer Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste), and larger concerns, including the possibility of a wider-ranging treaty of neutrality between the French and English colonies. Mediated in part by Deerfield residents John Sheldon and John Wells, some captives were returned to Boston in August 1706. Governor Dudley, who needed the successful return of the captives for political reason, then released the French captives, including Baptiste; the remaining captives that had chosen to return were back in Boston by November 1706.



Previous was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on_Deerfield.

Following was taken from http://www.1704.deerfield.history.museum/popups/people.do?shortName=BenoniStebbins#Attack

I greatly urge anyone who wants to know more on the subject to visit http://www.1704.deerfield.history.museum/home.do# .... they even have a flash video setting the scene!

This is at the end as well, but to put it out there sooner: This narrative was written by Susan McGowan Titus.



More on Benoni and John Stebbins:

1655

Benoni Stebbins, like many Deerfield inhabitants, moved to the village from Northampton. He was an adventurous youth who grew up to become a respected member of the Deerfield community.Illustration copyright Francis Back.
Benoni Stebbins led a risk-filled adventurous life, although he lived only 49 years and spent all of it within the narrow confines of the Connecticut River valley of Massachusetts. He left quite a mark in records from this period.

Born on June 23, 1655, in Springfield, Massachusetts, Benoni Stebbins was one of two surviving children of John Stebbins and his first wife Mary (Munson) Munden. Shortly after the birth of Benoni and the death of his wife, John Stebbins moved his family to Northampton, Massachusetts. John remarried in November of 1657, to Abigail Bartlett who then became stepmother to 10-year-old John and two-year-old Benoni. John and Abigail would become parents to 11 more children, one born every two years from 1659 to 1678. It must have been a crowded and often chaotic house by 1678, the year Benoni left home to be married.

When he was 12 years old, Benoni got in trouble with the law. In 1667 his name appeared in the Hampshire County Court Records when three "lads"—Benoni Stebbins, his older brother John, and Godfrey Nims—were found guilty of stealing twelve shillings of silver and seven of wampum while "townsmen were in church." The boys took the money to pay a local Indian, Quanquelatt, who had promised to help them run away to Canada.

Who was Quanquelatt? He must have lived in Northampton and knew enough English to communicate with the boys. As a Native of the valley, he may have had kinsmen who had moved north to Native villages, along the Saint Lawrence River, and so could entice the boys with thoughts of a walk to a foreign land. In any event, the court instructed them to return the money and suffer a punishment of lashes on their naked backs—perhaps in full view of the townspeople—15 to the ring leader, John, and 11 each to the two accomplices. Quanquelatt received 20 lashes. Dreams of adventure in Canada were soon only a memory.

In 1676, at age 21, Benoni was again in court—this time for "wearing his hair too long." In 1677, he married a woman named Mary Bennet who had similar spirit and disregard for the law and who, one year later, was admonished for violating the sumptuary laws and fined 10 shillings. Benoni refused to pay Mary's fine, and drew his own fine for "openly affronting the Court."

Assault on Peskeompskut
May, 1676

Illustration copyright Francis Back.
The Falls Fight

Belligerence and indignation may not be desirable human qualities in town or social affairs, but they may be seen as attributes in times of war—and in 1675 war came to the English settlements in the mid-Connecticut Valley for the first time. Metacom, a Wampanoag, (called King Philip by the English) had begun raiding English towns in the eastern part of New England early in the summer of 1675, and by late summer fighting had spread to western Massachusetts. Native peoples burned houses and killed livestock in an effort to reclaim land taken from them by the English. In the spring of 1676, Benoni Stebbins and Godfrey Nims, two of the "lads" from the 1667 court case, were among the approximately 150 men who answeredCaptain William Turner's plea for volunteers to attack an Indian camp at a place called Peskeompskut on the Connecticut River.


Metacom, called King Philip by English colonists, was a Wampanoag sachem who lead an allied force of Native people from present-day New England in a war to stymie English expansion in Native homelands.Copyright Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association. All Rights Reserved.
Benoni was still living at home with his parents when Northampton was attacked on March 14,1676, and the new palisade breached. Had he and Godfrey Nims, as energetic, eager residents, helped to build the palisade? And were they now eager for revenge? Captain Turner's daring plan may have provided the opportunity they had been waiting for.

The "army" of Captain Turner would attack the Indian camp at Peskeompskut, one of the most popular fishing spots along the Connecticut River, where people from different Native nations traditionally gathered in the spring to fish the shad and salmon and hunt the surrounding woods for game. The fighting force under Captain Turner contained both militia men from eastern Massachusetts and volunteers—more than half of whom, like Stebbins and Nims—came from towns in the Connecticut River Valley. They gathered at Hatfield, each one with his own horse and as armed as he could manage. The 20-mile march began on the evening of May 18, to the site of the falls of the Connecticut where the large party of Native peoples were camped.

The route took the men past the site of the Bloody Brook ambush of September 18, 1675, and Benoni must have told his fellow soldiers as they crossed the stream, about the military exploits of his older brother John. John Stebbins was the only Englishman known to have survived that attack and he was still a soldier, now serving with Captain Moseley, fighting to subdue Philip.

Northward they rode to the main street of the ruined English village at Pocumtuck (Deerfield), where they saw the houses scorched by Native raiders in the late summer of 1675. Both Benoni and Godfrey had land claims in the burned-out village. Benoni's grandfather Rowland—an original Deerfield proprietor—drew Lot 13 in 1671, and Godfrey Nims, himself, had bought land there in 1674. Perhaps the two young men wondered, as they passed the gaping cellar holes and stark chimney shadows, if houses—their houses —would ever line that street again.

At dawn on May 19, 1676, Captain Turner and his band of raiders reached the river and commenced a surprise attack on the sleeping Native camp. The assault resulted in the death of over 300 Indians, most of them children, women and the elderly. Arriving Native warriors pursued the English and killed 38 of them, including Captain Turner. Both Benoni and Godfrey escaped unharmed.



Strife and Survival in the Connecticut River Valley

Ashpelon's Raid

By the time Metacom's War was winding down in the late summer of 1676, the English could find few obvious signs of Indians in the Connecticut River Valley. Many had moved westward to Schaghticoke, or northward to settle in Native villages along the Saint Lawrence River. Others had retreated into isolated areas of their homelands in southern New England.

By the summer of 1677, a handful of displaced Englishmen, living in Northampton or Hatfield, were making tentative efforts to resettle the English village at Pocumtuck, or Deerfield as they had begun to call it. In an attempt to rebuild, a small party of young men—22-year-old Benoni Stebbins among them—was led by 57-year-old Sergeant John Plympton.

What brought Benoni to such a dangerous place at such a perilous time? He was a risk taker, there in spite of certain danger, with the intent of claiminthe homelot his grandfather had been granted when the town was originally laid out in 1671. Benoni was probably making plans for a house on land that he was sure to inherit from his father.

Not long after they arrived at Pocumtuck on the evening of September 19, 1677, a band of 26 Indians, under the leadership of Ashpelon, struck. All the attackers are believed to have been Natives originally from the middle Connecticut River Valley, survivors of Metacom's War, who had—according to Benoni Stebbins—fled north and lived with the French after the war. Stebbins identified them as "Norowottuck, all except one, a Narragansett,"and described the marauders as composed of "eighteen fighting men and the rest two squaws, old men and boys." Some of the captors must have been English-speaking, since Stebbins reported that they revealed that the French had "Incouraged them" to take captives, paying eight pounds apiece, and further that the "french Indians did intend to come with them the next time in spring or winter if they had success this time."

Of the would-be Deerfield settlers, four were captured: Sergeant Plympton, Quinton Stockwell, eight-year-old Samuel Russell, and Benoni Stebbins. The four were taken to East Mountain where they joined 17 captives—some of whom they knew — taken captive earlier that day in Hatfield. Because there were nearly as many captives as captors, the English were fastened securely at night by "staking down" their limbs. This involved stretching out arms and legs and fastening them to the ground with stakes, and tying cord around the neck so they could not stir. Quinton Stockwell remembered "being much tired, I slept as comfortable as ever."

The long journey to Canada began the next day. When the group reached a point two days above Squaheag (Northfield), they paused. The leader decided that part of their company should travel to the "Wotchuset" hills to "fetch away two small company of Indians that had lived there." Benoni was, at this time, sent off with two squaws and a mare "to fetch some hucleberies (huckleberries) a little way from the company." Stebbins contemplated the risk and seized the opportunity to take the horse and escape. The fact that he "got upon the mare and rid til he tired the mare and then run on foot, and so escaped to Hadley, being 2 days without victuals," demonstrated again his dogged determination to survive.

For the next five years, Benoni Stebbins was probably living in Northampton. He and his wife Mary's first child, Ebenezer, was born August 4, 1678, followed by Thankful on March 10, 1680.

Life in Deerfield


This map shows the placement of Lot 13, Benoni Stebbins's houselot and fields. Click here to take a closer look.
Copyright Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association. All Rights Reserved.
Resettlement of the town of Pocumtuck, soon renamed Deerfield, began in 1682. As expected, Benoni did inherit Lot 13 when his father died in 1679, and in 1682 or 1683 he built a house. The lot was conveniently located in the center of the village on Meeting House hill, just north of the ministry lot where the town would build a house and barn for their new pastor, the Reverend John Williams, when he arrived in June of 1686. Benoni's older brother, John, settled further north on the Deerfield street, on Lot 35.

At the December town meeting, Benoni Stebbins, age 31, began his service to the new town by agreeing to serve as selectman, one of the most esteemed offices, and probably one that involved the most work. His fellow selectmen ranged in age from 27 to 51 and were five in number. Election to town offices, particularly the positions of moderator, selectman, and clerk, suggested that the individual was highly regarded by his fellow townsmen. Stebbins apparently served well for he was elected again in 1689, 1692, and 1701. Before he was 40, Benoni was one of the wealthiest land owners in Deerfield. He not only owned the well-situated homelot, but also 26cow commons second only to the 30 owned by Lt. Thomas Wells. The majority of Deerfield men held between 10 and 20 cow commons. Only seven men had fewer than five.

Benoni Stebbins, like so many of his neighbors, was a farmer, and his days were governed by the seasons. Each day, except Sunday, the yeomen farmers walked to their barns or to the north or south meadows to plant and tend crops, mend fences, and care for their livestock. Men owned their cropland individually, the farmland laid out in long strips and apportioned to each homelot. At times, both labor and equipment were shared. The town meeting regulated grazing seasons, planting times, and the raising and lowering of fences. Deerfield farmers produced wheat, malt, hops, peas, barley, rye, hay and corn and there were cattle and some pigs; many men, including Benoni Stebbins, owned a horse. While a farmer's work was largely seasonal, women's work was constant and included repeated daily chores such as cooking and child care; and chores dictated by the change of season, such as soap and candle making, planting of the kitchen garden, and all the household concerns having to do with preparation for winter. Women's days revolved around these household tasks and the raising of the children.

Mary Stebbins had given birth to twins, Joseph and Esther, on February 6, 1689, but she died two months after their birth, leaving Benoni with two newborns and four other children under age 11. Many widowers, unskilled in the care of young children, married again within months. Benoni, however, waited two years before he married again — this time to another widow, Hannah Edwards; she bore him two more children in 1692 and 1695. His oldest daughter, Thankful, was only nine-years-old when her mother died. At that age, was she already trained enough in household routines to help to hold the family together?

The February 1690 town meeting had as its main order of business "that yr shall be a good sufficient fortification made upon the meeting hous hill." Benoni Stebbins, age 34, was one of a committee of seven appointed by the town to see to the building of a wooden palisade that would enclose an area large enough to shelter the whole population of Deerfield, 202 rods (one rod = 16 feet) around. The fort was ordered to be "don & finished by 8 March," only two weeks away. Benoni and his committee must have called upon every able-bodied man in the village of some 240 to 250 people to fell the trees, hew the logs, dig the trenches, and position the finished pickets. This, in the dead of winter. The people of Deerfield were impelled to make this utmost effort by news of a French and Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) attack on the town of Schenectady, New York, on February 18, and the fear that they would be the next target.

In addition to the building of the fortification, the town meeting determined that if there were families in houses outside the fort that could not be "conveniently received" by those in houses inside the fort, that they should have "habitations" provided for, inside the fort at the town's expense. Again Benoni stepped up to help, and he and two others were appointed to determine where the said houses or cellars would be located and how large they would be. A large attack did not come during the 1690s, though seven small raids killed a total of 12, wounded 5 and captured 5.

With the palisade in place, the town relaxed a little and looked toward more peaceful building projects as they began to make plans for a new meeting house. The new building was to take the place of the one raised soon after 1682 at the resettlement, and was to be of "ye bigness of Hatfield meeting house only ye height to be left to ye judgement and determination of ye committee..." Although we believe the meeting house was not completed until 1695, the town voted on March 11, 1693, "that the new meeting hous shall now be seated."

Seating the meeting house was a delicate issue and a cause of frequent social agitation. Age, rank, and dignity —the qualities that determined the seating plan — were not necessarily easy to determine, fairly and precisely. Only the bold would agree to be appointed to undertake this difficult charge, and they were David Hoyt, Deacon John Sheldon, and Benoni Stebbins.

Education of Children


A primary reason to teach children to read in seventeenth-century New England was so the populous could study the Bible.Copyright Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, All Rights Reserved.


The education of children in a Protestant community was a standard commitment in New England. Residents were expected to be able to read the Bibleand, as a result, the literacy rate was high, even in the little towns along the knife-edge of the frontier. Benoni's name appears in the records of 1698, along with that of John Catlin and William Armes, as members of the committee to build a school house and hire a school master. Four of Benoni's children were of school age.

In that same year, Benoni and his family—which now included a wife and seven children—felt the need to replace their house, a part of which Benoni had sold to John Catlin, who then moved it to his Lot 26, down the street to the south. In December Benoni petitioned the town for an exchange of land; he proposed to trade a piece of his property for a piece of town land at the front of his homelot; this would allow him to build his new dwelling within the protection of the fort. The petition was granted on June 12, 1699, and the building of the house probably commenced in the summer months. We may safely date his house, which figured so largely in the attack of February 1704, to the year 1699.



Attack on Deerfield
February 29, 1704

The new Stebbins house was framed with wooden timbers, as were all the houses in town, and although not fortified in the classic sense of having heavy doors and slots for shooting, its walls were filled with brick nogging, giving it added protection from musket fire. Four years after the house was finished, that musket fire began. It was on February 29, 1704, about an hour before daylight, when a large party of French and Indians breached the palisade and swarmed through the "protected" portion of the town of Deerfield. Neighbors had taken refuge in the house of Benoni and Hannah Stebbins, and their family of five children. Known to have been in the house that night were: David Hoyt, Jr. and his wife Mary with their nine-month-old baby Mary; Joseph Catlin and his wife Hannah, six months pregnant and with a boy under two years; and Benjamin Church, a soldier. Also in the house were three other men and an unknown number of women and children.

The men in the Stebbins house drove back the assailants repeatedly, but later, nearly the whole force of the enemy surrounded the house, pouring bullets from every quarter. Again, Benoni and his now desperate allies returned the fire as the raiders attempted, unsuccessfully, to set fire to the house. The attackers, in a desperate move, tried to bargain with the defenders, offering mercy if they laid down their arms. They refused. Benoni had suffered the humiliation of captivity once and he did not want to be taken prisoner again. The fury of the English increased, and the assailants were forced to take cover in both the meeting house and Sheldon house next door on the north. From these buildings they continued to shower the Stebbins house with heavy musket fire. The fight lasted nearly three hours and, only as the enemy withdrew, chased by arriving militiamen from the neighboring towns, did the Stebbins house finally catch fire, probably lit by embers blowing from other houses that were burning.

Epilogue

1704

Of his family, only Benoni was killed; his wife and five children were spared. According to the Table of Losses, compiled by Colonel Samuel Partridge for Governor Fitz John Winthrop of Connecticut, Stebbins lost real estate amounting to three hundred pounds — houses and "all goods Barn & Cattl burnt." The only property of similar high value lost that February night belonged to the Reverend Williams. The Stebbins estate was settled on March 8, 1704, with Hannah Stebbins, "Widow and Relict," as inheritor. Hannah later married Deacon Thomas French, town clerk of Deerfield, whose wife was killed on the march to Canada. French's house, located across the common from Benoni's, was still standing after the attack.

Of the other Deerfielders in the house that night, David Hoyt, Jr. was killed in the Meadows fight chasing the attackers; his wife Mary had been wounded in the assault, but survived to marry again, in 1706, to Samuel Field who survived that same Meadows fight. Joseph Catlin was another of the nine men who fell in the Meadows fight; his wife Hannah had been wounded and carried to Northampton where she gave birth to a son John, in June 1704.

Across the common, on Lots 27 and 28, Benoni Stebbins's old comrade Godfrey Nims endured a night of hell: four children killed; three captured; his wife captured and killed on the march to Canada; his house, barn, and all possessions and livestock, burned. Godfrey, himself, survived the attack, but died soon after, possibly of injuries suffered during the attack, but perhaps from a broken heart.

The two renegades, Godfrey Nims and Benoni Stebbins, challenged life all the years they lived—from their scheme to run off to Canada when they were boys, to the defense of their homes against attack 37 years later; both died violently in a violent time.

Benoni's brother John, older by eight years, lost his house and all his possessions. He and his wife and six children survived and were carried off to Canada, but only John, his wife, and John, Jr., returned to rebuild. When John wrote his will in 1723, he noted the names of his children who were still in Canada: Abigail, born 1687; Samuel, born 1688; Thankful, born 1691; Ebenezer, born 1694; and Joseph, born 1699. Of these, only Samuel appears to have returned, in the late 1720s.

About This Narrative

Benoni Stebbins was a real person who left evidence of his life – in court, in war, and in family and land records. He was a member of the third generation of Stebbines in this country: grandfather, Rowland (1594-1671) came to Ispwich from England in 1634; father, John (1626-1679), settled in Springfield and in Northampton. Benoni and his older brother John were early settlers in Deerfield. This narrative was written by Susan McGowan Titus.

Additional information on the Stebbins Faminly From the Deerfield Museum online:

Benoni Stebbins
Benoni was the son of John and Mary Munson Stebbins, born on June 23, 1655. As a youth he conspired to "run away to the French," but was caught and punished. Benoni fought in King Philip's War, and was captured by Indians, but escaped in 1677. He was a Deerfield selectman, town assessor, and constable. Benoni married Mary Broughton in 1677. They had six children before she died in 1689. He had two more with his second wife, Hannah. Benoni built a fortified house on his father's house lot within the stockade. In the 1704 attack, seven men and a few women successfully defended the house for over two-and-a-half hours. Benoni was killed in that defense.

Dorothy Stebbins
Born Dorothy Alexander, she was the daughter of John Alexander of Newton, MA. Her house, situated north of the stockade, was burned in the raid, and she and her entire family were taken captive. She, her husband, and eldest son returned to Deerfield. Her husband died in 1724. There is a record of her residing in Newton in 1733.

Ebenezer Stebbins
Ebenezer was born in Deerfield December 5, 1694. His parents were John Stebbins, one of the early Deerfield settlers, and Dorothy Alexander Stebbins of Newton. His entire family was taken captive in the raid and his home was burned. Though seemingly inclined to return to New England, Ebenezer remained in New France. On June 29, 1708, he was baptized Jacques Charles. He lived at Boucherville with his sister Abigail, renamed Marguerite, and her French husband. Nothing is known of Ebenezer beyond his French naturalization in 1710.

John Stebbins
John was a carpenter and soldier. He is the only man known to have escaped unharmed from the 1675 attack at Bloody Brook in King Philip's War. He married Dorothy Alexander of Newton. They had six children. All were captured and their house, situated north of the stockade, was burned. It is believed that none were killed in the raid or on the march north because John's daughter Abigail had married a Frenchman, Jacques de Noyon. Five of John's children remained in Canada. Only John, his wife, and their eldest child returned before the war's end. He died in 1724, leaving a will that offered one-eighth of his lands to any of his children who would return to Deerfield. Only his son Samuel and his grandson Aaron took up the offer.

John Stebbins (Jr.)
John was born about 1685. His father, John, was an early English settler of Deerfield, and his mother was Dorothy Alexander of Newton. He and his entire family were taken into captivity in the 1704 attack and their house was burned. John and his parents returned to Deerfield before the war's end. Five siblings remained in Canada for many years.

Joseph Stebbins
Joseph was born in Deerfield, April 12, 1699. He was the son of John Stebbins, one of the early Deerfield settlers, and Dorothy Alexander Stebbins of Newton. In the 1704 attack, his house burned and he, his parents, and all six children were taken captive. Joseph never came back to Deerfield, despite his father's offer of an eighth part of his lands were he to return. Joseph instead, chose to remain in New France, where he married Marguerite Sanssoucy around 1734. The couple settled in Chambly, where they had eight children. Joseph died on April 23, 1753

Samuel Stebbins
Samuel was born December 25, 1688 to John Stebbins, one of the early Deerfield settlers, and Dorothy Alexander Stebbins of Newton. Samuel was taken captive with his parents, three brothers and two sisters. His home was burned. While in New France, he lived close by several siblings. Samuel remained in New France until 1728. He was lured back to Deerfield by his father's will, which offered him one-eighth of his father's lands on the condition that he return.

Thankful Stebbins
Thankful was born in Deerfield on September 5, 1691 to John and Dorothy Alexander of Newton. She was taken captive with her entire family and her home was burned. Soon after her arrival at Chambly, she was ransomed from her Indian captors by Joseph Francois Hertel. On April 23, 1707, Thankful was baptized Louise Theresse Stebens. She married Charles-Adrien Legrain, called Lavalle, on February 4, 1711. She bore 10 children, then died giving birth to the eleventh, in 1729.

Benoni married Hannah Atkinson in 1691 in , , Massachusetts, USA. Hannah was born on 5 Jan 1653 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA; died on 7 Sep 1735 in Deerfield, Franklin, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Arrival: 1634, , , Massachusetts, USA

Notes:

Deacon John STEBBINS Sr. was born in 1626 in Bocking, Essex, Kingdom of England.3280 He emigrated on April 30, 1634 from England. Came to America with his parents on the ship Francis of Ipswich, county Suffolk, which sailed from Ipswich "the last of April " 1634. He lived in Roxbury, Massachusetts Bay Colony after 1634. He lived in Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony after 1646. Bought land in in 1646, and in 1651 he bought a house. He lived at the lower end of Pudding Lane, later called Hawley Street in Northampton, Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1656. After 1658 he was a Sawmill Owner in Easthampton, Massachusetts Bay Colony. Between 1659 and 1671 he was a Measurer of Lands in Northampton, Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1661 he was a Bailiff. Chosen for the town to clear the meadows of all cattle and swine that are trespassers and impound them so that they could preserve the corn and grass. He was elected as Selectman between 1675 and 1678 in Northampton, Massachusetts Bay Colony. He died on March 7, 1679 in Northampton, Massachusetts Bay Colony.3799 Died in an accident at his sawmill, apparently killed by some runaway logs, and the common belief was that he had been killed by witches. Two examinations of his body were made and an inquest was held during which a large number of women were summoned, to examine and touch him, intending in this way to discover the witch. However no evidence was found concerning witchcraft and no further action was taken even though half the jurors believed his death was due to witchcraft. His estate was presented in Northampton, Massachusetts March 25 1679. He has Ancestral File Number A1408. Parents: Rowland STEBBING and Sarah WHITING.

Spouse: Ann MUNSON. Deacon John STEBBINS Sr. and Ann MUNSON were married on May 14, 1646 in Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony.3280 Children were: Captain Jean STEBBINS Jr., Thomas STEBBINS, Anne STEBBINS, Edward STEBBINS, Benoni STEBBINS.

Spouse: Abigail BARTLETT. Deacon John STEBBINS Sr. and Abigail BARTLETT were married on December 17, 1657 in Hartford, Connecticut Colony.532 Children were: Samuel STEBBINS, Abigail STEBBINS, Thomas STEBBINS, Hannah STEBBINS, Mary STEBBINS, Sarah STEBBINS, Joseph STEBBINS, Deborah STEBBINS, Rebekah STEBBINS, Benjamin STEBBINS, Thankful A STEBBINS.

STEBBINS AND ALEXANDER LINES

The STEBBING family is of great antiquity in England; the oldest branch resided in Yorkshire and is descended from Sir Thomas STEBBING, baronet.

The family name was, and still is in England, STEBBING. The termination " ing" in the name may be of Saxon origin, and the name may refer to a field or meadow with stubs in it. There are various forms which the family name took: in the town records of Northampton we can find STEBIN, STEBBING, and especially STEBBINS. In Canada the name was given as STEBEN or STEBENNE. All refer to the same familv.

NOTE: Dates relative to persons and events in New England are given in Old Style(O.S.). The corresponding date in New Style(N.S.) is obtained by adding 10 days until February 28, 1699/1700, and ll days thereafter. The New Style was adopted by England and her colonies only on September 3, 1752.

THE STEBBINS IN ENGLAND

The first STEBBINS that I have been able to find mention of was William STEBBINS born in 1540. He had a son, Thomas STEBBINS born around 1565. We do not know the name of his wife, but he had two sons:

1) Rowland STEBBINS born November 5, 1592.

2) Martin STEBBINS, born April 28, 1594.

Rowland STEBBINS I was baptized in St. Mary's church, Bocking, Essex County, November 5, 1592. In the same church in Bocking, on November 30, 1618, he married Sarah WHITING born in 1591.

On the last day of April, 1634, Rowland STEBBINS embarked for America aboard the Francis, under Captain John CUTTING, from Ipswich, England. With him were his wife Sarah, their children: Thomas, aged 14; Sarah. aged 11; John, aged 8 Elizabeth, aged 6. An earlier daughter called Elizabeth had been buried on June 15, 1625. They also had with them Mary WINCHE, aged 15. It is unknown if she was related to STEBBINS.

The group cleared customs only on November 12, 1634. Rowland STEBBINS settled first in Roxbury near Boston. In 1639 he moved to Springfield (settled only 3 years before by William PYNCHON ), where he obtained a land settlement. About 1668 he was one of the pioneers of Northampton, MA. Sarah, his wife of 31 years, died in Springfield on October 4, 1649, at the age of 58. Rowland died in Northampton on December 14, 1671, aged 78.

FIRST GENERATION IN AMERICA

As I just mentioned, Rowland STEBBINS and Sarah had two sons and two daughters:

1) Thomas STEBBINS born in England around 1620. He became a militia lieutenant. InNovember. 1645 he married Hannah WRIGHT, daughter of Deacon Samuel WRIGHT and his wife Margaret. Hannah died on December 16, 1660. On December 14, 1676 at Springfield, Thomas remarried to Abigail BURT. Daughter of Henry and Ulalia BURT and already a double widow (of Francis BALL and of Benjamin MUNN). He was the father of 9 children. On September 24, 1653, he was a witness of the signing of the Indian Deed of Northampton, one year before Northampton began to be settled. He was a witness at the witchcraft slander trial of Sarah Bridgman in Springfield, in August 1656. He was a juryman on March 29, 1659, at Springfield. and again on March 24. l661 at Northampton. He died in Springfield on September 25 (N.S.), 1683.

2) Sarah STEBBINS, born in England around 1623. On July 14, 1639, she married Thomas MERRICK, in Springfield. They had 5 children. Sarah died in Springfield on October 4, 1649, and her husband Thomas died September 7, 1704. in Springfield.

3) John STEBBINS I, see below.

4) Elizabeth STEBBINS, born in England around 1628. On January 2, 1646/7, in Springfield, she married John CLARK. 'They had four children, and she died in Springfield on October 28, 1700.

John STEBBINS II was born in England, around 1626. He was in Roxbury in 1651, and in that same year bought a house in Springfield. He was one of the first landowners of Pocumtuck (the original name of Deerfield) but never seems to have resided there. Rather, he settled in Northampton in 1656 and lived at the lower end of Pudding Lane, which is now Hawley Street. He was a large farmer and owned real estate valued between 400 and 500 pounds. His saw mill was within the bounds of Easthampton. I will have more to say about him once I have dealt with his marriages and children.

FIRST MARRIAGE OF JOHN STEBBINS I

He married for the first time on May 14, 1646, to Ann [our 913 & 1605], widow of Abraham MUNDEN. and the dauahter of Thomas MUNSON of Hartford. They had 5 children:

A) John STEBBINS II born in Springfield on January 28, 1647. We will deal with him later.
B) Thomas STEBBINS, born in Springfield on February 24, 1649. He died there April 24, 1650, just a bit more than 1 year old.
C) Anna STEBBINS, born in Springfield on April 10, 1651, and died there on May 6, 1652 or 1653.
D) Edward STEBBINS, born in Springfield July 12, l653, and died there October 14 of the same year.
E) Benoni STEBBINS. born in Springfield, June 23, 1655. In 1676, at Deerfield, he married Mary BROUGHTON, the widow of James BENNET. Mary died at Deerfield on August 2, 1689. Benoni remarried. on March 2, 1691, to Hannah ATKISSON, widow of Joseph EDWARDS. By both marriages he had 8 children. Benoni was killed on February 29, 1704, during the Deerfield massacre. He is one of the ancestors of Father Philip BONVOULOIR, A.A.

Ann (MUNSON), the first wife of John STEBBINS I, died in Springfield in 1656.

SECOND MARRIAGE OF JOHN STEBBINS I

John STEBBINS I remarried, in Northampton, on December 17, 1657, to Abigail BARTLETT, born probably in Hartford CT, the dauahter of Robert and Anne BARTLETT. John and Abigail had 11 children, all born in Northampton, and making JOHN STEBBINS I the father of 16 children:
F) Samuel STEBBINS, born at Northampton on Januarv 21, 1659. On March 14, 1678, he married Mary FRENCH, daughter of John FRENCH and ? KINGSLEY. He deserted her, and on March 12, 1692 married Sarah WILLIAMS, in Rhode Island. On December 27, 1692, Mary FRENCH obtained a divorce on the grounds that her husband had had children by Sarah WILLIAMS.
G) ABIGAIL STEBBINS, born September 6, 1660, at Northampton. Married William PHELPS there on May 30,l678.
H) Thomas STEBBINS, born in Northampton ,on May 6, 1662. On September 26, 1684 he married Elizabeth WRIGHT, daughter of Samuel WRIGHT and Elizabeth BURT.
I) Hannah STEBBINS, born July 8, 1664, in Northampton. She married John SHELTON; son of Isaac SHELTON and Mary WOODFORD on November 15, 1679. She died on Februarv 29, 1704, in the Deerfield massacre. Stout resistance had been made at the house of Captain SHELTON, and Indians shot her through a hole chopped in the door of her house. The door is now on display in the small museum in Deerfield.
J) Marv STEBBINS, born in Northampton on September 10, 1666. Married Thomas STRONG there on November 17. 1683.
K) Sarah STEBBINS. born in Northampton on June 4, 1668. Married there to William SOUTHWELL in 1687.
L) Joseph STEBBINS, born in Northampton, on January 17, 1670. Buried there on June 3, 1681.
M) Deborah STEBBINS, born in Northampton, March 5, 1672. Married first to Beniamin ALVORD. Remarried to Benjamin BURT.
N) Beniamin STEBBINS, baptized May 3, 1674, in Northampton. Married Mary ASHLEY, daughter of David ASHLEY and Hannah GLOVER, on December 21, 1709.
O) Rebecca STEBBINS, baptized February 26, 1676. in Northampton. In 1697 she married Nathaniel STRONG.
P) Thankful STEBBINS. born May 11, 1678, in Northampton. Married Jeriah STRONG on July 18. 1700.

Returning as I promised above, to John STEBBINS I. I mentioned that in 1651 he bought a house in Springfield. He must have been a public spirited man because in 1654 he was a selectman and served on various committees: land survey (1659), laying out of public highways (166l), building of a new meeting house (1661). He served as juror in 1661, and was chosen bailiff responsible for clearing cattle and swine from public meadows. On April 18, 1661, he signed a covenant organizing the church of Northampton. He was also keeper of the sawmill. the place where he eventually died on March 9, 1679. He was apparently killed by some runaway logs, but the suddenness of his death seemed suspicious to some of his neighbors.

A twelve man jury of inquest rendered a verdict, which, while it did not directly charge witchcraft, showed that they more than half believed it had something to do with his death. Two examinations were of the remains and two reports were made to the court. In the first one, they declared that there was a "warmth and heate in his bodv yt dead persons are not usual to have"; they reported that there were "fewer places upon his breast yt seemed to have been pintched, though the doctor informed ym that in his lifetime there was a swelling between the Pintches"; his neck was as flexible as that of a living person. Upon his body were found "several hundred of spots" that looked as if "they had been shott with small shott." and when thev were scraped there were holes under them. On the second examination, which must have been made soon after the first one, they found, as would very naturally follow, "the body somewhat more cold yn before, his joints were more limber," and several bruises on different parts of his person. which they had not previously discovered. The jury reported to the County Court in April, and Samuel BARTLETT, brother-in-law to STEBBINS. ,and who seems to have been the witch finder in general for the town, brought in all the testimony he could obtain. This evidence, which cannot be found now, was sent to the Court of Assistants at Boston. but no further action was taken. Undoubtedly the testimony pointed to some suspected person, but no one was named in the records......

After the death of John STEBBINS I on March 9, 1679, his widow, Abigail, remarried on December 28, 1681, to Jedediah STRONG, son of Elder John STRONG. She died on July 15, l689.

SECOND GENERATION IN AMERICA

John STEBBINS II son of John STEBBINS I was born in Springfield. on January 28, 1646/7 and was named after his father. He was a carpenter, and served as a soldier under Captain Lathrop, and under Captain Mosely in 1675-76. He was the only one who escaped unwounded from the Bloody Brook massacre on September 18, 1675. As a company was transporting grain from Deerfield to refugees in Hadley and Hatfield, Indians killed many en route, who were eating wild grapes. This massacre caused Deerfield to be temporarily abandoned, but John II returned there and lived on lot 35. About 1683 he married Dorothy ALEXANDER of Newton. She was 22 or 23 years old at the time.

THE ALEXANDER FAMILY

Dorothy ALEXANDER the daughter of John ALEXANDER II and his wife Beatrice who was still alive in 1690. John ALEXANDER II was son of John ALEXANDER I who had come from Scotland to New-England before 1640 and had settled in Windsor, Connecticut. His wife's name is unknown to us, but we know that he had at least two sons. The ALEXANDER line is part of the Scottish clan of MACDONELL of Glengarry.

THE DEERFIELD MASSACRE

It was during the Queen Anne's War (1702-1713) that the so-called Deerfield massacre took place on February 29, 1'704. Within the palisade protecting the village, there were about 290 people, including 20 soldiers sent to defend the village and 3 Canadians. The villagers rashly relied on the deep snow (3 feet) to protect them. But a blizzard had caused snowbanks to pile up almost as high as the palisade; and 200 French and their Indian allies under the command of Sieur HERTEL de ROUVILLE, easily scaled the wall, attacked at dawn and put much of the town to the torch. By eight o'clock all resistance had ceased. When the invaders retreated. they left 49 English dead. and carried oft some 109 prisoners, including John STEBBINS II, his wife Dorothy and their children. The attackers return trip was through the valleys of the Connecticut, the White, the Winooski Rivers, Lake Champlain, and the Richelieu River. At the White River the group split up, and most of them went to Chambly. Althougth most arrived only in mid-April, Jacques De NOYON, Abigail, his wife, and the STEBBINS family arrived by the end of March, and remained under the protection of the HERTEL family.

Of the 109 prisoners, two had escaped the first day, twenty were killed on the route to Canada, and 59 returned to New Encgland before 1731. Among the returnees were John STEBBINS II, his wife Dorothy and John STEBBINS III. But four of his children (Abigail, Thankful, Ebenezer, and Joseph I) decided to remain in Canada. to their father's great chagrin.

Before we continue our genealogical story of the STEBBINS family, it might be interesting to add here the narration of the Massacre given by Rev. John WILLIAMS, pastor of the community, and himself a captive:

"On Tuesday, the 29th of February, 1703/4, not long before the break of day, the enemy came in like a flood upon us; our watch being unfaithful and evil, whose awful effects in a surprise of our fort should bespeak all watchmen to avoid as they would not bring charge of blood upon themselves. They came to my house in the beginning of the onset, and by their violent endeavors to break open the doors and windows with axes and hatchets, awakened me out of sleep; on which I leapt out of bed and running towards the door perceived the enemy making their entrance into the house; I called to awaken two soldiers in the chamber, and returned to my bedside for my arms; the enemy immediately break into the room. I judge the number to be about twenty, with painted faces and hideous exclamations! I reached up my hands to the bed-tester for my pistol, uttering a short petition to God for everlasting mercies to me and mine ... expecting a present passage through the valley of the shadow of death. Taking down my pistol, I cocked it and put it to the breast of the first Indian that came up; but my pistol missing fire, I was seized by 3 Indians who disarmed me and bound me naked, as I was in my shirt, and so I stood for near the space of an hour; binding me as they told me they would carry me to Quebec. My pistol missing fire was an occasion of my life being preserved. The judgment of God did not slumber long against one of the three which took me, who was a Captain; for by sun-rising he received a mortal shot from my next neighbor's house (Benoni STEBBINS' house). who opposed so great a number of French and Indians as three hundred and yet were no more than seven men in an ungarrisoned house .... The enemy fell to rifling the house, entering in great numbers into every room.... the enemies who entered the house were all of them Indians and Macquas; insulting over me awhile, holding up hatchets over my head, threatening to burn all I had but yet God, beyond expectation, made us in great measure to be pitied for some were so cruel and barbarous as to take and carry to the door two of my children and murder them, as also a Negro woman; yet they gave me liberty to put on my clothes ... and gave liberty to my dear wife to dress herself and our children. About sun an hour high, we were all carried out of the house for a march and saw many of the houses of my neighbors in flames, perceiving the whole fort, one house excepted, to be taken ... Upon my parting of the town, they fired my house and barn. We were carried over the river to the foot of the mountain, about a mile from my house, where we found a great number of our Christian neighbors: men, women, and children, to the number of an hundred, nineteen of whom were afterwards murdered by the way, and two starved to death near Cowass, in a time of great scarcity or famine, the savages underwent there. When we came to the foot of the mountain they took away our shoes, and gave us in the room of them Indian shoes to prepare us for our travel. After this we went up to the mountain and saw the smoke of the fires in the town and beheld the awful desolation of Deerfield. And before we marched any farther, they killed a suckling child of the English. There were slain by the enemy, of the inhabitants of our town, to the number of thirty-eight besides nine of the neighboring towns.

"Whilst we were there, the English beat out a company that remained in the town, and pursued them to the river, killing and wounding many of them; but the body of the army being alarmed, they repulsed these few English that pursued them. I am not able to give you an account of the number of enemy slain, but I observed after this fight no great insulting mirth, as I expected; and saw many wounded persons, and for several days together they buried of their party, and one of chief note among the Macquas. The Governor of Canada told me, his army had that success with the loss of but eleven men: three Frenchmen. one of which was the lieutenant of the army, five Macquas and three Indians."

JOHN STEBBINS II AND FAMILY

The children of John STEBBINS II and Dorothy Alexander were:

1) Abigail STEBBINS, born January 4, 1684, at Deerfield. She was a girl of many names: in documents, she is called Gabrielle until, on May 28, 1708, she was baptized in Montreal under the name of Marguerite. On February 3, 1704 (Old style or February 14, New style) only a few days before the massacre, she married one of the three Canadians who were then living In Deerfield, Jacques DE NOYON, with Rev. John WILLIAMS performing the ceremony. DE NOYON sometimes called DENIO or James DENYO, was from Boucherville in the Province of Quebec. In May 1710, Louis XIV will naturalize her a French citizen. In Canada, Abiqail and Jacques settled in Boucherville, nine miles down the river from Montreal.

Here is a translation of the Catholic baptismal record of Abigail in Montreal: "On Monday, 28 May 1708, was baptized by me, undersigned priest, an Englishwoman, named in her own country Abigail Stebbens, who was born at Deerfield in New England, January 4, 1684 of the marriage of Jean Stebbins inhabitant of that place and of Dorothee Alexander both Protestants, having been baptized by the minister of the place some years after andmarried the 14th February 1704 to Jacques Desnoions now sergeant in Monsieur de Tonty's Company, came with him to Canada toward the end of the following March and lives with him at Boucherville. Her name of Abigail has been changed to that of Marguerite. Her godfather was the High and Mighty Seigneur Messire Philippe de RIGAULT Marquis de Vaudreuil, Knight of the Military Order of Saint Louis and Governor General of New France. Her godmother, Demoiselle Marguerite BOUAT, wife of Antoine PASCAUT, royal treasury clerk of the King's revenue in this country, who have signed with me according to the law. Meriel. priest.

Marguerite STEBBEN Vaudreuil

Mgte BOUAT PASCAUD

A great deal has been written about the DE NOYON/STEBBINS couple, but I'll deal with it only briefly here, because most of it is irrelevant to our genealogy, except that maybe the STEBBINS family was not maltreated after their capture because Jacques DE NOYON (DENIO) was a Frenchman.

A TROUBLED MARRIAGE

Jacques DE NOYON had wanderlust. He was what the Canadians called "coureur de bois" (a bushranger), who were the despair of their families and of the government because they traded with the Indians, offering brandy for furs. His travels included trips to the Canadian West: he crossed Lake Superior, entered the Kaministikwia River near present day Fort Williams, explored Dog Lake, and by the Rainy River discovered the "Lake of the Christinaux" now known as Lake of the Woods (as acknowledged on a map published by the National Geographic Society in June 1853). He spent the winter of 1668/9 on the Ouchichig River (Winnipeg).

In 1700 he is in New York where he wrote to Richard COOTE, the Count of Bellomon, who was governor of New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. He promised to trade with merchants at Albany. He says he will go to Albany with 30 young men to trade furs. And he will bring about a dozen sachems of the Ottawa Indians.

Jacques DE NOYON was almost twice as old as Abigail STEBBINS when they married, and to be well received he claimed to be well established and quite wealthy in Canada. He was a liar, as Abiqail soon discovered; and he provided poorly for his wife and family. In July, 1708, the notary Pierre RAIMBAULT, Councillor to the King, presented the following petition to the King's Council:

"Humbly petitioning, Marguerite STEBE, wife of Jacques DE NOYON, English woman, shows that with the consent of her father and mother she had married in her country the said DE NOYON, who was there at the time; upon his assurance that he would give her a large dwelling (un establissement considerable) and that he possessed much property (de grands biens) in this country where she came with him and where, having found nothing not even a house (pas meme un asile pour se retirer) she has been obliged to support her family by the work of her hands; to live at the expense of charitable persons, receiving nothing from her husband and as her work does not suftice to feed her numerous family, she has been advised to purchase land in Boucherville, which is offered at a reasonable price; agreement for payment during a long term being made in her own name which land she hopes to pay for when due (a constitution de rente en son nom particulier laquelle terre elle espere acquitter le jour par la suite) both by her heirs and labors as by the help she hopes for from her parents when it shall have pleased God to give us peace...."

Jacques, a soldier and trader, was obviously not a homemaker, and since there was no marriage contract, and since by the Quebec law of the time she could hold no property in her own name, she needed the tribunal's empowerment to do so. And here is the affirmative legal answer: "Marguerite STEBE, accepting for herself her heirs and assigns a grant in the seigniory of Boucherville on the slope St. Joseph, of 75 arpents in area (3 x 25), charged with a seignioral rent of 3 livres 15 sous and 3 live hens. Price 200 livres of the country. Made and passed in Boucherville at the rectory the 24 August 1706, present Monsieur de la SAUDRAYE and Monsieur BOUCHER."

Marguerite learned that her father John STEBBINS II had died on December 19, 1724 (0.S.) and on July 6, 1725 (N.S.) she petitioned the Governor General of Canada that she be permitted to visit Deerfield and bring back her oldest son, Rene-Jacques DE NOYON aka Aaron. The permit was valid for three months and her route was determined: the route to Deerfield was to begin from the Fort at Chamb1y, go down the Richelieu River, Lake Champlain, and the Hudson. From Orange (Albany) she was to follow the usual route by the Mohawk Trail to Greenfield and Deerfield. Because she was pregnant at the time, she stayed on in Deerfield and gave birth to a daughter, Marie Anne DE NOYON, February 27, 1726. The child was later baptized in Boucherville. Marguerite (Abiqail,Gabrielle) was buried at Boucherville on November 15, 1740. The record says she was 62; in fact, she was only 56. Her husband, after all his wandering, was also buried in Boucherville on May 12, 1745.

OTHER CHILDREN OF J0HN STEBBINS II AND DOROTHY ALEXANDER

2) John STEBBINS III, born around 1685, in Deerfield. Around 1714, he married Mary __?___ , who died in Deerfield, August 30. 1733, at the age of 37. He remarried at Deerfield, August 25, 1735 to Hannah ALLEN, dauqhter of Edward ALLEN and Mercy PAINTER. He died in Deerfield September 7, 1760.

3) Samuel STEBBINS, born December 25, 1688 in Deerfield. He was still a prisoner in Canada when his father made out his will in 1723. By 1731 he had returned to Deerfield.

4) Thankful STEBBINS a daughter, born September 5, 1691 at Deerfield. She was thus about 12 years old when captured, and it seems that she was ransomed by some member of the HERTEL family at Chambly. Her baptism is recorded on one of the first pages of the Chambly parish register, where she is called Louise Theresse [sic] STEBENS. The document, in French, reads thus in translation:

"This 23 of April, 1707, I, Pierre Dublaron officiating in the parish of Chambly, certify that I have administered the rite of baptism to Louise Theresse Stebens, English girl and baptized in England. [this seems faulty as she was born in New Eng1and]. Her godfather and godmother were Monsieur Hertelle Seigneur of Chambly, and Madame de Perygny, wife of the commandant ot the fort of Chambly, in faith of which I have signed."

She was married as Therese Louyse STEBENS, in Chambly, but the record is on the parish register ot Longueil. I have a photocopy of this marriage certificate which I have numbered GD25. In translation it reads thus:

"February 4, 1711, after the publication of the usual banns made at the parish masses in the church of the Holy Family at Boucherville Jan. 25, Feb.lst & 2nd to which no legal impediment has been found, I, the undersigned priest pastor of Boucherville have married in the said parish church of the Holy Family of Boucherville Adrien Grain, alias La Vallee [our # 450], inhabitant of Chambly, aged 23 years and son of the late Charles Grain and Louyse la Fortune ( aka BONNET) living and inhabitant of Chambly with Therese Louyse Stebens, aged 21 (really only 20), daughter of Jan Stebens and of Dorothee Alexandre his wife, inhabitants of Guiervil (sic for Deerf ield) in New England and have given them the nuptial benediction in the presence of Joseph Mailliot, cousin of the groom, of Sieur Jacques de Noyon brother-in-law of the bride, of Sieur Baribault relative of the bride, of Joseph Roberge witness and friend of the groom who have signed with me according to the law."

There are then the signatures of Pere Jan (Could this be the Jan Stebens, John Stebbins mentioned ?), Joseph Mailliot, J Barbot, Robarge, and of R de la Saudraye, priest.

Charles LEGRAIN who was also known as Adrien LA VALLE, and was a captain in the militia, with his wife. Louise Therese STEBENNE had as children:

A) Francoise ~Therese LEGRAIN. baptized in March. 1713.
B) Guillaume LEGRAIN, baptized conditionally by a Recollect missionary on December 30, 1714, two days after his birth, probably because he had already had a lay baptism, there not being a resident priest yet in Chambly.
C) Marie-Jeanne LEGRAIN. born in 1716.
D) Charlotte LEGRAIN who was baptized on January 6, 1720. She would marry Jean-Baptiste VIENT (our # 224] on February 5, 1742 at Chambly.
E) Isabelle LEGRAIN, baptized January 3, 1722.
F) Antoine La Vallee (LEGRAIN), "son of Adrien Charles and Louise Theraise Stebenne" was born in 1723.
G) Marie Therese La Va11ee (LEGRAIN). '1daughter of Charles Lavalle and Marie Therese Steben" was baptized on February 2, 1725. As we can see, the surnames LE GRAIN/LA VALLEE seem to have been used interchangeably.
H) Veronique LEGRAIN, their last child, born or baptized on July 4, 1729. The labors of this last birth were apparently too much for her, because only seven days later, on July 11, 1729, is recorded the burial of the wife of Charles LEGRAIN, Therese Louise STEBENNE.

Returning now to the remaining children of John STEBBINS II and Dorothy ALEXANDER we have

5) Their fifth child was Ebenezer STEBBINS. who was nine years old when he was captured. He was born in Deerfield. on December 5, 1694. One month after the baptism of his sister Abigail, he too was baptized by Father MERIEL. at Boucherville:

"On Friday, June 29th, 1708, I, the undersigned priest baptized an English boy named in his country Ebenezer Stebbens, who born at Dearfield in New England the ___ 169___ of the marriaae of Jean Stebbens and Dorothee Alexandre both protestants, having been taken 11th Feb. 1704 and brought to Canada, lives at Bouchervi1le with his sister Marguerite Stebbens. wife of Jacques Desnoions, Sergeant of the Company of Tonti. He was given the name of Jacques Charles (after his godfather). His godfather was Jacques Charles de Sabrevoys Esquire Captain of a detachment of marines and his godmother Jeanne Crevier, wife of M. Pierre BOUCHER Seigneur of Boucherville. who have signed with me according to law.

Jeanne CREVIER Meriel, priest de Sabrevoys Denoyons

6) Their sisth child was Joseph Stebbins I who is said to have been four years old when he was captured. Emma Lewis Coleman, in the 2nd volume of her New England captives carried to Canada., published in 1925, says that neither his birth nor marriage records have been found, but declares that he married Marie-Marguerite SANSOUCY also known as LANGLOIS and lived with her at Chambly. The Stebbins Genealogy, published by Ralph Stebbins Greeles and Robert Lemuel Greenleem 1904, affirms that Joseph STEBBINS was born April 12, 1699 at Deerfield and died at Chambly April 23, 1753. On November 15.,1734, he married Marie-Marguerite SANSOUCY, mentioned above, daughter of Guillaume SANSOUCY aka GEMME & JAMES LANGLOIS & Catherine LIMOUSIN. The private marriage contract drawn up the same day at Fort St. Louis (Chambly) and was recorded by notary LOISEAU on November 18, 1734. After the death of Joseph STEBBINS his widow remarried to Jean-Baptiste MENARD, on January 25, 1761. It is through the marriage of Joseph STEBBINS I and M. Marguerite SANSOUCY that the STEBENNE name was established in Canada, it being a gallicisation of the original STEBBINS.

The children of Joseph STEBBINS I and Marguerite SANSOUCY were:

1) Joseph STEBBINS II He was born November 20, 1735. He married twice: first to Marie Barbe VALLIERES, daughter of Antoine & Suzanne BOULERlSSE, at St. Mathias on November 17, 1760. He remarried on.January 7, 1767 Chambly to Marie-Amable BOMBARDIER dauqhter of Jacques BOMBARDIER and Francoise THIBAULT. He had a daughter from the first marriage From the second marriage , he-had:
a) Catherine STEBBINS, who married at St. Mathias on January 14, 1787, Joseph PERRON.
b) Marie-Anne STEBBINS, married at St. Mathias, January 14, 1788 to Joseph MAILLOT.
c) Jean-Baptiste STEBBINS, married at St. Mathias, October 7, 1793 to Marie Genevieve PELLETIER.
d) Marie Susanne STEBBINS, married at St. Mathias, September 19, 1796 to Andre BRAUT.
e) Angelique Stebbins, also known as Josephte born around 1785. She was said to be 17 when she married at St. Mathias de Rouville in Chambly County, on August 16, 1802 to Jean- Baptiste VIEN III son of Jean- Baptiste VIEN II and Marie Josepthe DUFAUT.

The other children of Joseph STEBBINS I and Marguerite SANSSOUCY (LANGLOIS) were:

2) Marguerite, born September 20, 1737. Died 1756.
3) Francois, born March 15, 1741 and died same year.
4) Marie Suzanne, born May 31, 1744; married and died 1776.
5) Louis, who married September 20. 1773
6) Pierre, born July 26, 1746.
7) Francois, born July 12, 1751.
8) Marie Anne, born May 25, 1753 and died same year.
9) Jean-Baptiste, who in 1762 married Josephte MASSE and in 1767 remarried to Marie Claire FONTAINE.

The will of Joseph STEBBINS I is in the Will Book of Hampden County Probate Court, Book 4, page 116. In part, it reads: "And as to my children in Canada, to wit Samuel. Ebenezer, Joseph, Abigail, and Thankful my will is...That each of them have an eighth part of my lands provided they come and live in New England....Those that will not live in New England shall have five shillings and no more...Yet be it forever understood that if my daughter Abigail come not tarry as above said, then Aaron Denieur (for DE NOYON) her son, shall be my heir in her Room and Stead, provided said Aaron continue in this Country then. After my decease and my wife's decease, said Aaron shall enter upon that which should have been his mother's part and possess it until his mother comes, but if she come not and fulfill the above said conditions, and Aaron stays in New Eng1and and doth fulfill them, then the said eighth part of my lands to descend to said Aaron's heirs forever." Aaron did receive these lands, but Abigail came and tarried awhile, long enough to bear her 13th child and doubtless to receive her five shillings.

Genealogical document 009
St. Mathias de Rouvi1le
Comte Chambly

Montreal National Archives
microfilm roll # 333
Mariage
Jean Bte Vient
et
Angelique Stebenne

Le seize aout de l'an mil huit cent deux apres la publication de trois bans de mariage faite aux prones de nos messes paroissiales pendant trois dimanches consecutifs, le premier1 huit et quinze du present entre jean Bte vient, majeur, age de trente ans, Journalier dans cette paroisse, fils de feu Jean Bte vient vivant cultivateur de cette paroisse et de Marie Josephte Dufaut d'une part, et Angelique Stebenne, mineur, agee de dix sept ans environ, fille de feu Joseph Stebenne, vivant cultivateur de cette paroisse et de Marie Bombardier d'autre part. Ne s'etant decouvert aucun empechement ni opposition au dit mariage, les parties ayant obtenu de Missre Francois Chevrier grand vicaire dispense du troisieme et au quatrieme degre de parente laquelle est entre nos mains, nous pretre soussigne, du consentement des parens1 avons recu leur mutuel consentement, do mariage et leur avons donne la benediction nuptiale suivant le rit prescrit par notre mere la Ste Eglise Catholique. apostolique et Romaine et ce en presence de Michel Gilbert ami tenant lieu de pere de Francois Demers ami de l'epoux; et de Jean Bte Stebenne frere tenant lieu de pere, de Simon ?? et Joseph Segin, amis de l'epouse qul n'ont scu signe avoc nous de ce enquis suivant l'ordonnance.

Mi. Gilberte S Robitaille Ptre

Taken from :
http://mviens.tripod.com/stebbins.htm

John married Mary Anne Munson on 14 Mar 1646 in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts, USA. Mary (daughter of Thomas Munson and Sarah Joanna Mew) was born in 1623 in , , , England; died in 1656 in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts, USA; was buried in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Arrival: 1634, , , Massachusetts, USA

Notes:

Stebbins Family
Genealogical And Personal Memoirs Relating To The Families of The State of Massachusetts, Prepared Under The Editorial Supervision of, William Richard Cutter, A. M., Historian of The New England Historic-Genealogical Society; Librarian Emeritus of Woburn Public Library: Author of "The Cutter Family," "History of Arlington," "Bibliography Of Woburn," etc., etc., Assisted By William Frederick Adams, President of Connecticut Valley Historical Society; Publisher of Pynchon Genealogy, "Picturesque Hampden," "Picturesque Berkshire," etc., etc., Volume Ii., Illustrated, New York, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1910.
Stebbins Family
Rowland Stebbins, immigrant ancestor, was born in or near Stebbing, county Essex, England, in 1594, died December 14, 1671, at Northampton, Massachusetts.
At the age of forty he came to America in the ship "Francis," of Ipswich, sailing April 30, 1634, with his wife Sarah, aged forty-three years, and children.
Thomas, aged fourteen;
Sarah, aged eleven;
John, aged eight;
Elizabeth, aged six.
and servant, Mary Winch, aged fifteen.
He resided at Springfield, Massachusetts, soon after its settlement, about 1639; had a grant of land there December 24, 1640, and other grants later: was a proprietor in 1641.
His wife Sarah died at Springfield and was buried October 4, 1649.
He removed to Northampton, about 1668; from Springfield and died there.
His will, dated March 1, 1669, bequeathed to son Thomas and his seven children; to son John and nine children; to daughter Elizabeth, wife of John Clarke and her three children; to son in-law Merrick's three daughters: to Mary Munde; friend John Pynchon and brother Robert Bartlett, overseers.
Children:
1. Thomas, born 1620, married Hannah Wright.
2. Sarah, 1623, married Thomas Merrick.
3. John, mentioned below.
4. Elizabeth, 1628, married John Clarke.
(II) John, son of Rowland Stebbins, was born in England in 1626, died March 7, 1678, at Northampton, Massachusetts.
He was a farmer at Springfield and Northampton and in 1651 was for a time at Roxbury, Massachusetts.
He had grants of land at Springfield, and bought a house there.
He was highway surveyor; selectman in 1655.
In 1656 he moved to Northampton and his home was on the lower end of Pudding lane, now Hawley street.
He owned saw mills there; was measurer of land in 1659-71; committee to lay out highways in 1660; juror in 1661; selectman 1675-78.
He owned the covenant in the church, June 18, 1661; served on the church building committee the same year; was bailiff 1664; contributed to the Harvard College fund 1672-73 ten bushels of wheat.
It was commonly believed that he was killed by witches.
He was part owner of the mill on Broad brook and was killed in some mysterious way while alone in the mill.
He married (first) March 14, 1646, at Springfield, Ann Munden, widow of Abraham Munden.
She married (first) May 16, 1644, and died 1656.
He married (second) December 17, 1657, at Northampton, Abigail Bartlett, daughter of Robert and Anne Bartlett.
She was killed October 10, 1710, by a fall from her horse while on a visit to her children at Coventry, Connecticut.
Children of first wife:
1. John, born January 28, 1647, married Dorothy Alexander.
2. Thomas, February 24, 1649, died April 24, 1650.
3. Anna, April 10, 1651, died May 6, 1652-53.
4. Edward, July 12, 1653, died October 14, 1653.
5. Benoni, June 23, 1655, married Mary (Broughton) Bennett; (second) Hannah Edwards.
Children of second wife, born at Northampton:
6. Samuel, January 21, 1659, married Mary French.
7. Abigail, September 6, 1660, married William Phelps.
8. Thomas, May 6, 1662, mentioned below.
9. Hannah, July 8, 1664, married John Sheldon.
10. Mary, September 10, 1666, married Thomas Strong.
11. Sarah, June 4, 1668, married William Southwell.
12. Joseph, January 17, 1669, died June 3, 1681.
13. Deborah, March 5, 1671-72, married Benjamin Alvord; (second) Benjamin Burt.
14. Rebecca, baptized February 26, 1676, married Nathaniel Strong.
15. Thankful, born May 11, 1678, married Jerijah Strong.
(III) Thomas, son of John Stebbins, was born May 6, 1662, at Northampton, died there April 28, 1712.
He took the oath of allegiance February 8, 1678; was fence viewer 1695-96, 1706-7, 1709-10.
His estate was settled February 13, 1723-24.
He married, September 26, 1684, Elizabeth Wright, born July 31, 1666, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Burt) Wright.
She married (second) John Hannum.
Children:
1. Elizabeth, born October 31, 1685, married William Wait.
2. Thomas, April 2, 1689.
3. Hannah, 1691, married Samuel King.
4. Josiah, born September, 1694, died 1725.
5. Joseph, March 30, 1697, mentioned below.
6. Experience, March 14, 1699, died young.
7. Asahel, April 10, 1701, married Sarah Petty.
8. Experience, March 18, 1703.
9. Mary, December 26, 1705, married Noah Strong.
(IV) Captain Joseph, son of Thomas Stebbins, was born at Northampton, March 30, 1697, died January 31, 1780, at Northfield.
He settled at Deerfield, removed to Northfield in 1726.
He bought a farm of William Clarke at Northfield: was one of the leading opponents of Rev. Mr. Doolittle in the church troubles, 1736-37.
He built a log house near the Ashuelot south of Stebbins Island in the spring of 1750; was surveyor, elected at the first town meeting, September 25, 1753.
On the Indian alarm of 1753 he and his family resorted to the stockaded house of John Evans.
He built a house in 1765 on the west side of the river, covering it with clap-boards and thatching the roof with grass from the meadow.
Stebbins Island belonged to him and descendants for several generations.
He married, 1718, Mary Williams, born February 13, 1701, at Northampton, died December 23, 1786, daughter of Zebediah and Sarah (Arms) Williams.
Children:
1. Mary, born July 11, 1719, died 1765 unmarried.
2. Joseph, January 13, 1721, mentioned below.
3. Zebediah, October 29, 1723, married Thankful Graves.
4. Sarah, January 27, 1727, married Captain Thomas Taylor.
5. Josiah, October 20, 1729, married Mary Howe.
6. Anna, September 5 or 25, 1731, died November 5, 1732.
7. Ann, November 10, 1734, married Thomas Sergeant.
8. Elizabeth, October 8, 1736, married General Ebenezer Walbridge.
9. Elisha, March 16, 1743, married Martha Wright.
( V) Captain Joseph (2). son of Captain Joseph (1) Stebbins, was born January 13, 1721, at Deerfield, died February 6, 1784, at Vernon, Windham county, Vermont.
He was a farmer and member of the church.
He went to Vermont about 1740, bought land of the Merrimans, May 21, 1749: of Titus Belding, February 2, 1753, at Hinsdale, now Vernon, Vermont, on the west side of the Connecticut and he was one of the fourteen proprietors when the town was chartered September 5, 1753.
He and two children had a narrow escape from the Indians, August 20, 1756.
Two Indians laying in wait for him were discovered by his brother Zebediah and Reuben Wright, who exchanged shots with them.
Wright was wounded and the white men were pursued by the savages.
After crossing Island brook Stebbins shot one of the Indians.
Over a century later the grave of this Indian was discovered by George M. Lee while clearing the land in that vicinity.
Joseph and the children, alarmed by the firing, escaped to the garrison house.
He married, 1741, Thankful Belding, born January 6, 1718, at Northfield, died May 9, 1788, at Vernon, daughter of Stephen and Mindwell (Wright) Belding.
Children:
1. Tabitha, born about 1743, married Zurr Evans, of Chesterfield, New Hampshire.
2. Thankful, November, 1745, married Elihu Root.
3. Mary, June 6 or 28, 1747, married Timothy Root.
4. Elijah, baptized April 27, 1749, died young.
5. Elijah, baptized January 6, 1751, married Beulah Dickinson.
6. Lucy, born May 31, 1752.
7. Eliakim, born November 17, 1753, married Rebecca Hawks.
8. Abner, baptized August 9, 1755, mentioned below.
9. Joseph, baptized October 10, 1757, died young.
10. Joseph, born March 1, 1761, married Sarah Severance: (second) Elizabeth Edwards.
(VI) Abner, son of Captain Joseph (2) Stebbins, was born July 18, 1755, at Vernon, baptized August 9, 1755, and died there September 18, 1836.
He was a farmer at Guilford and Vernon, Vermont.
He married Mindwell Mars, of Montague, Massachusetts, died August 3, 1837, at Montague.
Children:
1. Lucy, born September 9, 1782, married, 1813, Jesse Gaines.
2. Abner, February 6, 1785, married Hannah Johnson.
3. Henry, February 24, 1787, married, September 18, 1815, Rebecca Jacobs.
4. Lyman,* November 25, 1789, married Tyler.
5. Tabitha, February 15, 1791, married Joseph Gaines, Jr.
6. Zebina, August 20, 1795.

Stebbins Family: Genealogical And Personal Memoirs Relating To The Families of The State of Massachusetts, Prepared Under The Editorial Supervision of, William Richard Cutter, A. M.,Volume Ii., Illustrated, New York, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1

Rowland married Sarah Whiting on 30 Nov 1618 in , , , England. Sarah was born in Nov 1591 in Bocking, Essex, England; died on 4 Aug 1649 in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts, USA; was buried in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Thomas married Sarah Joanna Mew in 1638 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. Sarah was born in 1610; died on 13 Dec 1678 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]