More about Reverend John Williams:
Williams graduated from Harvard College in 1683, was ordained and went to Deerfield in 1688, eight years before the arrival of the Price family. This location at the end of the frontier was odd for a man of his stature, but he felt it was his calling. It seems he tended his flock with discipline as a good Puritan minister would while allowing for the peculiarities of the setting. I tried to reflect this in FEARFUL PASSAGE NORTH.
He lived at home with his wife, two daughters, and five sons. During the raid his home was burned, and two of his children were killed. The remainder of the family was taken hostage. His wife, Eunice, had just given birth a few weeks before the raid and could not keep up with the march. Early in the ordeal, she was killed with a Mohawk ax for falling while crossing a river.
Williams graduated from Harvard College in 1683, was ordained and went to Deerfield in 1688, eight years before the arrival of the Price family. This location at the end of the frontier was odd for a man of his stature, but he felt it was his calling. It seems he tended his flock with discipline as a good Puritan minister would while allowing for the peculiarities of the setting. I tried to reflect this in FEARFUL PASSAGE NORTH.
He lived at home with his wife, two daughters, and five sons. During the raid his home was burned, and two of his children were killed. The remainder of the family was taken hostage. His wife, Eunice, had just given birth a few weeks before the raid and could not keep up with the march. Early in the ordeal, she was killed with a Mohawk ax for falling while crossing a river.