Melatiah (Bradford) Churchill (1744 - 1826)

Born 16 Mar 1744 in Kingston, Plymouth, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Wife of Isaac Churchill — married 1 Aug 1765 in Plympton, Plymouth, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 15 Aug 1826 at age 82 in Chittenden, Rutland, Vermont, United States

Biography

Maltiah (Bradford) Churchill is one of twins.

Melatiah/Maltiah "Lydia", twin to sister Mary and daughter of Joshua and Hannah (Bradford) Bradford, was born in Kingston, MA on March 16, 1744. The story, according to oral legend, is that Joshua Bradford, a great-grandson of Gov. William Bradford of Plymouth, Massachusetts, was brutally murdered at the hands of Indians while living at Friendship. A few years prior to this event, Joshua, along with his wife Hannah, settled the area after leaving the area of Plymouth. Sometime in a winter, during these earlier years, Joshua saved a man who had fallen through the ice, that man was actually a local Penobscot Indian chief. The two men formed a friendship. During the settlement of Friendship, the British erected a garrison on a small island in the harbor, just off the point from where the Bradford family had their homestead. The island was accessible to the mainland by foot when the tide was low. Early in the morning of May 22, 1758, a group of Indians, not from the area, proceeded to Friendship. On route to attack the garrison via the point, they came across the homestead of Joshua Bradford. Seeing the approaching Indians and believing that they were of the same tribe as the Chief that he befriended, Joshua did not take heed of the alarm shots coming from the British Garrison. Most settlers in that area where living safely at the Garrison for some time. The Indians attacked Joshua, killing him and his wife Hannah. Some suggest that they were brutally scalped! One of the Bradford children, an infant son (Winslow), was also killed as was another local woman (Mrs. Mill) and her child. The other Bradford children hid in the homestead. One daughter (Melatiah Lydia) hid under the bed with a younger brother (Elisha). When the young child cried, she took him and made a dash for the Garrison. The Indians gave chase and succeeded in striking her in the back with a tomahawk. She managed to continue to the Garrison where she, and the younger child, was escorted to safety. She survived her wounds. Witnessing these events, the men of the Garrison took up arms and went out to rescue to the Bradford family. Before fleeing, the Indians took two of the Bradford boys (Joshua II and Benjamin) with them. The surviving Bradford children were recovered and taken to the Garrison.

She is buried at Bump Cemetery, Chittenden, Rutland, VT under the name Maltiah "Lydia" Bradford Churchill

Sources

• Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Silver Books, Volume Sixteen, Part 2, The Descendants of John Alden Through His Daughter Elizabeth (Alden) Pabodie, 2002 Edition, Published 2002, Page 173
• Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, William Bradford, Volume 22, p. 122
• Vital Records of Kingston Massachusetts to the year 1850, p. 28 (birth)
• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LZP7-VXX
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/55019161
• Mayflower Society Application Database: "Community Trees," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:QVQV-HPQ : accessed 27 April 2021), entry for Maltiah Malatiah Churchill, cites sources; "Mayflower Pilgrim Genealogies" file (2:2:2:MMXD-DP8), submitted 24 February 2020 by FamilySearch.