Mary (White) Talcott (1637 - 1711)

Born 1637 in South Petherton, Somerset, England

Ancestors

Wife of Joseph Rowlandson — married 1656 (to 23 Nov 1678) in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 5 Jan 1711 at about age 74 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut

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Biography

Mary (White) Talcott immigrated to New England as a child during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640).

Mary (White) Talcott is Notable.

Mary (White) Rowlandson, wrote an autobiographical narrative of her capture by the Indians. “A true History of the Captivity & Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, A Minister’s Wife in New England.”

Mary White was born in England about 1637, the daughter of John and Joane (West) White. The family immigrated to New England about 1638 and were settled at Wenham, then a part of Salem for some time. By 1653, at it's incorporation the family had settled in the new town of Lancaster.

She married Joseph Rowlandson at Lancaster in 1656.^[1][2] Joseph, a Harvard College graduate, was the son of Thomas Rowlandson of Ipswich. He was ordained as a Puritan minister in 1660, but had already been preaching in Lancaster for 6 years by then.

The couple settled into life on the frontier, and had four children, the first of whom died young.

Site of Mary Rowlandson’s Capture

"On the 10th of February, 1675, came the Indians with great numbers upon Lancaster: their first coming was about sun-rising."^[3] Hearing shots the family looked out to watch their neighbors and friends, knocked on the head, shot, split open. "At length they came and beset our house, and quickly it was the dolefulest day that ever mine eyes saw." After shooting at the house for about 2 hours, the Indians set it on fire, and now the inhabitants were caught between burning alive and being set upon by the "Indians gaping before us with their guns, spears, and hatchets to devour us." Upon attempting to leave, Mary's brother-in-law was shot. Then she was shot. The bullet "went through my side, and the same (as would seem) through the bowels and hand of my poor child in my arms." Mary, her sister Hannah Divoll, and their remaining children were captured and led away. Two children were separated from her. All the rest of her family, but her sister and nephew and her husband who was not in town, were killed that day. Her daughter Sarah died after immense suffering and with little to comfort her in nine days.^[3]

For nearly three months, Mary lived rough during the cold winter months, traveled by foot about 150 miles, was nearly starved, and had little comfort but her Bible and her faith in God. Her short book, "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson", is considered a seminal work in the American literary genre of captivity narratives. It is aptly described by it's subtitle: “Wherein is set forth, The Cruel and Inhumane Usage she underwent amongst the Heathens, for Eleven Weeks time: And her Deliverance from them.”^[3]

Eventually, she, her two captive children, her sister and her nephew were redeemed.^[3]

After her return the family lived in Boston, Massachusetts, for a short time and then went to Wethersfield, Connecticut. It was there that she wrote her account first titled "The Sovereignty and Goodness of God: Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson."

Joseph Rowlandson died in November 1678. Church officials granted her a widow's pension of £30 per year. Mary then married Aug. 6, 1679, Captain Samuel Talcott (-1691), and lived the rest of her life in Wethersfield, as Mary Talcott. Mary died on January 5, 1710/11, at about 73 years of age.

Children:

1. Marie Rowlandson, born 15 Feb 1657/8 at Lancaster; died 11 Jan 1660.^[2]
2. Joseph Rowlason. born 7: 1m: 1661 (March)^[2]
3. Mary Rowlason, born 12: 6m: 1665 (August)^[2]
4. Sarah Rowlandson, born 15 Sep 1669;^[2] died in captivity 18 Feb 1675/76, of wounds sustained in Lancaster raid. (White, pages 20-21)^[3]

"Her book became one of the 17th and 18th century's most popular reads and earned her place in the history of American literature. "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson" is an example of a captivity narrative, an important American literary genre."^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Vital Records of Lancaster, p. 20: "Marriages of Sundry Early Proprietors and Residents of Lancaster Not Found in the Preceding Lists... 1656. Joseph Rowlandson and Mary White."
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4} Nourse, Henry S. (editor.) "The birth, marriage, and death register, church records and epitaphs of Lancaster, Massachusetts. 1643-1850"Lancaster [Clinton, Printed by W. J. Coulter], 1890. Link p 20 marriage also pp 2, 11, 12.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4} Rowlandson, Mary White. A narrative of the captivity, sufferings, and removes, of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Boston: The Mass. Sabbath school society. 1856
4. ↑ Women in American History Blog Sarudy, Barbara Wells. "Puritan Author Mary White Rowlandson c 1637-1711."

See also:

• Vital Records of Lancaster, MA to the end of the year 1849

• Mary Rowlandson. The soveraignty and goodness of God ... being a narrative of the captivity ... of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Cambridge, Mass., 1682.

• Almira Larkin White. Genealogy of the Descendants of John White of Wenham and Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1638-1900, Volume 1. Chase Brothers Printers, Haverhill, Massachusetts, 1900. Pages 20-21.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Rowlandson

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Narrative_of_the_Captivity_and_Restoration_of_Mrs._Mary_Rowlandson

• https://college.cengage.com/english/lauter/heath/4e/students/author_pages/colonial/rowlandson_ma.html

• https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/10047028:1981?_phsrc=ipv2&_phstart=successSource&gsln=rowland&ml_rpos=26&queryId=ad67878fe8e43bb15073e7440aef1297