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Blogging this here as part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge.
Mary Millard Bigsby was living with her husband David and two boys Jonathan (five years old) and Elias (one) in a place now in Pennsylvania called the Wyoming Valley, in 1778. The American Revolutionary War was in full swing, and British forces had recruited Iroquois natives to help them in attacking settlers along major river valleys. On the night of July 3, 1778, The Wyoming Valley Massacre occurred, and David Bixby's family home was burned and he was slaughtered as his wife tried desperately to get the two boys to safety. But there was no safety. The small settlements were isolated, pushing the western boundaries of European settlement, and her whole community was under attack. They were all in nightclothes, and the boys were shoeless. Nevertheless, Mary led them, carrying Elias, into the woods and out of view. Escaping settlers were being hunted down and scalped, so hiding was only a temporary strategy. She headed east, back toward "civilization." They traveled that way for a month before finally reaching Claverack, NY. She died not long after that, presumably from exposure and exhaustion. The two boys were raised separately as indentured servants, and never saw each other again until they had both reached their majority and were free.
Apparently the western state of Wyoming received its name in commemoration of this massacre.
Tell us about your family's tough woman!
Mary Millard Bigsby was living with her husband David and two boys Jonathan (five years old) and Elias (one) in a place now in Pennsylvania called the Wyoming Valley, in 1778. The American Revolutionary War was in full swing, and British forces had recruited Iroquois natives to help them in attacking settlers along major river valleys. On the night of July 3, 1778, The Wyoming Valley Massacre occurred, and David Bixby's family home was burned and he was slaughtered as his wife tried desperately to get the two boys to safety. But there was no safety. The small settlements were isolated, pushing the western boundaries of European settlement, and her whole community was under attack. They were all in nightclothes, and the boys were shoeless. Nevertheless, Mary led them, carrying Elias, into the woods and out of view. Escaping settlers were being hunted down and scalped, so hiding was only a temporary strategy. She headed east, back toward "civilization." They traveled that way for a month before finally reaching Claverack, NY. She died not long after that, presumably from exposure and exhaustion. The two boys were raised separately as indentured servants, and never saw each other again until they had both reached their majority and were free.
Apparently the western state of Wyoming received its name in commemoration of this massacre.
Tell us about your family's tough woman!