Hannah Dustin

Background

Hannah Emerson, the eldest of fifteen children of Michael and Hannah Webster, was born 23 December 1657 in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

Career

On December 3, 1677, she was married to Thomas Dustin of that place, whose name was variously spelled as Duston and Durston. She bore him thirteen children before 1699, eight of whom were living at the time of the Indian raid on March 15, 1697. Although the date of her death is unknown, she is supposed to have survived her husband, who was still living in 1729.

The details of her noted exploit vary much in the forms in which it has been handed down but the main story is clear enough. Apparently Hannah was lying in the house with her week-old baby and the nurse, Mary Neff, while her husband and the other seven children were working and playing at some distance outside when the Indians swept down on the village. They entered the house and captured the three occupants in view of the husband. He rescued the seven children outside, carrying them off to safety but had to abandon his baby and wife, some accounts relating that he did so at her earnest entreaty to save the others.

The next day, after killing or capturing forty of the inhabitants of the town, the Indians started their march northward carrying their captives with them. Hannah saw her house in flames as she left and one of the Indians took her infant and brained it by knocking it against a tree. After tramping for some days through the snow and without shoes, the party reached a small settlement of Indians living on an island (later called "Dustin's") at the confluence of the Contoocook and Merrimac rivers a few miles above Concord. There captors and captives halted for a few days before proceeding to the home of the chief, a long distance northward, where the victims were told they would be stripped and forced to run the gauntlet.

On the island was a young English boy who had been captured a year before and with him and Mary Neff, Hannah planned an escape. While the Indians were asleep Hannah and the lad killed ten of them, only an Indian woman and a small Indian boy escaping. Hannah, the English boy (Samuel Lennardson), and the nurse then started for the settlements but to have proof of the exploit Hannah returned and herself scalped the ten Indians, of whom she had killed nine and the boy one. They finally made their way back to Haverhill to find the rest of the Dustin family safe.

Hannah and her husband then went to Boston, where they arrived on April 21, and presented a petition to the General Court explaining the loss of all their property and Hannah's exploit. The Court awarded Hannah £25, and half of that sum each to Mary Neff and Samuel Lennardson. The family has many descendants.

Achievements

• Duston's captivity narrative became famous more than 100 years after she died. Duston is believed to be the first American woman honored with a statue. There are six memorials to Hannah Duston.

Connections

On December 3, 1677, Dustin was married to Thomas Dustin.  She bore him thirteen children.

Father:

Michael Emerson

Mother:

Hannah (Webster) Emerson

Sister:

Elizabeth Emerson

husband:

Thomas Dustin

References

• Magnalia Christi Americana (John Harvard Library (Hardcover))
• Massacre on the Merrimack: Hannah Duston's Captivity and Revenge in Colonial America
• Heroism of Hannah Duston: Together with the Indian Wars of New England