Week 42 of the 52 Ancestors Challenge - "Conflict"
I revisited some of my old Groton, Massachusetts families this weekend, as I hadn't worked on most of those lines in years. The two surnames I first chose to review my notes on, Chamberlain and Woods, both ended up with ancestors who had untimely deaths. One of them, Thomas Chamberlain, is my Week 43 entry, "Cause of Death". As for "Conflict", I have the following:
It was August, 1676, and King Phillip's War was still raging throughout New England. In the vicinity of the town of Concord, MA, on the 7th of August, four soldiers came upon a group of three Christian [ie allied] Indian women with three children, picking berries on Hurtleberry Hill. Two of the men, DANIEL GOBLE and (his nephew) STEPHEN GOBLE, as later court records would attest, set upon the innocent Indians and murdered them. Both of them, along with DANIEL HOAR and NATHANIEL WILDER, were all arrested and tried for murder.
The indictment and sentence of Daniel Goble, as recorded in the "Records of the Court of Assistants of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, 1630-1692", pg 71:
I revisited some of my old Groton, Massachusetts families this weekend, as I hadn't worked on most of those lines in years. The two surnames I first chose to review my notes on, Chamberlain and Woods, both ended up with ancestors who had untimely deaths. One of them, Thomas Chamberlain, is my Week 43 entry, "Cause of Death". As for "Conflict", I have the following:
It was August, 1676, and King Phillip's War was still raging throughout New England. In the vicinity of the town of Concord, MA, on the 7th of August, four soldiers came upon a group of three Christian [ie allied] Indian women with three children, picking berries on Hurtleberry Hill. Two of the men, DANIEL GOBLE and (his nephew) STEPHEN GOBLE, as later court records would attest, set upon the innocent Indians and murdered them. Both of them, along with DANIEL HOAR and NATHANIEL WILDER, were all arrested and tried for murder.
The indictment and sentence of Daniel Goble, as recorded in the "Records of the Court of Assistants of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, 1630-1692", pg 71:
Two clippings from the Diary of Increase Mather (pages 46 and 47) also mentioned the Indian killings, as well as the executions (of both the Goble men and of the enemy Indian captives):
Note the error of the date in Mather's Diary for the 26th
Found guilty, Stephen Goble was executed on 21 Sept 1676, and Daniel followed him on the 26th. Several enemy Indians were also executed that day. Both Hoar and Wilder, though originally due to share the same fate as the others, had their sentences of death commuted [SCC Vol. 17 case 1505-06] and were instead fined and released.
From the Diary of Samuel Sewall, pg 22 [archive.org]:
From the Diary of Samuel Sewall, pg 22 [archive.org]:
As for the survivors:
Widow HANNAH (BREWER) GOBLE, my 10th Great Grandmother
Left with four young children when her husband was hanged. She would remarry the following year to the widower Ephraim Roper, a survivor of the Lancaster attack on 10 Feb 1675-6 (his wife was killed in the Rowlandson house). They had five children and lived in Lancaster. In the Indian attack of 22 Sept 1697, they would be killed, along with a daughter, and a son taken captive.
Daniel Hoar
The only son of John Hoar of Concord, the father well known to have cared for the Christian Indians in his town, building shelter for them while staying on his property and kept safe during the war. It was Mr Hoar who traveled to meet with the enemy Indians and secured a ransom for the release of Mrs. Rowlandson, who had been taken captive in Lancaster during the attack there on 10 Feb 1675-76. Daniel married in 1677, and had 11 children. His death date not known.
Nathaniel Wilder
A resident of Lancaster, Massachusetts in 1675 and '76, he escaped the Indian attacks with his wife and young son. Following the war, he returned to town and lived on George Hill, where he had a garrison house. On 11 Aug 1704 (New Style), Indians attacked the town, and Lieut. Wilder was the first one killed, just outside his home. [History of Lancaster, pg 135]
Widow HANNAH (BREWER) GOBLE, my 10th Great Grandmother
Left with four young children when her husband was hanged. She would remarry the following year to the widower Ephraim Roper, a survivor of the Lancaster attack on 10 Feb 1675-6 (his wife was killed in the Rowlandson house). They had five children and lived in Lancaster. In the Indian attack of 22 Sept 1697, they would be killed, along with a daughter, and a son taken captive.
Daniel Hoar
The only son of John Hoar of Concord, the father well known to have cared for the Christian Indians in his town, building shelter for them while staying on his property and kept safe during the war. It was Mr Hoar who traveled to meet with the enemy Indians and secured a ransom for the release of Mrs. Rowlandson, who had been taken captive in Lancaster during the attack there on 10 Feb 1675-76. Daniel married in 1677, and had 11 children. His death date not known.
Nathaniel Wilder
A resident of Lancaster, Massachusetts in 1675 and '76, he escaped the Indian attacks with his wife and young son. Following the war, he returned to town and lived on George Hill, where he had a garrison house. On 11 Aug 1704 (New Style), Indians attacked the town, and Lieut. Wilder was the first one killed, just outside his home. [History of Lancaster, pg 135]
Additional notes/links:
- See the (free) Spring 2018 article on the American Ancestors website for more about this Goble family, and the research into solving the mystery of Nathaniel Woods' wife/wives Alice/Elles/Eleanor.
- Marvin, Abijah Perkins. History of the town of Lancaster, Massachusetts:from the first settlement to the present time, 1643-1879. Lancaster: Publ by the town, 1879. [on archive.org]
- Middlesex County, MA Probate: File 9234 [Family Search]; Daniel Goble's will was dated 20 Sept 1676, the day before he was due to be executed, though illness moved the date to the 26th. The will lists his wife and children, Daniel, John, Hannah, and Ellis (aka Alice, my 9th Great-Grandmother, who married Nathaniel Woods of Groton) and brother Thomas.
- Nourse, Henry Stedman. The Hoar Family in America and Its English Ancestry. Boston: David Calpp & Son, 1899. [on Google Books]
- Records of the Court of Assistants of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, 1630-1692 [Google Books]
- Diary of Increase Mather [archive.org]
- See the (free) Spring 2018 article on the American Ancestors website for more about this Goble family, and the research into solving the mystery of Nathaniel Woods' wife/wives Alice/Elles/Eleanor.
- Marvin, Abijah Perkins. History of the town of Lancaster, Massachusetts:from the first settlement to the present time, 1643-1879. Lancaster: Publ by the town, 1879. [on archive.org]
- Middlesex County, MA Probate: File 9234 [Family Search]; Daniel Goble's will was dated 20 Sept 1676, the day before he was due to be executed, though illness moved the date to the 26th. The will lists his wife and children, Daniel, John, Hannah, and Ellis (aka Alice, my 9th Great-Grandmother, who married Nathaniel Woods of Groton) and brother Thomas.
- Nourse, Henry Stedman. The Hoar Family in America and Its English Ancestry. Boston: David Calpp & Son, 1899. [on Google Books]
- Records of the Court of Assistants of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, 1630-1692 [Google Books]
- Diary of Increase Mather [archive.org]
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