Daniel Belden and the Deerfield Massacre

William Beldon (1609-1655) was born in Heptonstall Parish, Yorkshire, England. He settled in Wethersfield in the Colony of Connecticut in 1641. (Wethersfield is just south of Hartford.)

William Beldon married Thomasine Sherwood (1615-1655) and they had the following children.

1. Samuel Beldon (1647-1737)
2. Daniel Belden (Belding) (1648-1732)
3. John Belden (1650-1713)
4. Susannah Beldon (1651-1706)
5. Mary Beldon (1653-1724)
6. Nathaniel Beldon (1654- )

I descend from John Belden (1650-1713) and his wife Ruth (Hale) Hayes (1646-1700). But this is a story about his brother, Daniel Beldon (sometimes known as Daniel Belding).

Daniel Beldon married Elizabeth Foot (1654-1696) and they eventually settled in Deerfield in the Colony of Massachusetts. Deerfield is in the western part of the colony (see map) and in the 1690s it was at the leading edge of the western settlements in the colony. This was a time when England was fighting a war against France (The War of the Grand Alliance). In the Americas it became one of the French and Indian Wars known as King William's War (1688-1697). (King William and Queen Mary were very popular British monarchs.)

At the time, the Mohawks (one of the Iroquois tribes) were allied with the French who occupied New France. On September 16, 1696 a band of Mohawks raided the Belden homestead killing Elizabeth Foot and three children: Thankful (one year old), John (four years old), and Daniel (16 years old). Samuel (nine years old) and Abagail (11 years old) were wounded. Another child, Sarah, escaped death or capture by hiding in the barn.

"Sept. 16, 1696. The Indians came along from up Green River to the town, and assaulted Mr. Daniel Belden's house; took Mr. Belden, his son Nathaniel and daughter Esther captive, killed his wife and three children, and wounded Samuel and Abigail, but they recovered, altho' Samuel had a hatchet stuck in his head, and some of his brains came out at his wound. Samuel was born Apr. 10, 1687.

"The Indians making an Assault upon Deerfield, in this Present War, they struck a Hatchet some Inches into the Skull of a Boy there, even so deep that the Boy felt the force of a Wrench used by 'em to get it out. There he lay a long while Weltering in his Blood; they found him, they Dress'd him' considerable Quantities of his Brain came out from time to time when they opened the Wound; yet the Lad recovered, and is now a Living Monument of the Power and Goodness of God." [Belden]

Daniel Beldon, his son Nathaniel (21 years old), and his daughter Hester (13 years old) were captured and taken north to Caughnawaga just across the St. Lawrence river from Montreal. (Now called Kahnawake.) Nathaniel was sold to the French in Montreal while Daniel and Hester remained in the Mohawk village.

DANIEL and his daughter were at first kept by the Indians. Later he was sold "...& lived as a servant with the jesuits at the Seminary; his business was to wait upon them & cutt wood, make fires & tend the garden &c. He accounted himself favorably dealt with." NATHANIEL "worked for the Holy Sisters." After Ryswick, "the Dutch Gentlemen" gathered up what captives...they could and returned june 8 & took Mr. B. and his xdren and Martin Smith...& arrived in Albany in about 15 days." There Belding and his children were clothed at the expense of his brother who lived in Norwalk. They returned to Deerfield by way of New York and Connecticut ...[Belden]

On his return to Deerfield, Daniel Belden married Hepzibah Buell (1650-1704). (Married on Feb. 17, 1698.)

On Feb. 29, 1704 Indians attacked the Beldon farm and killed Hepzibah. Daniel's daughter Sarah (1681-1759) was among the people captured in that raid and taken to Canada. (This was part of the renewed war in Europe—The War of the Spanish Successsion. Marborough's victory at Blenheim was on Aug. 2, 1704.)

Daniel then married Sarah Hawkes (1657-1751) and spent the rest of his life in Deerfield, fighting off another Indian raid in 1709.

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