[S1114] Frederick Dickinson, To the Descendants of Thomas Dickinson (Chicago: W.D. Grant, Stationer and Printer, 1897), I, NATHANIEL DICKENSON. Senior, late of Haytfield, now of Hadley, in ye County of Hampshire, upon Connitticut, doe make and ordaine this my last will and testament, as follows:
Imprimis. Making a full surrender of myself, soule and body, into ye handes of God, my Creator, and Jesus Christ, my alone Savior & Redeemer, relying on Him for all yt I need & hope for in this world, & yt which is to come, & leaving my body to decent burriell in hope of a blessed resurrection, I do bestow yt portion of outward estate which the Lord in His Fatherlie mercy hath blessed me with, in manner following: my debtes and funerall expenses being first payd.
Secondly: I doe give unto my son, Nehemiah, my house & barn & homelott, with all the preveledges and appurtenances thereto belonging; as alsoe one-half my meaddow land in Hadley (except what is hereinafter excepted) with the preveledges and appurtenances thereto belonging; to be to him and his heirs forever, besides what was Thomas Webster's.
I give my daughter-in-law, Dorcas, widdow of my son Azariah, four acres & a half of Meaddow land, bounded by my son, Thomas, his land east; Francis Barnard, west; John Hubbard, north; & ye highway south; so as to be her & her heirs' forever. Further, I give or abate to her all yt was my due for ye rent of the rent of my land from her, & alsoe doe give to her ye rent money that was due to me for my oxen; and also three pounds that was due for a barrell (unpayd) of Pork: all and every of ye premises I give to ye said Dorcas as her own, to be to her and her heirs forever.
The rest of my meaddow in Hadley, I doe give to be equally devided betweene all my sons (except Nehemiah) and my daughters — Frances Dickenson & Hannah Clary — which my executors shall either equally divide to all my aforesaid children, or else to pay to each their proportion of ye sayd lands, as it shall be prized in Country pay, within two years after my decease, to ym and their heirs forever.
To my son, Thomas, I give my house & lott I bought of Mr. Wattson; he paying to Mr. Wattson ye Thirty Pounds yt is yet due for the same; or, if he like it not on those terms, then it shall be last in among my devidable estate to my children.
I give to my son, Samuel, my house & home-lott in Hatfield, to be to him & his heirs forever, together with the preveledges & appurtenances thereto belonging.
To my son, Obadiah, I give all ye rest of my land in Hatfield, with ye preveledges and appurtenances thereto belonging, to be to him and his heirs forever; and my meaning & will is that these two, my sons, Samuel & Obadiah, shall not come in for a share of my land in Hadley, but this given them in Hatfield shall be instead of itt.
To my son, William Gull, (Son of his wife by her first husband) I give that Three Pounds which he oweth me for a barrell of pork.
All ye rest of my estate I give to be equally divided amongst all my sons and daughters. Frances' Dickenson & Hannah Clary having equall shares with their breathren.
I doe hereby make and ordaine my two sons, Thomas & Nehemiah executors of this, my last will & testament, hereunto as my last will & testament I have subjoyned my hand and scale this present 29th day of May,1676.
Nathaniel Dickenson.
In presence of
Joseph Kellogg,
John Russell, Junior.
The desire of ye testator is yt ye share given unto Frances Dickenson, may, if she see meet, be given to Samuel Gillett's children.
footnote: (Frances was their aunt. See note to Family Number Two.). Hereinafter cited as Descendants of Thomas Dickinson.[S290] Sylvester Judd and Lucius Boltwood, History of Hadley (rev. ed.), 175–177.On the 19th of September, 1677, a year after the war was apparently closed, some Indians made an unexpected and destructive inroad upon Hatfield. About eleven o'clock in the forenoon, when a greater part of the men were dispersed in the meadows, and others were employed upon the frame of a house without the palisades, a party of Indians suddenly assaulted the latter, and shot down three men, and proceeding to other buildings, killed nine more persons, wounded four others, took seventeen captives, and burnt seven buildings....
The persons killed, taken and wounded, at Hatfield, Sept. 19, 1677, were as follows:
Killed. — Sergt. Isaac Graves and his brother, John Graves; John Atchisson; John Cooper of Springfield, aged 18; Elizabeth, wife of Philip Russell and her son Stephen, aged 3 years; Hannah, wife of John Coleman, and her babe Bethiah; Sarah, wife of Samuel Kellogg, and her babe Joseph; Mary, wife of Samuel Belding; Elizabeth Wells, aged two years, daughter of John Wells; in all, 12.
Taken. — Sarah Coleman, aged four years, and another child of John Coleman; Martha, wife of Benjamin Wait, and her 3 daughters, Mary, aged 6, Martha, 4, and Sarah, 2; Mary, wife of Samuel Foote, and a young son, and daughter Mary, aged 3; Hannah, wife of Stephen Jennings, and two of his children by a previous wife; Obadiah Dickinson and one child; Samuel, son of Samuel Kellogg, aged 8; Abigail, daughter of John Allis, aged 6; Abigail, daughter of William Bartholomew, who lived at Deerfield before the war; in all, 17.
Wounded. —A child of John Coleman; wife and daughter of John Wells; wife of Obadiah Dickinson.
As the Indians retreated with the captives, they also attacked Deerfield:
At Deerfield, — John Root was taken and then killed; and Sergt. John Plympton, senior, Quintin Stockwell, Benoni Stebbins [later escaped], and Samuel, son of Philip Russell, aged 8 or 9, were taken.
A rescue mission, led by Benjamin Wait and Stephen Jennings, successfully redeemed most of the captives (being held in Quebec) in May 1678, as reported by Wait in a letter: "Three of the captives are murdered, — old Goodman Plympton, Samuel Foot's daughter, Samuel Russell. All the rest are alive and well and now at Albany, namely, Obadiah Dickinson and his child, Mary Foot and her child, Hannah Jennings and 3 children, Abigail Allis, Abigail Bartholomew, Goodman Coleman's children. Samuel Kellogg, my wife and 4 children, and Quintin Stockwell."