My Family Tree

Killed by Indians

from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/156956878/samuel_i-wright
Per a book written by Eunice Miena Barber:

Samuel, son of Deacon Samuel & his wife Margaret Stratton, born about 1629; was one of the petitioners to the General Court for the First Settlement of Northfield, then known as Squakheag, 5/31/1671. He was a resident of Northampton, Mass., at this time. The first petition was refused & another one was sent the next spring signed by 23 men including Samuel Wright Senior. This petition was granted & he was one of the sixteen heads of families who took house-lots & settled there. His lot was on the west side of the street "which they or their heirs had in the second settlement".

The Indians continued friendly until spring of 1675. Brookfield was destroyed in August of that Year. (King Philip's War). A squad of twenty soldiers was sent by Major Pynchon to garrison Northfield who were put under command of Sergeant Samuel Wright. A battle between Hatfield Indians & Captains _____ & Beers was fought in town of Whately August 25. Sept 1st the Indians fell upon Deerfield & Thursday, Sept 2d, on Northfield. It was the season of drying flax; & ignorant of what had happened the day before to their neighbors at Deerfield, the people of Northfield went about their work as usual on that morning. The soldiers & settlers appeared to have been scattered in the meadow & house-lots when the assault was made. According to Rev. Mr. Hubbard "some were killed in their homes, others as they were coming out of the meadows, the rest: men, women, & children fled to their fort, unable to rally out & repel the enemy. The savages kept around them, killed many of their cattle, destroyed their grain (wheat which was harvested & in the stook) burnt the houses that were outside the stockade & laid all waste. The number of whites officially reported as killed was eight & one was Sgt. Samuel Wright.

After another attack by the Indians on 9/4 the Squakheag families having thus been driven from their new homes returned to their old homes in Hadley & Northampton.

In the second settlement of Squakheag or Northfield in 1685 to 90, Samuel Wright's heirs were assigned 60 acres. The homestead of this Samuel Wright who went to Northampton with his father had continued in his line from 1657 until the compilation of the New England Historical & Genealogical Register in 1886.

He married, 11/24/1653, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Burt who was a companion of Deacon Samuel Wright in the settlement of Springfield. She survived him & married 2d, 9/26/1684, Nathaniel Dickinson of Hatfield.

∼Sgt. Samuel Wright Jr. was born about September 1629 and was baptized on October 4, 1629 at St. Margaret's Church in Uxbridge, Middlesex, England. He was the son of Deac. Samuel Wright Sr. and Margaret.

Samuel immigrated with his family aboard the ship "Arabella" to the U.S. in 1638 and settled in Springfield, MA.

He married Elizabeth Burt on November 24, 1653 in Springfield, MA. She was the daughter of Henry Burt and Eulalia Marche. He also had an affair with her sister, Mary, with whom he had a daughter, Remembrance, in either 1650 or 1654, according to various records. Remembrance was later adopted by Mary's future husband, William Brooks, and raised as his own child.

Later on, he served as a Sgt. in King Philip's War and was killed by the Indians on September 4, 1675 at Northfield, MA. It is very possible he served under Capt. Beers and was a part of the group of soldiers who got ambushed during that time, considering the date and place of his death.

Sources:
*England - Baptism Records
*Massachusetts - Marriage Records
*New England Family Connections, pg. 476
*North American Family Histories - 1500-2000
*U.S. & Canada - Passenger Immigration Lists Index - 1500s - 1900s