3. The Johnson Family were kidnapped settlers, and their eldest daughter decided to stay and make a life with her captors
Instances of American settlers being kidnapped while heading west were all too common during the 18th century. But very few of them have been recorded for posterity. The kidnapping of Susannah Willard Johnson and her family has been, however, thanks to the fact that, several decades after the event, Susannah herself wrote a tell-all memoir of their ordeal. The book was a bestseller and, while it is undoubtedly exaggerated – as so many ‘captivity tale’ were back then – above all to showcase the bravery of the settlers, it remains a valuable source for anyone wanting to get a female perspective on this fascinating period of American history.
The family were taken from the frontier settlement of Charlestown in August 1754. The small community of around 180 souls was attacked by Abenaki raiders. The raiders kidnapped Susannah, along with her sister, her husband, Captain James Johnson, and their three children. A few days later, Susannah gave birth to her fourth child, whom she named Elizabeth Captive Johnson to reflect their strange circumstances. But the kidnappers wouldn’t go easy on the family. They made them walk all the way to Quebec. There, the Abenakis sold the family into slavery.
The French finally agreed to free Susannah, her sister and two of her daughters in exchange for the release of several of prisoners. Several months later, the family made its way back to the United States. Her husband was killed fighting just a couple of years later, though Susannah remarried. It wasn’t until 1796, however, that she finally wrote a book of her kidnapping and two years in slavery. The book, A Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs Johnson was a hit and was republished numerous times over the years. It remains the classic account of the dangers of frontier life.