11. Other diarists recorded brief accounts of the captivity and escape at the time
Large numbers of the settlers in Massachusetts in the late 17th century were functionally illiterate, unable to read or write, a significant problem among the women. Literacy was not a prerequisite for what was generally considered to be their duties and responsibilities at the time. It is evident that Hannah fell among these, since there is no existing document which bears her signature or is purported to contain her tale in her own writing. But several other diarists recorded her story, though whether heard directly from her, as in the case of Sewall, or whether acquired as hearsay from others who picked up the story is unknown. One such case is that of a Quincy bricklayer who left a diary in which he mentions Hannah Dunston in an entry dated April 29, 1697.
The diarist was John Marshall, who in the retelling he confided to his diary mentions the murder of Hannah’s young child during the raid. His entry describes Hannah as only recently having given birth, “when she had lain in childbed but a few days” when the attack occurred, and the newly born infant was killed by an Indian by bashing its head against a tree. According to Marshall, the same Indian was one of the two men killed by Hannah during her escape, which differs from the accounts provided to and from Mather and Sewall. In some of the diary entries, one can almost hear the excited gossip and embellished stories being told, as new details and justification for righteous revenge creep into the tale being told about the small frontier settlements.