The Ingersoll family has a long history in America. John Ingersoll (1626-1684), the great grandfather of Mary immigrated from Derbyshire in England in 1629 together with his brother Richard. They settled originally in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts. Sometime in the 1630s he removed to Hartford, Connecticut, perhaps with the Rev. Thomas Hookers group. The Ingersolls maintained close ties with England and with the court of King George III. Apparently some of the male Ingersolls fought with the British during the War of Independence, most, however, seem to have remained diplomatically neutral wherever their sympathies lay.
Like most of our historic females, little is known about Mary Ingersoll. However, the Ingersoll story is not without episodes of high drama.
Mary Ingersoll’s ancestors
Mary’s paternal line
John Ingersoll
John Ingersoll was a contemporary of the Rev. Thomas Hooker. Like Hooker he also lived — at least for a time — in Hartford Connecticut. And, like Hooker, he was a troubled man.
Click to read about his troubles in his own words.
“I saw I must Repent, & become a new Creature if ever I ment to be Saved, yet I put repentance off till afterwards. But being under Mr. Stones Ministry I was convincd that the time was come that I must not put Repentance off any longer…having a book of Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs I read much in it, about Faith, & Hope, & was much incouraged, till I met with an Expression thus, that if my Hopes were not such as would stand with every line of the word of God at the day of Judgment they would availe me nothing. Then being troubled I threw the book a side for a while thinking that altho’ he was a good man he was too Strict, & mistaken therein. & that I did believe, & that he that did believe should be saved & therefore my State was good. But coming to Northampton I heard Mr. Mather the first time upon that, that in the world ye shall have trouble, but in Christ you may & shall have peace, which incouraged me for a while. But afterwards his preaching did not please me but I thot I would keep my hopes. And the Lord visiting me with sickness that I was neer death, yet I thot I was well enough prepared for death & was not willing to hear to the Contrary: But the Lord in great mercy was pleased not to take me away in that Condition. But remaining still Confident of my good Estat, I, as I was on atime into the meadow to work, thot nothing should dash my hopes thereof. But presently the thoughts of [blank] who murdered himselfe Coming into my mind, I for a while much wondered at it. But my thots soon runing thus, What if God should leave me? then I should do so. & the temptation came so hard upon me that God would leave me, & I should certainly dy such a death; be guilty of mine own Blood, & be damned irreconcilably, that I was not able to go on to my business; but returning home, the temptation prevaild more, & more upon me, & I was filled with horrour of Conscience, the Lord did so manifest his wrath & Displeasure against me: & my Sins were like mountains ready to sink me down into Hell every moment. & not being able in the night to sleep, was forced to rise up at midnight, & Call up my Father in Law, who hearing how it was with me, & that I feared I had sinned the unpardonable Sin; & that there were no Hopes of mercy, gave me good Counsell, & prayed with me. & after having some abatement I returned home, & remain’d in that Condition: But the Lord after awile was pleased to abate the temptation, & his wrath a little. & I fell to reading & praying in Secret; being incouraged to look to Jesus Christ for mercy.”
Modern synopsis: One day, while working in the meadow, John thought about an unnamed individual who had committed suicide, and he was so strongly tempted to do so himself that he could not sleep that night and awoke his father-in-law to share his agony. Thomas Bascom prayed with him until the suicidal temptation had abated. Ingersoll’s morbid desire to destroy himself would today be called clinical depression. But giving it another name does not change the agony and despair that he experienced. In describing it in such gripping terms, John Ingersoll gives us greater insight than we could ever expect into the sufferings of an ordinary individual now dead for over three hundred years.
May be hard for us to imagine how difficult life then could be.
John Ingersoll was married to Mary Hunt. Their son was Jonathan who married Sarah Newton. Sarah as a descendant of the Rev. Thomas Hooker whose daughter, Mary, had married Roger Newton. They produced the Rev. Jonathan Ingersoll, father of Mary Ingersoll.
Hester Ingersoll and the Deerfield massacre 1704
Hester or Esther was the daughter of John and therefore the great aunt of Mary Ingersoll
Hester was married twice. Her first husband drowned. Her second marriage was to a man named Benoni Jones. They lived on the frontier of British Colonial America. In 1704 their township of Deerfield was attacked by a combination of the French and Native Americans. Hester’s youngest children (a 6 year old and a baby) and her husband were slain on the spot. An older boy was scalped but he escaped. She herself was taken hostage and forced to walk about 300 miles from Massachusetts to Montreal. What she suffered at the hands of the Natives is not known and it is disputed whether she was tortured by the French or not. The French wanted her to renounce her protestant faith and become a Catholic, which she may or may not have done on her death bed.
Benoni Jones was the youngest of eleven children. Born abt. 1666 he was indentured at the age of 12 to William Clark, associate judge of Northampton, Mass. He served him well until he was 21. At the age of 23 he married the widow Ester or Hester Gurley. They had four children. The family lived in a cluster of houses known as Pascommuck now within the city limits of Eastampton, Mass. The Benoni Jones house was the only house in the area that was fortified. On May 13, 1704, Indians attacked the Jones house in which all of the area’s inhabitants had assembled for cover. Of 33 persons in the house, 19 were killed, 3 escaped, 8 were rescued later and 3 were carried off. Benoni Jones and two of his sons, Ebenezer and Jonathan, were slain. Eight year old Benjamin Jones was scalped but later escaped. Ester was kidnapped and taken to Canada where she died after being tormented by priests trying to convert her.
The Deerfield Massacre. Click to read about it.
The Deerfield Massacre occurred on February 29, 1704, when French and Native American forces attacked the English settlement of Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 47 colonists and capturing 112 others, who were forced to march nearly 300 miles to Canada. This event was part of the larger conflict known as Queen Anne’s War, reflecting the struggle for control over North America. The numbers captured/killed is disputed, but it is not disputed that this massacre was one of the, if not the worst of its kind during the Queen Anne War.
A succinct contemporary account and a romantic 19th century view:
Why did the French or the Indians take hostages?
Hostage taking was a significant part of the French-Indian strategy and it had lasting effects on the families, communities and nations involved. Hostage taking served many purposes.
- psychological warfare
- forced conversion to the Catholic faith
- Ransom, exchange
- Labor and Servitude
- French Policy of frontier warfare
- Cultural and strategic intelligence gathering
Mary’s maternal line
The maternal line, much like the paternal line, is populated with Puritan ministers and their wives. Not surprisingly, many of these families are interrelated. Sarah Newton, for example, is the descendant of the Rev. Thomas Hooker’s daughter Mary.
Samuel Russell was one of the co-founders of Yale University and there is a likeness of his father, John, preaching and seemingly holding a rifle:
