Mary Draper Ingles

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For the American Revolutionary patriot, see Mary Draper

Mary Draper Ingles (1732 - February 1815) was an American pioneer and early settler of western Virginia. She was abducted by Indians and later escaped, making a harrowing trek over hundreds of miles of rough terrain to return home.

[edit] Biography

Mary Draper Ingles was born in 1732 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to George and Elenor (Hardin) Draper, who had immigrated to America from Donegal, Ireland in 1729. In 1748, the Draper family and others moved to the western frontier, establishing Draper's Meadow, a pioneer settlement near modern day Blacksburg, Virginia. Mary married fellow settler William Ingles in 1750, and gave birth to two sons, Thomas in 1751 and George in 1753.

In July, 1755, a band of Shawnee warriors raided Draper's Meadow, (see Draper's Meadow massacre) killing four settlers and taking five hostages, including Mary and her two sons. The Indians and their captives travelled for a month to a Shawnee village on the banks of the Scioto and Ohio Rivers. Here Mary was separated from her sons, after which she was brought to Big Bone Lick, Kentucky. As a prisoner, Mary sewed shirts and made salt for the Indians. In October, Mary and another captive woman escaped from their captors, making their way on foot through the wilderness to return home. Their route followed the Ohio, Kanawha, and New Rivers and they travelled as much as 800 miles to arrive home after more than 40 days.

After recovering from her journey and reuniting with her husband, Mary went on to have four more children: Mary, Susan, Rhoda, and John in 1766. George died in Indian captivity, but Thomas was ransomed and returned to Virginia in 1768. William and Mary established Ingles Ferry across the New River in 1762, and she died there in 1815 at the age of 83.

[edit] In popular culture

The story of Mary's ordeal has inspired a number of books, films, and living history programs, including the popular 1981 novel Follow the River by James Alexander Thom.

[edit] References

• Hale, John Peter (1886), Trans-Allegheny Pioneers: Historical Sketches of the First White Settlements West of the Alleghenies, 1748 and After, Wonderful Experiences of Eardships and Heroism of those who first braved the dangers of the inhospitable wilderness, and the savage tribes that then inhabited it (Reprinted: Charleston: Kanawha Valley Publishing, 1931).
• Hale, John Peter (1891), History of the Great Kanawha Valley, Madison, Wisconsin: Brant, Fuller and Co.
• Ingles, John, The Story of Mary Draper Ingles and Son Thomas Ingles, circa 1824. [This manuscript by Mary's son, who had the story orally from his mother, is at the University of Virginia library. It is very difficult to read, with little punctuation, and poor spelling. It has been reproduced in an edition by Roberta Steele which retains the eccentricities of the author. This is probably the most significant primary document. It does not mention the baby that figures in the narrative of Alexander Thom. Thom accepts the fact of the baby's existence on the hearsay evidence of a neighbor woman, and does not even say who recorded this bit of gossip.]