Susanna Cole

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Susanna Cole

Susanna Cole as a child with her mother, Anne Hutchinson, in a bronze memorial at the Massachusetts State House
Born baptized 15 November 1633
Alford, Lincolnshire, England
Died by 1713
North Kingstown, Rhode Island
Other names Susanna Hutchinson
Occupation Indian captive
Spouse(s) John Cole
Children Susanna, Samuel, Mary, John, Anne, John, Hannah, William, Francis, Elizabeth, Elisha
Parents William Hutchinson and Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson

Susanna Cole (née Hutchinson; 1633 – c. 1713) was the only survivor of an Indian attack in which many of her siblings and her famed mother, Anne Hutchinson, were killed. Following the attack, she was taken captive, and held for several years before her release.

Born in Alford, Lincolnshire, England, Hutchinson was less than a year old when her family sailed from England to New England in 1634. She was less than five when her family settled on Aquidneck Island (later Rhode Island) in the Narragansett Bay following her mother's banishment from Massachusetts during the Antinomian Controversy. Shortly after her father's death, when she was about eight years old, she, her mother and six of her siblings left Rhode Island to live in New Netherland. They settled in an area that became the far northeastern section of The Bronx in New York City, near the Westchester County line. Caught in the middle of severe tensions between the local natives and the Dutch, the family, except for Susanna, was massacred in August 1643. She was taken captive, and raised by the Indians, later to be traded back to the English.

Hutchinson was taken to Boston where her oldest brother and an older sister lived, was re-introduced into English society, and at the age of 18 married John Cole, the son of Boston innkeeper Samuel Cole. They lived in Boston for a few years, but by 1663 had moved to the Narragansett country of Rhode Island (later North Kingstown) to look after the lands of her oldest brother, Edward Hutchinson. Here the couple remained and raised a large family. Susanna Cole was still alive in 1707 when given administration of her husband's estate, but was deceased by December 1713 when her son William took receipts concerning his parents' estate.

Early Life

Baptized in Alford, Lincolnshire on 15 November 1633, Susanna Hutchinson was the youngest child of William and Anne Hutchinson to accompany her parents on the voyage from England to New England in 1634.[1] She was the 14th child of her parents, of which 11 survived to make the trip to the New World; a 15th child was born in New England.[2] The family settled in Boston, and lived across the street from magistrate John Winthrop, who was a judge during the civil trial in 1637 that led to her mother's banishment from the Massachusetts colony.[3] While Hutchinson was still very young, her mother hosted popular religious discussions at their home. Her mother's religious views, at odds with the rigid orthodoxy of the Puritan ministers, helped to create a major division in the Boston church and an untenable situation for the colony's leaders.[4] Forced to leave Massachusetts, the family settled with many of her mother's supporters on Aquidneck Island in the Narragansett Bay, establishing the settlement of Portsmouth, which soon became a part of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.[5] Hutchinson was less than five years old when the family left Boston, and was about eight when her father died in Portsmouth.[6]

Frightened at the prospect of Massachusetts gaining influence or control over Rhode Island, Hutchinson's widowed mother took her six youngest children, an older son, a son-in-law, and some servants and moved to the part of New Netherland that later became The Bronx in New York City.[7] The Dutch and native Siwanoy were engaged in Kieft's War during the family's tenure there. In August 1643 Siwonoy attacked the emigrant household, and killed all members of the family, except for nine-year old Hutchinson. According to one story, Susanna's red hair spared her from the slaughter,[8] while another account claimed that the girl was out picking blueberries some distance from the house and hid in the crevice of Split Rock.[9] In any event, the attackers took Susanna Hutchinson captive, and held her for several years.[10]

Split Rock, where one legend says Susanna Hutchinson hid during the Indian massacre that killed her mother and siblings

In his journal, Massachusetts governor John Winthrop provided an account of Susanna under the date of July 1646:

A daughter of Mrs. Hutchinson was carried away by the Indians near the Dutch, when her mother and others were killed by them; and upon the peace concluded between the Dutch and the same Indians, she was returned to the Dutch governor, who restored her to her friends here. She was about eight years old, when she was taken, and continued with them about four years, and she had forgot her own language, and all her friends, and was loath to have come from the Indians.[11]

While Winthrop said that Hutchinson was captive about four years, his journal makes clear that her captivity lasted less than three years. When she returned to Boston, her known living siblings at the time were her oldest brother, Edward Hutchinson, another brother, Samuel, and her two eldest living sisters, Faith (the wife of Thomas Savage), and Bridget (the wife of John Sanford).[12] Of these siblings, Faith lived in Mount Wollaston, about ten miles south of Boston; Bridget lived in Portsmouth, Rhode Island; and Samuel's residence is unknown. Only her brother Edward is known to have lived in Boston proper and it is likely that Hutchinson came to live with him and his family.[10][13] On 30 December 1651 she married, in Boston, John Cole, the son of Boston innkeeper, Samuel Cole, who had established Boston's first tavern in 1634.[10][14]

Adult Life

Susanna and John Cole began raising a family in Boston, but by 1663 they had gone to look after her brother's land in the Narragansett country, which was then in disputed territory, but later became North Kingstown, Rhode Island.[13] Here the Coles lived for the remainder of their lives, rearing many children.[13] The will of John Cole's father, Samuel Cole, dated 21 December 1666, left a property at Bendall's Dock in Boston to Susanna and her children to satisfy an agreement with Susanna'a brother Edward Hutchinson and uncle Samuel Hutchinson.[15] This property was leased out in 1676, and sold in 1698 for £160.[16]

In April 1667, John Cole deeded their house in Boston to Susanna's brother Edward and uncle Samuel, signifying that they intended to remain in Narragansett.[13] They lived in the vicinity of Wickford, an area claimed by both Connecticut and Rhode Island.[13] Many of the Wickford inhabitants preferred to be under the jurisdiction of Connecticut, and in the late 1660s John Cole became a magistrate and commissioner for the area under the auspices of the Connecticut government.[13] Eventually, following many years of dispute and tension, Rhode Island was given control over the Narragansett lands, and in 1682 John Cole was made a conservator of the peace under the Rhode Island government.[13] By 1707 John had died, and Susanna and her son William were given administration of his estate during that year.[13] Susanna had died by 14 December 1713 when her son, William, "took receipts from heirs for their full proportion of estate of deceased father and mother..."[13]

Family and Legacy

Susanna and John Cole had 11 children: Susanna, Samuel, Mary, John, Ann, a second John, Hannah, William, Francis, Elizabeth, and Elisha; at least 9 of them grew to maturity. Their oldest daughter, Susanna, married Thomas Eldred, but the fate of their oldest son, Samuel is not known.[13] Mary lived into her 60s, never marrying, and John, Jr. died as a youngster.[13] Ann married Henry Bull, the son of Jireh Bull, and grandson of Rhode Island colonial governor Henry Bull.[17] A second John grew to maturity, Hannah married Thomas Place, and William married Ann Pinder.[13] Francis grew to maturity, Elizabeth married Robert Potter, and Elisha married Elizabeth Dexter and was for many years a Deputy or Assistant in the Rhode Island colony.[13] Among her well known descendants are two aspirants to the United States Presidency, Stephen Arnold Douglas who lost to Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election, and Willard Mitt Romney, who lost to incumbent Barack Obama in 2012.[18]

There have been numerous books and articles written about Susanna Cole's famous mother, Anne Hutchinson, most of which mention Susanna. One book has been written about Cole, Trouble's Daughter by Katherine Kirkpatrick, which presents a fictionalized account about her life with the native Americans who captured her, but also presents some of the limited historical information that is available about her.[19]

A bronze statue in front of the Massachusetts State House in Boston, dedicated in 1922, displays an assumed likeness of Cole as a youngster, and her mother, Anne Hutchinson.[20]

Ancestry

Some of Susanna's ancestry on her father's side was published by John D. Champlin in 1913, and he published much of her ancestry on her mother's side the following year.[21][22]

See also


References

  1. ↑ Anderson 2003, p. 481.
  2. ↑ Anderson 2003, pp. 477–81.
  3. ↑ LaPlante 2004, p. 73.
  4. ↑ LaPlante 2004, pp. 44–5.
  5. ↑ Bicknell 1920, p. 975.
  6. ↑ Anderson 2003, pp. 479–82.
  7. ↑ Kirkpatrick 1998, p. 227.
  8. ↑ Kirkpatrick 1998, pp. 3,11.
  9. ↑ LaPlante 2004, p. 239.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Kirkpatrick 1998, p. 228.
  11. ↑ Winthrop 1908, pp. 276–277.
  12. ↑ Kirkpatrick 1998, p. vi.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 13.9 13.10 13.11 13.12 Austin 1887, p. 50.
  14. ↑ Winthrop 1908, p. 120.
  15. ↑ Holman 1943, p. 194.
  16. ↑ Holman 1943, p. 195.
  17. ↑ Austin 1887, pp. 264–5.
  18. ↑ Family Search 2008.
  19. ↑ Kirkpatrick 1998, pp. 1–230.
  20. ↑ Art Around the World 2007.
  21. ↑ Champlin 1913, pp. 2–3.
  22. ↑ Champlin & 1914 17–26.

Bibliography

Online sources

External links

  • Biography A short biography of Susanna Cole
  • Statue info Background on the Anne Hutchinson statue; while this source gives a dedication year of 1915, most other sources give the year as 1922.
  • Cole info This early history of Kingstowne has material on John Cole, though there are many errors concerning family relationships.
  • Eldred family
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