Andre Begivenheder og Egenskaber:

• FSID: 99Z5-144

Notater:

On Saturday, Feb. 12, 1676, the sons Isaac and Jacob were killed by the Indians on the south side of Quagana hill [Littleton, Massachusetts]. They, at the time, were threshing grain in the barn on the Shepard homestead. Being aware of the perilous times,-this was during King Philip's War-the sons had set their niece, Mary, on the summit of the hill to watch for Indians.

The ground was covered with deep snow and the Indians traveled with snowshoes. Eluding the vigilance of Mary who was only about thirteen years old, they swooped down up on the Shepard barn before she was aware of their presence and slew Isaac and Jacob.
She was taken captive and carried to Nashawa,-now called Lancaster, or some place in that vicinity. During the first night after her capture she escaped and reached home the next morning. In the dead of night, Mary took a saddle from under the head of her Indian keeper who was sunk in sleep increased by ardent spirits, put the saddle on a horse which the Indians had stolen at Lancaster, mounted it, swam it across the Nashawa river, rode through the forest to her home.The leader of the Indian band is supposed to have been Netus, sometimes called Nipmuck Captain.

The teenaged girl is now thought to have been Mary Power, daughter of Ralph and Thankslord Shepard's daughter, Triall, who married Walter Power in 1661. The Power farmstead was next to the Shepard farm in Littleton (then called Concord Village). The age of the girl on the marker is probably close to correct - Mary Power was born in 1663, and would have been about 12-13 at the time of the attack on her uncles, Isaac and Jacob Shepard.
Mary Power's adventure was surely traumatic to her. When she escaped and returned home, she tended to 'run wild' by Puritan standards. Her parents were tried for at least one of her misdeeds while she was young, but she did eventually marry and settled down to lead a responsible life.

Mary Power married Joseph Wheeler in 1681, but she was dead by the time their daughter, Ruth, administered her father's estate in 1705. However, another family source said she died in 1740. Either way, no burial places were noted. As both of them were from Concord Village, which became Littleton, they may well have been buried in the Power Family Cemetery on the Walter Power farm. Several generations were buried here before the farm went out of family hands and was purchased by the Reed brothers. To the horror of the community, the Reeds plowed over the old burying ground in 1850, using the surviving tombstones to build a fence and leaving no trace of the graves. There was no law at that time about descecrating graves - there is now.

Mary blev gift med Joseph WheelerConcord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA. Joseph (søn af Captain Thomas Wheeler, of Concord og Ruth Wood) blev født den 13 mar. 1656 i Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA; døde den 29 maj 1698 i Stratford, Fairfield, Massachusetts, United States; blev begravet i maj 1698 i Littleton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA. [Gruppeskema] [Familietavle]

1. Mary Wheeler blev født den 24 okt. 1684 i Stow, Stow, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America; døde den 11 jul. 1755 i Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut, USA; blev begravet den 14 jul. 1755 i Middletown, Hartford, Connecticut, United States.
2. Esther Wheeler blev født i 1684 i Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States; døde i 1736 i Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut, USA.
3. Rebecca Wheeler blev født den 2 apr. 1687 i Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA; døde den 22 okt. 1771 i Middletown, Hartford, Connecticut, United States; blev begravet i Old Westfield Cemetery, Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut, United States.
4. Ruth Wheeler blev født den 19 nov. 1682 i Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA; døde den 3 jan. 1761 i Harvard, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
5. Ephraim Wheeler blev født den 28 jul. 1697 i Bridgeport, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA; døde den 16 jul. 1770 i Massachusetts, USA.
6. Elizabeth Wheeler blev født den 8 aug. 1690 i Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA; døde den 13 sep. 1718 i Middletown, Hartford, Connecticut, United States.
7. Esther Wheeler blev født den 2 jul. 1688 i Beverly, Essex, Massachusetts, United States; døde den 9 okt. 1769 i Colchester, New London, Connecticut, United States; blev begravet i Colchester Burying Ground, Colchester, New London, Connecticut, United States.
8. Ephraim Wheeler blev født cirka 1690 i Massachusetts, USA; og døde.
9. Joseph Power Wheeler blev født i Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA; blev døbt i Lincoln, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA; døde den 15 okt. 1732 i Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA.
10. Jane Wheeler blev født i Lincoln, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA; døde den 14 jul. 1736 i Palmer, Hampden, Massachusetts, United States.