Rowlandson, Mary White

Rowlandson, Mary White

1635 (or 1637)

Somersetshire, England

1711?

Wethersfield, Connecticut

Writer of a famous captivity narrative

" . . . their glittering weapons so daunted my spirit, that I chose rather to go along with those (as I may say) ravenous Bears, then that moment to end my dayes."

From The Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.

Mary White Rowlandson, the wife of a Puritan clergyman, lived with her family on the New England frontier during the late seventeenth century. The violent events of King Philip's War (1675–76; see Metacom entry) transformed Rowlandson from a typical Puritan woman to a best-selling author. On a night in February 1676, a Wampanoag raiding party abducted Rowlandson, her three children, and several other colonists. One of her children died in captivity. Three months later Rowlandson and her two surviving children were released when her husband paid a ransom to the Wampanoags. She wrote about this experience in The Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson (a shortened title), which she originally composed for her children. The Narrative was published in 1682 to resounding success. Rowlandson's account is important to historians because it provides a realistic description of life on the American frontier and depicts the deep Christian faith of a Puritan woman.

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