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(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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John Sheldon, Junior had been sleeping in his father's house with his wife, Hannah Chapin, that night in 1704 when the Deerfield Raid occured. They scrambled out their bedroom window as Indians hacked on the door, but in the process Hannah fell and injured her ankle. She urged her husband to go on without her, and although Sheldon stopped to bind her ankle he left her behind and ran to the nearest settlement for help. His wife along with three of his siblings were taken captive. She remained captive until 1705. Her return was negotiated by her father-in-law, John Sheldon who, travelled to Canada and then back to Boston and Deerfield a number of times in the years after 1704. The negotiations usually involved the exchange of expensive "gifts" for the captives like the items mentioned in this letter. This particular exchange was probably instrumental in the return of Sheldon's brothers Ebenezer and Rememberance and his sister Mary, all of whom were back to Deerfield by 1706.

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