In the Classroom > Unit Overview > Lesson 7
Lesson 7 - Readings for the Stebbins Family Abigail Stebbins From New England Captives Carried to Canada, Vol. I, Emma L. Coleman, 1925, pgs. 118-124 Abigail. '...baptizedby me, undersigned Priest, an English woman, named in her own country Abigail Stebbens, who born at Dearfield in New England Jan 4, 1684...married the 14th February 1704 to Jacques Desnoions...came with him to Canada toward the end of the following March and lives with him at Boucherville. Her name of Abigail has been changed to that of Marguerite.' Ebenezer and Thankful were perhaps living with her...Jacques, a soldier, was evidently not a home-maker... When Rene, the eldest child, was about ten years old he was sent with some Frenchmen and Indians to visit his grandparents in Deerfield, and when the Canadians were ready to go back the child could not be found. Perhaps he preferred his mother's home, perhaps grandfather Stebbins induced [convinced] him to stay, but stay he did and in New England he founded [started] not only a family but a name, for his was changed...to Aaron Denio. In 1740, on November 15, Abigail was buried at Boucherville,
aged sixty-two. She was a daughter of John Stebbins, twenty-six days married to James Denio, or Denieur, one of the 'three Frenchmen' of Stephen Williams's list, when captured. Their son Aaron...became a noted tavern keeper in Greenfield, was prominent in public affairs, and a soldier in later wars. From notes from historian, Kevin Sweeney, 11/23/99 Jacques DeNoyon [James Denio] was the first
Frenchman to visit Lake of the Woods in the Great Lakes. He had a great
knowledge of that area, the Indians who lived there and the trade situation
there. He was a trader and considered a renegade [one who doesn't always
follow the laws]. He came from Boucherville in Canada. After he was captured
in the 1704 attack and returned to Canada, he was made a captain of the
French Marines [soldiers], and a letter of praise was written about him
by the Canadian Governor. He was probably Catholic to be so well respected.
Deerfield's attackers may have been more interested in getting him back
because of his knowledge of the Great Lakes, than in capturing Deerfield's
minister, John Williams. |