The Cochecho
Massacre as it is referred to by early English settlers took place in Dover,
New Hampshire June 27-28, 1689. An online search will detail the massacre
by the native people and the historical events that preceded it and the
aftereffects. In tracing my family history, I found several of my
ancestral families were living in Dover during this time. My Otis family line
appears to be the most impacted by this attack.
The night of
June 27, 1689, the Abenaki Indians sent two native women to each of the
garrison houses at Dover, NH. There only
being 6 or 7 in the area known then as “Cocheco.” They were allowed in at the Waldren’s, the
Otis’ and the Heard’s.
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| Old photo of a Garrison house |
During the
night the native women opened the doors and gates the garrisons to allow the
native men waiting outside. They killed
Mr. Waldren and his family and set his
garrison house on fire. They also
attacked the Coffin Garrison. Mr. Tristram Coffin went out to see what was
going and was captured. His son inside
the garrison would not let the Indians in, but as the native men threatened to
kill his father unless he let them in, he relented to spare his father. The natives ransacked the garrison, taking
money and weapons and valuables, left the family and both Coffin garrisons.
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| ➡➡➡ |
THE OTIS FAMILY
Richard Otis,
age 64 was living in Cochecho with his third wife Grizet (Warren) Otis. His children including his son, Stephen Otis,
age 37 and his family. As the natives
were being let in, Richard Otis was either shot getting out of bed to see what
was going on or looking out a window to see the commotion. Also killed was his son, Stephen and Richard’s
young daughter, Hannah Otis. Richard’s wife and three daughters and two sons were
captured to be taken to Canada as well as the wife and children of Stephen
Otis. The next morning after the attack, others from
the surviving garrisons all gathered together.
A small group of men set out after the natives. It was the native custom to split up into
smaller groups as they traveled different routes back to Canada. One group was overtaken at Conway, New
Hampshire and some were rescued.
Below are the
details of the Otis family members:
Richard
Otis, age 64, killed
in the attack on June 28, 1689. He had
married 3 times before his death. His 1st
wife was Rose Stoughton. His 2nd
wife was Shuah (Starbuck) Heard and his 3rd wife below.
Grizel
(Warren) Otis, age 29, 3rd
wife of Richard, was captured and taken to Canada where she was
baptized in Montreal as Madeleine Hotese on May 9, 1693. She married Philippe Robitaille and said to
have had 5 more children. She died October 26, 1750, in Montreal, Canada. She never returned to New England. Many of the captives were given their freedom for converting to Catholicism but could never cross the border into the states. She became accustomed to living in the city of Montreal. She was quoted to
saying to her daughter who wanted to return later in life to New England, “What
do you know about living off the land, making butter, and caring for
chickens?” When all these things were
provided in Montreal.
Richard
Otis Jr., age 39, son of
Richard Otis and his 1st wife, Rose Stoughton, escaped the 1689
attacked unharmed. The 2nd
attack in Dover on July 26, 1698, when people were returning Church, he was
wounded and died before January 1, 1700, when administration was granted on
estate.
Stephen Otis, age 37, son of Richard Otis and his 1st wife, Rose, was killed in the attack on June 28, 1689. His wife and children were captured and taken to Canada. [see below]
Martha Otis, age 35 daughter Richard Otis and his 1st wife, Rose, was the last of the daughters of Richard who captured and rescued. She married John Pinkham.
Ann Otis, age 32, daughter of Richard Otis and 1st wife, Rose, was captured and taken by a group of Indians who split up and were heading to Canada but overtaken by a group of men from Dover and rescued around Conway, NH and returned to Dover with two more of her sisters. She married Thomas Austin in 1678.
Nicholas
Otis, age 24, son of Richard
Otis and his 1st wife Rose, escaped the attack of 1689 by hiding in
the nearby woods. He was killed in the 2nd
attack on Dover, NH on July 26, 1698.
His son Nicholas was captured and taken to Canada and escaped around
Penobscot County, Maine.
Experience Otis, age 23, daughter of Richard Otis and his 1st wife, Rose, had married Samuel Heard, who died in 1687 and was returning from Portsmouth with her mother-in-law, Elizabeth (Hull) Heard and saw what was happening and escaped. After her husband Samuel died, she married 2nd Rowland Jenkins. Experience unfortunately was scalped during the attack of July 26, 1698, but survived. She lived to give birth to her last child but died from her wounds on February 8, 1699.
Judith Otis, age 22, daughter of Richard Otis and his 1st wife, Rose, was one of the three daughters of Richard who were taken captive and being taken to Canada and rescued. She married John Tuttle of Dover.
Rose Otis, age 10, daughter of Richard Otis and his 2nd
wife, Shuah, was captured and taken to Montreal, Canada and baptized
in 1693 as Francoise Rose Otis. She
married Jean Putevin of Beauport, Canada on November 21, 1696, and never returned
to New England and died in 1729.
John Otis, age 8, son of Richard Otis and his 2nd
wife, Shuah, he was captured on June 28, 1689, and said to have
been tortured by having his ears cut off and his fingernails pulled out. He was taken in by an elderly native woman,
who had lost her own son in an attack and was given the boy to make up for the
loss of her son who would have cared for her.
She healed him and kept him to provide for her until she got quite
elderly and abandoned him when he was about 20 years old in Canada. He made his way to Quebec and was baptized as
Jean Baptiste Otis. He joined the
Seminary in Quebec in 1702 but married on November 4, 1703, to Cecile Poulin and
later married 2nd Marie Francoise Gagne on February 9, 1737, in Baie
St Paul, Quebec, Canada. He died on September
15, 1760, in Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec, Canada.
Hannah
Otis, age 2, daughter of
Richard Otis and his 3rd wife Grizel, was killed on
June 28, 1689, and when a native dashed her head against a stairway.
Marguerite Otis, daughter of Richard Otis and his 3rd wife Grizel, was an infant when she was taken with her mother to Canada on June 28, 1678. She was baptized as Christine Otis on May 9, 1693. She was placed in a nunnery in Montreal and educated until she was fifteen years old. The Nun tried to force her to take the veil, but she refused. She was then married to Louis Lebeau on June 14, 1707, in Montreal. He died in 1713 leaving her a young widow with three children. Also in 1707, she met another captive from Deerfield, Massachusetts, Thomas Baker. A Frenchman intervened paid his ransom and Thomas was released to return home. In 1714, now Capt. Thomas Baker returned to Canada with a commission to arrange ransom for English prisoners. Christine then desired to return to native land in New England. Unable to take her children as the French would not allow it, she left them behind with her mother as well as her husband’s estate in Montreal. She married 2nd Thomas Baker in 1715. She returned to Canada in 1718 to retrieve her children, but the priests would not allow it. They instead encouraged her to return and embrace her Catholic faith which she would not. Christine and her husband moved to Dover, NH in 1734. Christine was granted permitted to operate a Public House of Entertainment or a Pub in Dover. Thomas died in 1753 and Christine died February 23, 1773.
Family of
Stephen Otis:
Martha (Pitman) Otis, age 32, wife of Stephen Otis, whose fate is unknown. She may have been carried off to Canda or killed the night of the attack of June 28, 1689. As there is no record of her of her after the attacked it is assumed she was killed.
Mary
Otis, age 14, daughter of
Stephen Otis and Martha Pitman, was born about 1675 in Dover, New Hampshire. She was fourteen and carried away with other captives on
June 28, 1689, but a posse formed with a nineteen-year-old Ebenezer Varney
overtook a group of the captives around what is now Conway, New Hampshire. Two years later they married in Dover, New
Hampshire. Her husband took control of
Otis estate in 1696. She died after
1725. [my 8th great-grandmother]
Stephen
Otis, age 9, son of Stephen
Otis and Martha Pitman, was captured in the raid on June 28,1689
and taken to Canada where he was sold and baptized at the Abenakis Mission at
Saint Francois of Sales as Joseph Marie Hotesse. He married in 1712 to Louise [Hubbard]
Walbert, who was taken captive in the raids of June 27 & 28, 1689. He was said to have lived with other captives
in Lorette, Manitoba, Canada where his descendants remained. His sons marrying Huron native women. He did return to visit his sister, Mary in
1725 in Dover, New Hampshire, but preferred to remain in Canada with his family.
Nathaniel Otis, age 5, son of Stephen Otis and Martha Pitman was taken captive in the raid of June 28, 1689, and taken to Canada and sold to the French where he was baptized as Paul Hotesse with his brother. Paul Hotesse applied for naturalization in Canada on October 30, 1706, and moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1708 remaining there as a Catholic. He married 1) Elizabeth Hubbard, sister to above Louise on October 31, 1710, in Montreal. It was during this time that the brothers signed deeds to give their rights to their father’s estate to their sister and brother-in-law, Mary and Ebenezer Varney. Elizabeth died September 9, 1721, in Montreal. He married 2) Madaline Toupis, October 20, 1721, at Montreal. She died on August 28, 1722, in Montreal. He married 3) Marie Ann (Caron) Pare on September 22, 1722, in Montreal. He died on December 26, 1730, in Montreal, Canada. He never returned to Dover.
In the aftermath, 52 colonists were killed or captured. Several homes were burned as well as the mills on the river.
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