Indian Raid of 1692

The Indian Raid of 1692 was the first of the two attacks made on Billerica during King William's War (1688 to 1697). On August 1, 1692, two mothers and four of their children in the Dutton and Shed households, on the scattered farms near what is now North Billerica, were killed. Town historian Henry Hazen called it Billerica's first massacre; the second came three years later (see Indian Raid of 1695). The date is that of the town records, which were kept in the Julian (Old Style) calendar then in use in New England; by the Gregorian calendar it fell on August 11, 1692, a Monday.

Billerica had organized its defense around garrison houses since King Philip's War. In October 1675 the selectmen and the committee of militia assigned each family to a fortified house: John Rogers Sr. and his sons John, Thomas and Nathaniel to the house of the Rev. Samuel Whiting, which was to be the main garrison and "ye last refuge in case of extremity"; Roger Toothaker to Thomas Patten's house; and John Dunkin to the house of Jonathan Danforth. The renewed war, begun with the attack on Dover in 1689, which Hazen thought the French in Canada had instigated, brought raids on Dunstable in September 1691 and on Lancaster two weeks before the first Billerica attack.

The first raid struck two houses at a crossroads by the later Russell place, half a mile south of North Billerica, where an old road ran south toward Fox Hill and the village. On the east side of that road stood the home of Johanna Dutton, a daughter of Henry Jefts and one of the first children born in the town. Her first husband, John Dunkin, had received the land in 1670 in return for the "fat ox" the town presented to its deputy, Humphrey Davy, and had died of smallpox in December 1690; she had since married Benjamin Dutton. Opposite, in the northeast angle of the roads, lived Zechary Shed and his wife Ann. In each house the Indians killed the mother with her eldest and youngest child: Johanna Dutton, aged 36, her daughter Mary Dunkin, 16, and her son Benoni, not yet two; and Ann Shed with her daughters Hannah, 13, and Agnes, about two. The records state only that they were "slaine by ye indians." No captives are recorded, and nothing is known of the circumstances; Hazen noted that none of the histories of the period mentioned the attack. The Rogers, Toothaker and Levistone families living farther north were spared.

Over the next three years the town kept up watches and scouting. On February 27, 1692/3, the militia renewed the watch at Captain Hill's and in the center of town, warned the outskirts to stand on guard, and asked the General Court for relief from the burden of scouting. On August 23, 1693, Major Thomas Hinchman ordered Lieutenant John Lane to impress eight troopers, four of them to scout daily about the town, "especially towards the great swamp." Groton was attacked on July 27, 1694. In the same years the witchcraft prosecutions reached the Toothaker household. A warrant was issued at Salem on May 18, 1692, against "Roger Toothaker of Bilrica," and Roger Toothaker died in the Boston jail, where a coroner's jury found on June 16, 1692, that he had died a natural death. His wife Mary, whose sister Martha Carrier was hanged at Salem on August 19, 1692, was examined on July 30 and confessed that the devil had promised "to keep her from the Indians"; she was indicted in January 1693 as a widow of Billerica but was not executed.

People

• Johanna Jefts Dunkin: Killed August 1, 1692 with two of her children by John Dunkin; born Joanna Jefts, widow of John Dunkin, wife of Benjamin Dutton.
• John Dunkin: Her first husband (d. 1690); his land grant of 1670 was the site of the 1692 attack.
• Benjamin Dutton: Husband of Johanna Dutton; survived the 1692 raid.
• Ann Shed: Wife of Zechary Shed; killed August 1, 1692 with daughters Hannah and Agnes.
• Zechary Shed: Husband of Ann Shed; his house opposite the Dunkin place was attacked August 1, 1692.
• Roger Toothaker: Husband of Mary Toothaker; arrested for witchcraft May 1692, died in Boston jail June 1692.
• Martha Allen Carrier: Sister of Mary Toothaker, hanged at Salem August 19, 1692.
• Jonathan Danforth: Garrison master in 1675; recorded the names of the 1692 victims; Captain Danforth held the bread left by Lynde in 1695.
• John Lane: Lieutenant of the Billerica troop ordered in 1693 to impress troopers for scouting.

References

1. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 110: October 1675 garrison orders; Rogers family to Rev. Samuel Whiting's main garrison, Roger Toothaker to Thomas Patten's.
2. Hazen, p. 111: further 1675 garrison orders, John Dunkin assigned to Jonathan Danforth's house.
3. Hazen, p. 126: King William's War background, Dover 1689, Dunstable 1691, opening of the account of the first Billerica massacre.
4. Hazen, p. 127: August 1, 1692 attack, location of the Dunkin/Dutton and Zachary Shed homes, Danforth's record, Lancaster two weeks earlier.
5. Hazen, p. 128: ages of the 1692 victims, families spared, militia watch of February 27, 1692-3.
6. Hazen, Genealogical Register p. 43: John Dunkin, his grant and the Russell place; widow and two children killed August 1, 1692.
7. Hazen, Genealogical Register p. 45: Benjamin Dutton, whose wife Joanna was killed with two children August 1, 1692.
8. Hazen, Genealogical Register pp. 130 to 131: Zechary Shed; wife Ann and two children killed August 1, 1692.
9. Vital Records of Billerica to 1850 (1908), p. 357: deaths of Johanna Dutton and children Mary and Benoni, slain by the Indians Aug. 1, 1692.
10. Vital Records of Billerica, p. 392: Ann Shed and daughters Hannah and Agnus slain by the Indians Aug. 1, 1692.
11. Farmer, Historical Memoir of Billerica (1816), p. 12: the 1692 deaths with ages, and the start of the 1695 account.
12. Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive, SWP No. 128: Mary Toothaker, examination July 30, 1692, fear of the Indians, indictment as widow of Billerica.
13. Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive, SWP No. 129: Roger Toothaker of Billerica, warrant May 18, 1692, death in Boston jail, inquest June 16, 1692.