Person Page 824

He married Deliverance Crisp on May 15,1672 at Groton,MA.

Children: Lydia Longley, William Longley III, Betty Longley, Jemima Longley, John Longley, Joseph Longley, and two infant children.

Near the site of his dwelling house exists a marker that reads: "Near this spot dwelt William and Deliverance Longley with their eight children. On the 27th of July 1694 the Indians killed the mother and father and five of the children and into captivity the other three."

Eldest daughter Lydia remained in Canada and became a nun after being converted to Catholicism. Daughter Betty is said to have died of hunger and exposure during the march to Canada. Son John was held for four years and then ransomed.

It is said that daughter Jemima was scalped and left for dead during the attack, but survived and later married and had children.

THE SAD STORY OF GROTON, MASSACHUSETTES & THE FAMILY OF WILLIAM AND DELIVERANCE LONGLEY

In 1676, the small town of Groton, Massachusetts, located 40 miles from the Boston fort, was almost completely destroyed during an Indian attack. Of the 40 houses burned in the assault, only 14 or 15 were left standing. Thankfully, only 3 people were killed and 2 taken prisoner. In 1678, people began rebuilding Groton and their lives.

On Friday, July 27, 1694, Groton was attacked again by the Abenaqui Indians. Their chief, Taxous, selected 40 of his best warriors and attacked Groton at daybreak. 21 people were killed, 13 captured, and 13 badly wounded. Survivors were so frightened, they left the town and sought refuge in surrounding areas.

T he victims lived near the Baptist Church, or meeting-house. One of the Baptist minister’s sons was killed, another captured. William and Deliverance Longley were killed along with 5 of their children. The remaining three, Lydia, age 20, John, age 10 or 11, and Betty age 3 or under, were taken into captivity.

Betty died shortly from exposure and hunger in the Abenaqui Indian territory in Canada. Lydia was sold to France, and placed with the Sisters of the Congregations of Notre Dame in Montreal, Canada. She was baptized there in 1696. She remained in Montreal until her death in 1758 at the age of 84. John remained with the Abenaqui for 4 years. According to his deposition given in 1736, he spent the last 2 ½ years of his captivity as a servant to Chief Madocawando of the Penobscot tribe. When he was ransomed from captivity, accounts record it was very much against his will. John Longley returned home around the time his grandmother died, in 1698. (An interesting fact is that in her later years, his grandmother , Joanna Goffe Longley, married his mother’s father, William Crispe.) His grandmother had remembered the captive children in her will. “I give and bequeath unto my three Grand-Children in captivity if they returne Vizdt these books one a Bible another a Sermon booke treating of faith and the other a psalme book.” Like his father, William Longley, and his grandfather, William Longley, Sr., he was the Groton town clerk for many years. He married twice and fathered 12 children. He died in Groton in 1750.

A rock monument was erected in the autumn of 1879 at the site of the Longley Family massacre. It still stands today near the town of Groton on Old Pepperell Road, now named Longley Road. It is inscribed with the following words:

HERE DWELTWILLIAM AND DELIVERANCE LONGLEYWITH THEIR EIGHT CHILDRENON THE 27TH OF JULY 1694THE INDIANS KILLED THE FATHER AND MOTHERAND FIVE OF THE CHILDRENAND CARRIED INTO CAPTIVITYTHE OTHER THREE


William Longley was married to LydiaSubmitted by Ancestry.com Member Gloria Stiles. Sources: Knox Manuscripts, Waldo Papers, L. 13; An Historical sketch of Groton, Massachusettes 1655-1890; An Historical Address delivered at Groton, Massachusetts, February 20, 1880 by Samuel Abbott Green; History of Groton Massachusettes by Caleb Butler, page 278.

Ound 1680, the blacksmith and Groton landholder named Jonas Prescott (b. 1648), son of John and Mary Prescott, built the first iron works in nearby Forge Village and began its 300-year history of industrial activity. He lived with his wife Mary (Laker) at the southwest corner of Pine and Town Farm Roads. He mined bog-ore in Groton to be smelted into iron at the mill site on Stony Brook. The iron was used for making candlesticks, farm tools and household items such as irons according to local historian Gordon Seavey's 1988 local news article on the influence of Stony Brook. Mr. Prescott might also have operated a grist mill at the outflow of Forge Pond at this time according to town histories of Westford and Chelmsford.

Some of his descendants who influenced the development of the town are the town clerk Jonas Prescott Jr. (1678-1750) and his wife Thankful Wheeler (1682-1716), Jonas Prescott III (1701-1784) and his wife Esther Spalding (1705-1730) and Lieutenant Jonas Prescott (1727-1813). (Information from Westfords Historic Commission)

According to SAC, Jonas and Mary, had 12 children: Mary, Elizabeth, Jonas, Nathaniel, Dorothy, James, Sarah, Abigail, Martha, Susannah, Deborah and Benjamin.

Wife of Jonas Prescott (1648-1723). The story of the romance of Mary and Jonas is told in William Prescott's "Prescott Memorial", p.42-43, and also in Caleb Butler's "History of the Town of Groton", pages 287-288. They were the parents of twelve children, ten living to maturity and each had a large family. It is said that Mary lived to see 176 of her descendants.