Susanna Eldred

• Susanna Cole (née Hutchinson; 1633 – c. 1713) was the lone survivor of an Indian attack in which many of her siblings and her famed mother, Anne Hutchinson, were killed. Following the attack, she was taken captive, and held for several years before her release.
• Born in Alford, Lincolnshire, England, Hutchinson was less than a year old when her family sailed from England to New England in 1634. She was less than five when her family settled on Aquidneck Island (later Rhode Island) in the Narragansett Bay following her mother's banishment from Massachusetts during the Antinomian Controversy. Shortly after her father's death, when she was about eight years old, she, her mother and six of her siblings left Rhode Island to live in New Netherland. They settled in an area that became the far northeastern section of The Bronx in New York City, near the Westchester County line. Caught in the middle of severe tensions between the local natives and the Dutch, the family, except for Susanna, was massacred in August 1643. She was taken captive, and raised by the Indians, later to be traded back to the English.
• Hutchinson was taken to Boston where her oldest brother and an older sister lived, was re-introduced into English society, and at the age of 18 married John Cole, the son of Boston innkeeper Samuel Cole. They lived in Boston for a few years, but by 1663 had moved to the Narragansett country of Rhode Island (later North Kingstown) to look after the lands of her oldest brother, Edward Hutchinson. Here the couple remained and raised a large family. Susanna Cole was still alive in 1707 when given administration of her husband's estate, but was deceased by December 1713 when her son William took receipts concerning his parents' estate.
• Baptized in Alford, Lincolnshire on 15 November 1633, Susanna Hutchinson was the youngest child of William and Anne Hutchinson to accompany her parents on the voyage from England to New England in 1634.[1] She was the 14th child of her parents, of which 11 survived to make the trip to the New World; a 15th child was born in New England.[2] The family settled in Boston, and lived across the street from magistrate John Winthrop, who was a judge during the civil trial in 1637 that led to her mother's banishment from the Massachusetts colony.[3] While Hutchinson was still very young, her mother hosted popular religious discussions at their home. Her mother's religious views, at odds with the rigid orthodoxy of the Puritan ministers, helped to create a major division in the Boston church and an untenable situation for the colony's leaders.[4] Forced to leave Massachusetts, the family settled with many of her mother's supporters on Aquidneck Island in the Narragansett Bay, establishing the settlement of Portsmouth, which soon became a part of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.[5] Hutchinson was less than five years old when the family left Boston, and was about eight when her father died in Portsmouth.[6]
• Frightened at the prospect of Massachusetts gaining influence or control over Rhode Island, Hutchinson's widowed mother took her six youngest children, an older son, a son-in-law, and some servants and moved to the part of New Netherland that later became The Bronx in New York City.[7] The Dutch and native Siwanoy were engaged in Kieft's War during the family's tenure there. In August 1643 Siwonoy attacked the emigrant household, and killed all members of the family, except for nine-year-old Hutchinson. According to one story, Susanna's red hair spared her from the slaughter,[8] while another account claimed that the girl was out picking blueberries some distance from the house and hid in the crevice of Split Rock.[9] In any event, the attackers took Susanna Hutchinson captive, and held her for several years.[10]
• In his journal, Massachusetts governor John Winthrop provided an account of Susanna under the date of July 1646:
  • A daughter of Mrs. Hutchinson was carried away by the Indians near the Dutch, when her mother and others were killed by them; and upon the peace concluded between the Dutch and the same Indians, she was returned to the Dutch governor, who restored her to her friends here. She was about eight years old, when she was taken, and continued with them about four years, and she had forgot her own language, and all her friends, and was loath to have come from the Indians.[11]
• While Winthrop said that Hutchinson was captive about four years, his journal makes clear that her captivity lasted less than three years. When she returned to Boston, her known living siblings at the time were her oldest brother, Edward Hutchinson, another brother, Samuel, and her two oldest living sisters, Faith (the wife of Thomas Savage), and Bridget (the wife of John Sanford).[12] Of these siblings, Faith lived in Mount Wollaston, about ten miles south of Boston; Bridget lived in Portsmouth, Rhode Island; and Samuel's residence is unknown. Only her brother Edward is known to have lived in Boston proper, and it is likely that Hutchinson came to live with him and his family.[10][13] On 30 December 1651 she married, in Boston, John Cole, the son of Boston innkeeper, Samuel Cole, who had established Boston's first tavern in 1634.[10][14]
• Susanna and John Cole began raising a family in Boston, but by 1663 they had gone to look after her brother's land in the Narragansett country, which was then in disputed territory, but later became North Kingstown, Rhode Island.[13] Here the Coles lived for the remainder of their lives, rearing many children.[13] The will of John Cole's father, Samuel Cole, dated 21 December 1666, left a property at Bendall's Dock in Boston to Susanna and her children to satisfy an agreement with Susanna'a brother Edward Hutchinson and uncle Samuel Hutchinson.[15] This property was leased out in 1676, and sold in 1698 for £160.[16]
• In April 1667, John Cole deeded their house in Boston to Susanna's brother Edward and uncle Samuel, signifying that they intended to remain in Narragansett.[13] They lived in the vicinity of Wickford, an area claimed by both Connecticut and Rhode Island.[13] Many of the Wickford inhabitants preferred to be under the jurisdiction of Connecticut, and in the late 1660s John Cole became a magistrate and commissioner for the area under the auspices of the Connecticut government.[13] Eventually, following many years of dispute and tension, Rhode Island was given control over the Narragansett lands, and in 1682 John Cole was made a conservator of the peace under the Rhode Island government.[13] By 1707 John had died, and Susanna and her son William were given administration of his estate during that year.[13] Susanna had died by 14 December 1713 when her son, William, "took receipts from heirs for their full proportion of estate of deceased father and mother..."[13]
• Susanna and John Cole had 11 children: Susanna, Samuel, Mary, John, Ann, a second John, Hannah, William, Francis, Elizabeth, and Elisha; at least 9 of them grew to maturity. Their oldest daughter, Susanna, married Thomas Eldred, but the fate of their oldest son, Samuel is not known.[13] Mary lived into her 60s, never marrying, and John, Jr. died as a youngster.[13] Ann married Henry Bull, the son of Jireh Bull, and grandson of Rhode Island colonial governor Henry Bull.[17] A second John grew to maturity, Hannah married Thomas Place, and William married Ann Pinder.[13] Francis grew to maturity, Elizabeth married Robert Potter, and Elisha married Elizabeth Dexter and was for many years a Deputy or Assistant in the Rhode Island colony.[13] Among her well known descendants are two aspirants to the United States Presidency: Stephen Arnold Douglas, who lost to Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election, and Willard Mitt Romney, who lost to incumbent Barack Obama in 2012.[18] Her grandson, John Cole, the son of Elisha Cole, was a chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
• There have been numerous books and articles written about Susanna Cole's famous mother, Anne Hutchinson, most of which mention Susanna. One book has been written about Cole, Trouble's Daughter by Katherine Kirkpatrick, which presents a fictionalized account about her life with the native Americans who captured her, but also presents some of the limited historical information that is available about her.[19]
• A bronze statue in front of the Massachusetts State House in Boston, dedicated in 1922, displays an assumed likeness of Cole as a youngster, and her mother, Anne Hutchinson.[20]
• Some of Susanna's ancestry on her father's side was published by John D. Champlin in 1913, and he published much of her ancestry on her mother's side the following year.[21][22]
• From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susanna_Cole _______________
• John Cole
• Birth: 1625 Essex, England
• Death: 1707 North Kingstown, Washington County, Rhode Island, USA
• This is found in Austin's Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island, p 59:
• John Cole was the son of Boston's innkeeper, Samuel Cole. He was married in Boston on 30 December 1651 to Susanna Hutchinson, the daughter of William and Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson, and the only survivor of the massacre in which her mother and many of her siblings were killed.
• John was born in Essex County, England, either on Mersea or in Dedham.
• He came to Boston in 1630 on the Winthrop Fleet with his father Samuel Cole and mother Ann. The family lived on Washington Street, not far from Governor Winthrop and the Hutchinson family.
• On December 30, 1651, he married Susanna Hutchinson after a pre-nuptial agreement had been signed by his father Samuel Cole and Susanna’s elder brother Edward Hutchinson. Susanna had recently lived with the Lenape Indians for 8 years and was still adjusting to Colonial life.
• The Hutchinson family had been very successful in their trading company and had acquired 600 acres of land in what was to become North Kingstown, Rhode Island. They needed someone to manage this land and therefore gave it to Susanna to have John and Susanna manage it. By 1663 they had moved to that land.
• In 1668, John Cole was appointed Magistrate under the government of Connecticut. No doubt, since he was educated, he was appointed a Magistrate for the area, which at that time was claimed by both Rhode Island and Connecticut. This led to difficulties for John, particularly from Rhode Island officials. He and three others were appointed to this office by Connecticut, and the inhabitants of Wickford, an adjacent village in North Kingstown, were called upon to yield obedience to them, and not to the Rhode Island officers. In 1670 he was arrested by the Rhode Island authorities for taking office under Connecticut.
• In 15 Jul 1670 - He, John Cole, having said before the Rhode Island Governor and Council, that he had not yet taken an engagement to any office under Connecticut, but did not know how soon might, and also did own that he did forewarn the Rhode Island Conservators of the Peace from acting in his Majesty's name, etc.: he was committed to the Sergeant, till the next court meeting, and was to find bail for £20, to answer for said contempt. The warning which he gave to the Conservators of the Peace, related to a matter of disputed jurisdiction between the two colonies, in the calling of a jury of inquest in the case of murder of Walter House, of Wickford. He was on the jury in the case of the murder of Walter House by Thomas Flounders, the jury being called by Connecticut authorities.
• On 29 Jul 1679, John and forty-one other inhabitants of Narragansett, petitioned the King, praying that he "would put an end to these differences about the government thereof, which hath been so fatal to the prosperity of the place; animosities still arising in people's minds as they stand affected to this or that government."
• On 28 Jun 1682 – John Cole was appointed Conservator of the Peace. He now acted on behalf of the Rhode Island authorities.
• John and Susanna had eleven children: Susannah, Samuel, John, Mary, Ann, Francis, Elizabeth, John, Hannah, William and Elisha. William inherited the land.
• The Cole family members are no doubt buried on what is now known as Cole Lot. It is located on a knoll in the woods off Route 1A. There are many gravestones visible, but only a very few are legible.
• Family links:
• Parents:
• Samuel Cole (1597 - 1666)
• Spouse:
• Susanna Hutchinson Cole (1633 - 1713)*
• Children:
  • William Cole (1671 - 1734)*
• Burial: Unknown
• Find A Grave Memorial# 65255100
• From: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=65255100

References

1. Royal Families: Americans of Royal and Noble Ancestry. Vol. 2. Reverend Francis Marbury and Five Generations of the Descendants Through Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson and Katherine (Marbury) Scott. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004. Page 25-26. < AncestryImage >. Page 26. < AncestrySharing >