Elizabeth Hanson

Elizabeth Meader Hanson (September 17, 1684 1737) was a colonial Anglo-American woman from Dover, New Hampshire, who survived Native American Abenaki capture and captivity in the year 1725 alongside four of her children. Five months after capture, a French family ransomed Elizabeth and her two children in Canada. Her husband was then able to secure them and find another daughter before having to return home, leaving the eldest daughter, Sarah, behind. Elizabeth's captivity narrative became popular because of its detailed insights into Native American captivity, which was a threat to the people in New England due to the almost constant wars with the Native Americans and French in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Her religious take on her experiences was heavily emphasized in her story.

Biography Hanson was born Elizabeth Meader, the youngest of four children. Her parents were John Meader Jr. and Sarah Follett. Little is known about her life before captivity other than her wedding date, July 23, 1703, to John Hanson, when she was nineteen. The two had nine children together, including Hannah, Sarah, Elizabeth, John, Isaac, Daniel, Caleb, Ebenezer, and the young baby taken captive with her.

Because Elizabeth and her family were Quakers, they refused to take refuge in the garrison when the Abenaki first attacked their area during Dummer's War. Elizabeth and four of her children, Sarah, Elizabeth Jr, Daniel, and her two-week-old daughter, were taken from her home in Dover, New Hampshire on August 27, 1724. They were held captive by Native Americans until early 1725.

The second eldest, Sarah Hanson, was separated from her mother and taken to a different group. Her third daughter, Elizabeth, and her female servant were taken shortly after, which left Elizabeth with her son Daniel and newborn baby daughter.

After enduring abuse from her captors and master, she was detained by the French and held for ransom in Canada. The French people that saved her were Jesuits, not Quakers like herself. A Catholic priest baptized her youngest daughter. They declared her name to be Mary Ann Frossways and gave her back to Elizabeth. Her husband John Hanson was able to retrieve Elizabeth, Daniel, and Mary Ann from Port Royal, Canada in 1725. He freed them by paying their ransom to the Native Americans and French. Due to the trade agreement between the French and Native Americans, Sarah married Jean Baptiste Sabourin to escape captivity and she decided to remain in Canada apart from her family.

Her captivity narrative Elizabeth's story, God's Mercy Surmounting Man's Cruelty, was published in 1728. It was later renamed "An Account of the Captivity of Elizabeth Hanson." Elizabeth Hanson died in Dover, New Hampshire in 1737. These many different edits evolved from the actual account of a woman's capture and rescue to a story revolving around the social parameters of women in early colonial New England. These versions were distributed to influence the behavioral standards for Quaker women in the new colonies.