{"id":8007,"date":"2014-08-15T15:23:13","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T15:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=8007"},"modified":"2014-08-15T15:23:13","modified_gmt":"2014-08-15T15:23:13","slug":"new-family-story-find-my-18th-century-uncle-jonathan-dore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/new-family-story-find-my-18th-century-uncle-jonathan-dore.html","title":{"rendered":"New Family Story Find: My 18th Century Uncle Jonathan Dore"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year I wrote about my relative Elizabeth (Meader) Hanson (1684-1737) who, along with her children, was kidnapped by Abenaki Indians on 7 September 1724 and taken to the Indians\u2019 village along the St. Francis River in Canada. They were held there for over two years. (See: Find & Preserve Your Family\u2019s Stories<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Powerful. Memorable. That story has been told and retold in our family for the past 290 years. Every night when we were young we asked our grandfather to tell us that story. We loved it. It was real\u2014it was our family story.<\/p>\n

Indian Raids Continued<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently I found this 1749 newspaper article with a report from Timothy Brown about his attempts to learn more about\u2014and to free\u2014captives still held by the Indians.<\/p>\n

He was able to get in and around the Abenaki village and learned about multiple captives, including this specific reference:<\/p>\n

There is also a Boy who was taken from Rochester in New Hampshire, with the Indians at St. Francois, his Name is Jonathan Dore.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"article<\/a>
Boston Post Boy (Boston, Massachusetts), 10 July 1749, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jonathan Dore?
\nRochester, New Hampshire?
\nSt. Francis Indians?<\/p>\n

This is sounding just like the story of my relative Elizabeth Hanson, who was also taken prisoner by the Abenaki Indians from St. Francis.<\/p>\n

This Jonathan Dore has to be one of my relatives, too\u2014the same Jonathan Dore who was my 5th-great uncle.<\/p>\n

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New England Had Had Enough<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Abenaki and the French were taking American women and children captive so that they could sell them back to their families.<\/p>\n

It was time to stop these atrocities\u2014and that was one of the reasons the French & Indian War was launched (1754-1763).<\/p>\n

Attack on Fort William Henry<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the war there was an attack on Fort William Henry in August of 1757.<\/p>\n

The following account comes from Terror in Rochester<\/em> by Linda Sargent, 2008:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fort was manned by the British, including many New Hampshire men. The siege had ended and the British had surrendered the fort to the French who were being aided by the Indians. There are various accounts of what happened next, but British soldiers were massacred after they had surrendered.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne man who managed to escape from the fort was from Dover, NH. When he returned to Dover, he told how he had been pursued by Indians. One of them had caught up to him and lifted his tomahawk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen their eyes met, under the war paint and Indian dress he recognized the eyes of a young boy he had known well when he worked as a teamster logging on the Salmon Falls River and visiting at the Dore\u2019s home in Rochester. He knew this white Indian was Jonathan Dore. Jonathan recognized him, as well, and dropped his tomahawk to his side and left. No one believed the man\u2019s story when he returned\u00a0to Dover.\u201d<\/p>\n

See: http:\/\/bit.ly\/Vj2ZVD<\/a><\/p>\n

Jonathan Dore had been sighted again, 11 years after he was taken by the Abenaki.<\/p>\n

New Englanders Settle the Score<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Abenaki had been terrorizing New Englanders for decades. The old scores were settled on 4 October 1759 when Robert Rogers and his Rangers attacked the Indians\u2019 village.<\/p>\n

The following account comes from Wikipedia<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cRogers and about 140 men entered the village, which was reportedly occupied primarily by women, children, and the elderly, early that morning, slaughtered many of the inhabitants where they lay, shot down many who attempted to flee, and then burned the village. Rogers and his men endured significant hardships to reach the village from the British base at\u00a0Fort Crown Point\u00a0in present-day\u00a0New York, and even more hardship afterwards. Chased by the French and vengeful Indians, and short on rations, Rogers and his men returned to Crown Point via the\u00a0Connecticut River\u00a0valley.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonathan Dore Witnessed Rogers\u2019 Attack on the Abenaki Village<\/strong><\/p>\n

Digging deeper into GenealogyBank\u2019s archives, I found out more of the story.<\/p>\n

\"Jonathan<\/a>
Aberdeen Daily News (Aberdeen, South Dakota), 5 January 1905, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The above historical newspaper clipping is only part of the long account about Jonathan Dore that appeared in the Aberdeen Daily News<\/em>. The whole article gives a good overview of what had happened to Jonathan Dore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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According to the article, Jonathan Dore (1734-1797)\u2014my 5th-great uncle\u2014was kidnapped on \u201cSalmon Falls Road in Rochester [New Hampshire]\u201d by the Abenaki on 26 June 1746, when he was only 12 years old!<\/p>\n

Jonathan Dore married an Abenaki Indian woman and they had two children. When Major Robert Rogers attacked their village in 1759 to avenge the attack on Fort William Henry, Jonathan Dore \u201cwitnessed the massacre.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone in the village was killed and it was set on fire. \u201cAmong the ruins he found the bodies of his wife and children. He buried them in one grave and with them his attachment to the Indians.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1760 Jonathan Dore returned home to Rochester, New Hampshire. His family had moved across the Salmon Falls River to Lebanon, Maine, where he also settled.<\/p>\n

The newspaper article concluded:<\/p>\n

He settled in Lebanon, Me., married again and spent there the remainder of his days, famous for his marksmanship, especially with the bow and arrow, and known to every one as “Indian Dore.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wow\u2014we would have loved to have heard that family story as kids!<\/p>\n

Our \u201cuncle\u201d was not much older than we were when he was captured by the Indians, and then held captive for over 13 years\u2014what a great story.<\/p>\n

Preserve your family\u2019s stories.<\/p>\n

Find them in the old newspapers in GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>\u2014preserve those stories and pass them down to the rising generation.<\/p>\n

Related Family Story Articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n