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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
WILLIAMS, John, Rev. (1664-1729), the Redeemed Captive. Autograph letter signed ("J. Williams"), to Stephen Williams, his son, Deerfield, Mass., 28 October 1728. 1 page, bifolium, integral address leaf inlaid, address leaf repaired.
Details
WILLIAMS, John, Rev. (1664-1729), the Redeemed Captive. Autograph letter signed ("J. Williams"), to Stephen Williams, his son, Deerfield, Mass., 28 October 1728. 1 page, bifolium, integral address leaf inlaid, address leaf repaired.
"GOD IS HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS, WE DON'T DESERVE GOOD AT HIS HANDS..."
The famed author of The Redeemed Captive, sends his children distressing news about the perilous health of their mother (Williams's second wife), Abigail Bissell: "I hoped to begin a journey to you this day," Williams writes, "but providence has laid a bar in the way. Your mother & sister Sarah intended to head forth out with me but on fryday your mother complained of pain & then concluded I should hurry Sarah down as far as your house & hoped she should be able in the middle of the week to take a journey. But on Saturday morning she complained of a great pain in her head and back & a coldness took her to bed & then had a violent malignant fevour & is at present in a very hazardous state. We are full of fears what God will do for us. She is yet continued in the use of her reason but seems to be a ruined frame. Pray for us..." Williams fears he wont be able to journey until "after the Thanksgiving which will be on the seaventh of November." He concludes with some characteristically Puritanical reflections about their unworthiness: "We don't deserve good at his hands. We would fly to him as a God of mercy in Christ Jesus. I commit you & all yours to the God of all grace..."
On 29 February 1704, a force of French Canadian troops and Abenaki Indians raided Williams's town of Deerfield, Massachusetts and took 109 prisoners, including Williams, his wife, and five of his twelve children. The captives were taken to Canada. His (first) wife died on the journey and his seven-year old daughter was given to a Mohawk tribe, and spent the remainder of her life there, marrying a member of the tribe. Williams acted as the leader of the captives, and upon his exchange and return in 1706, wrote a gripping narrative of their ordeal, The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion (1707) that became a colonial best-seller. Williams remarried and had five more children by Abigail Bissell, who outlived him.
Williams's letters are RARE. Only three others have appeared at auction in the last forty years.
"GOD IS HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS, WE DON'T DESERVE GOOD AT HIS HANDS..."
The famed author of The Redeemed Captive, sends his children distressing news about the perilous health of their mother (Williams's second wife), Abigail Bissell: "I hoped to begin a journey to you this day," Williams writes, "but providence has laid a bar in the way. Your mother & sister Sarah intended to head forth out with me but on fryday your mother complained of pain & then concluded I should hurry Sarah down as far as your house & hoped she should be able in the middle of the week to take a journey. But on Saturday morning she complained of a great pain in her head and back & a coldness took her to bed & then had a violent malignant fevour & is at present in a very hazardous state. We are full of fears what God will do for us. She is yet continued in the use of her reason but seems to be a ruined frame. Pray for us..." Williams fears he wont be able to journey until "after the Thanksgiving which will be on the seaventh of November." He concludes with some characteristically Puritanical reflections about their unworthiness: "We don't deserve good at his hands. We would fly to him as a God of mercy in Christ Jesus. I commit you & all yours to the God of all grace..."
On 29 February 1704, a force of French Canadian troops and Abenaki Indians raided Williams's town of Deerfield, Massachusetts and took 109 prisoners, including Williams, his wife, and five of his twelve children. The captives were taken to Canada. His (first) wife died on the journey and his seven-year old daughter was given to a Mohawk tribe, and spent the remainder of her life there, marrying a member of the tribe. Williams acted as the leader of the captives, and upon his exchange and return in 1706, wrote a gripping narrative of their ordeal, The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion (1707) that became a colonial best-seller. Williams remarried and had five more children by Abigail Bissell, who outlived him.
Williams's letters are RARE. Only three others have appeared at auction in the last forty years.