╣PARA ▒PAR@ ` ╣TEXT ` ½Rowlandson, Mary White1635?╨?Indian captiveBorn about 1635 in England, Mary White was brought to America by her parents when she was still a child. They lived in Salem, Massachusetts, until 1653, when they moved to the new frontier village of Lancaster. In 1656 she married the Reverend Joseph Rowlandson, Lancaster╒s first regular minister. For 20 years her life proceeded in obscurity. In February 1676, during King Philip╒s War, a party of Indians attacked Lancaster and laid siege to the Rowlandson house, where many townspeople had sought refuge. They overwhelmed the defenders and took 24 captives, including Rowlandson and her three children, one of whom died of wounds and starvation a week later. Rowlandson was kept a prisoner for three months, during which time she was treated for the most part as a slave. With her captors she traveled as far as the Connecticut River to the west, and north into what is now New Hampshire. Her own wounds slowly healed, and she became accustomed to her captors╒ meager diet. Her skill in sewing and knitting earned her rather better treatment than less fortunate captives. At one point in her ordeal she met Philip. A captured Bible given her by one of the Indians was her only solace. In May 1676 Rowlandson was at last ransomed back to her husband for ú20. Her two surviving children were returned to her some time later. In early 1677 the family moved to Wethersfield, Connecticut, where the Reverend Rowlandson died in 1678. In 1682 Mrs. Rowlandson wrote an account of her captivity for her children. It was published in Boston that year and republished in Cambridge and London. Titled (in the second edition, no copy of the first having survived) The Sovereignty & Goodness of God, Together, with the Faithfulness of His Promises Displayed; Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, the vividly written tale quickly became a classic example not only of the captivity genre but of colonial literature generally. It ran through more than 30 editions over the years, and selections from it have been included in countless anthologies of American writing. The date and place of Rowlandson╒s death are not known. ╓styl `
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