Esther

In 1703, a joint force of French soldiers and Abenaki fighters attacked the Puritan settlement where seven-year-old Esther Wheelwright lived. Several villagers were killed, and twenty-two people were carried off as prisoners. Esther made a trek of about 200 miles on foot, through marshland and dense forest, before arriving at a Jesuit mission in New France. Her absorption into an Abenaki household, where she settled with apparent contentment, is just as remarkable.

For the Wheelwright family, the abduction meant years of not knowing whether their daughter was alive. When a French Jesuit eventually secured her release from her Abenaki family and brought her to Québec, the effort came too late to bring her home. At twelve, Esther refused to return to her parents, and they never saw her again.

She remained in Québec, the capital of New France, and rose to become Mother Superior of the Ursulines. Her position placed her among the important figures of the city after the siege of 1759.

Julie Wheelwright, a descendant of Esther, wrote this account, which presents the story as both a spiritual and emotional journey through survival and personal change.