Mary Rowlandson lived from 1637 to 1711. She was a colonial American woman who was best known for being captured by Native Americans, held for eleven weeks, and ransomed. She later wrote a book about her horrible experiences while in the hands of the Native Americans, and was the first American "best seller". Rowlandson's story of captivity was so interesting and has been talked about for may years. After reading her work and discussing it, I became more curious about her normal life before and after captivity. Her book has been so popular that many people don't actually know about Rowlandson's normal, everyday life. http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/mary.html

                     Mary Rowlandson was born in Somersetshire, England in 1637. Her parents were John and Joan West, and she was the fifth of eight children. Her family left England and came to came to the colonies when Rowlandson was a toddler. Her father was one of the founders of a town called Lancaster, on the Massachusetts frontier. He was the most richest man in town. Other than that, there is virtually no information about her early life. The next concrete information on Mary Rowlandson is that she married Reverend Joseph Rowlandson. Reverend Rowlandson was a graduate of Harvard College in 1652, and he was the only graduate that year. http://www.maryrowlandson.com/

                       Rowlandson was captured on February 10th, 1676, and was ransomed on May 2nd, February 1676. The next year, she and her family picked up and moved to Wethersfield, Connecticut, and her husband, Reverend Rowlandson, was hired as a pastor for a church in town. In 1678, he preached a sermon about his wife's captivity, "A sermon of the Possibility of God's Forsaking a people who have been near and dear to Him", and he died suddenly, three days after giving the sermon. http://womenshistory.about.com/od/indiancaptivitynarratives/a/rowlandson.htm

                      In 1679, Mary Rowlandson was married to Captain Samuell Talcott. Her second husband died two years after they married, on November 10, 1691. Rowlandson herself died January 5th, 1711.

Below is a link to a video about Mary Rowlandson's life and the town of Lancaster!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KORa-cxE-Q&feature=related