Re: Searching for Huckins Ashby, MA Indian Connection

Beth, I believe I can help you.

Charles Wesley Huckins, born 03 Mar 1832, Meredith, Belknap, NH; married Lydia D. Tarbox, c1854; they had eleven children:Frederick, 1855; Ella, 1857; Sarah Melinda, 1859; Charles Moses, 1861; George W., 1865; Frank Lincoln, 1868; Susan Belle, 1871; Curtis W., 1872; Alice May, 1877; Alice Louise, 1879; Edward, 1880.The children were all born in Middlesex County, Massachusetts--Frederick thru George in Frank in Lowell, Susan thru Alice May in Fitchburg, and Alice and Edward in Ashby.

Charles Wesley Huckins was the son of David Huckins and Melinda Dow.
David was the son of Daniel Huckins and Abigail Dow.
Daniel was the son of James Huckins and Dorcas Bickford.
James was the son of James Huckins and Hannah Williams.

This James Huckins was born about 1701 in the old Oyster River Parish, what is now Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire.He died during the 7 year French and Indian War, and there is good reason to believe he actually was killed in the massacre at Lake George, the battle which was romanticized in the story "The Last of the Mohicans."

James was the son of Robert Huckins and Welthen Thomas.
Robert Huckins was the son of Lt. James Huckins and Sarah Burnham.
James was the son of Robert Huckins, who was one of the signers of the Dover Combination in 1640.It is believed that Robert was the young son of John Hocking, a trader working for John Mason when he was killed at the Kennebec River in 1634 by John Howland and men from the Plymouth Colony.John Hocking was one of the first English settlers in what is now New Hampshire, probably there before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth.The families that those early NH Huckins married into were also historical families, nearly all of them descended from settlers arriving in NH in the early 1600s.

The massacre to which you refer was not the famous Deerfield Massacre of 1704, but the massacres that occurred in 1689 & 1694 that nearly exterminated the Huckins family in America.

Robert and James Huckins built the first Huckins garrison on Huckins Brook, and also operated a mill there.In 1689, James and 17 other men were ambushed by Indians and killed.Their wives and families retreated into the garrison, defended by James' 17 year old son Robert and another teenage boy.With the house on fire, Robert negotiated for the lives of all in the house, but the Indians killed a few of the children and took everyone else captive.Robert escaped the next day and returned to the Oyster River settlement.His mother Sarah was recovered a year later near Fort Androscoggin, and two of his siblings were returned 20 years later.

Nearly everyone you meet in America today with the name of Huckins descends from Robert and Welthen Thomas Huckins and their five sons--James, John, Robert, Thomas and Joseph.

In 1694, a massive Indian warparty attacked the Oyster River settlement again, with many more casulaties, among them the grandfather Robert Huckins.Many other garrisons were burned, families butchered, etc.

My mother is a Huckins, descended from Captain John Huckins of Bow Lake, New Hampshire, one of the aforementioned five sons of Robert and Welthen Huckins.The family has been well researched and documented over the years, starting with the original work in 1881, the second history by Dr. Henry W. Hardon of Harvard in 1916, and the seven volume genealogy published by Bill & Abby Huckins, Salt Lake City, 1989.

Extensive and detailed information is available online, particularly at Ancestry.com.Please email me at [email protected]

Casey Stafford