Massacre Marsh, Rye, NH – Francis and Christian Rand

Posted to Website, NHGenealogist.com, 10/08/2013

Author Amylynne Baker-Santagate

NHGenealogist.com  NewEnglandGenealogist.com

Excerpt:

During King William's War (1689-1698), on Tuesday September 29th of 1691 at about noon there was an attack by Indians on the shores of Sandy Beach (now Rye, NH). Twenty or twenty-one persons were killed or captured that fateful morning and although a complete list of those whose lives were ended or forever changed does not exist, we know the Francis Rand and Anthony Brackett Families were most affected. The Rands and Bracketts were neighbors on what is now known as Brackett's Lane. 
      Some of those killed included Francis Rand Sr., his wife Christian, as well as Anthony Bracket and his wife. Other reports of those killed & captured vary according to secondary sources. Two grandchildren of Old Goodman Bracket, "sons of John", are said to have been taken captive, but in another source it states it was a boy and a girl who later married a Frenchman in Canada and returned to claim her right to the land. Perhaps the truth is a combination of both. 
     Still another source states 10 bodies were found, and it was presumed 3 of those were burned in houses, the captured tracks of two women & a child were seen, and seven others were missing. Of those killed, two are said to be very aged men, and the rest were women & children. Some children are said to be heinously killed against a rock which stood in the road near Samuel M. Rand's, a later descendant,  living in the mid 1800's (Billey, Samuel, Thomas, Francis). Tradition states the blood was visible for generations, but the rock no longer stands as a road was built there. 

Various sources which describe the event include:
 The History of the Town of Rye by Rev. J.K. Aldrich
 Brackett Genealogy published by H. I. Brackett in 1907
 Old Kittery and Her Families by Everett Schermerhorn Stackpole
 History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire by Charles A. Hazlett
 History of the town of Hampton, NH Vol 1 by Joseph Dow