Ebenezer Hinsdale (1706-1763) was born as his mother, Mary Hinsdale, was returning in 1706 from captivity in Canada. Mary and her husband, Mehuman Hinsdale, had been taken captive in a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, by the French and their Native allies in 1704. Ebenezer attended Harvard College in preparation for the ministry and he married Abigail, the daughter of the Reverend John Williams of Deerfield, in about 1730. Their only child, a daughter, lived to be only 6 years of age. Ebenezer was ordained in 1732 as a missionary to Indigenous peoples. The Society for the Propogation of Christian Knowledge placed Ebenezer at Fort Dummer, a trading post and fort in present-day Brattleboro, Vermont. Ten years later, Hinsdale built a fort on land he had acquired on the opposite side of the Connecticut River that became the town of Hinsdale, New Hampshire. Active in both trade and farming, he divided his time between Hinsdale and Deerfield. Ebenezer was appointed Colonel by the Massachusetts governnment and played an active role in two of the French and Indian Wars (1744-48; 1754-1763). He fell into excessive drinking, left the ministry, and confessed his sins in 1750. Hinsdale served Deerfield as moderator and a selectman for a number of years. He died in 1763 and was buried in Hinsdale.
HInsdale enslaved Mesheck (Meseck), Jockton, and Caesar. His wife had inherited Mesheck from her father, the Reverend John Williams. Mesheck was often charged with carrying on business at Hinsdale while his enslaver was busy at Deerfield, and vice versa. Following Ebenezer's death in 1763, Abigail took Jockton with her when she married Judge Ebenezer Silliman of Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1764. Abigail also enslaved Patience, Lemuel, and Chloe. She returned to Deerfield as a widow in 1775 and died in 1783.
operson_detail.html