Hannah Duston (also spelled Dustin, Dustan, or Durstan) (born Hannah Emerson, December 23, 1657 – March 6, 1736, 1737 or 1738) was a colonial Massachusetts Puritan woman who was taken captive by Abenaki people from Quebec during King William's War, with her newborn daughter, during the Raid on Haverhill in 1697, in which 27 colonists were killed. In her account she stated that the Abenaki killed her baby during the journey to the island. While detained on an island in the Merrimack River in present-day Boscawen, New Hampshire, she killed and scalped ten of the Native American family members holding them hostage, with the assistance of two other captives. Duston's captivity narrative became famous more than 100 years after she died. During the 19th century, she was referred to as a folk hero and the "mother of the American tradition of scalp-hunting." Some scholars assert Duston's story became legend in the 19th century only because the United States used her story to defend its violence against Native Americans as innocent, defensive, and virtuous. Duston is believed to be the first American woman honored with a statue. Biography Early life Hannah Emerson was born December 23, 1657, in Haverhill, Massachusetts, to Michael Emerson and Hannah Webster Emerson; she was the oldest of 15 children. At age 20, she married Thomas Duston Jr., a farmer and brick-maker. The Emerson family had previously been the subject of attention when Elizabeth Emerson, Hannah's younger sister, was hanged for infanticide on June 8, 1693. One of Hannah's cousins, Martha Toothaker Emerson, and her father, Roger Toothaker, were accused of practicing witchcraft and tried at the Salem witch trials (1692–93). Captivity During King William's War, Hannah, her husband Thomas, and their nine children, including a newborn baby, lived in Haverhill, Massachusetts. On March 15, 1697, when she was 40 years old, the town was raided by a group of about 30 Abenaki from Quebec. In the attack, 27 colonists were killed (most of them children), and 13 were taken captive, to be either adopted or held as hostages for the French. Hannah's husband Thomas, who was building a new brick home about half a mile away, fled with eight of the nine children. The Indians captured Hannah and her nurse, Mary Neff (1646-1722, nee Corliss), set fire to Hannah's home, and forced the two women to march into the wilderness, Hannah carrying her newborn daughter, Martha.