Elizabeth Catlin/Cartin

Biography

In July 1696 Elizabeth Corse and her father, John Catlin, entered a two-hundred-pound administration bond for the estate of her late husband James. Elizabeth signed with the surname Cors. The document places her in the practical work of settling the household's affairs while caring for three young children.

She was a daughter of John Catlin and Mary Baldwin. Her family had settled in Deerfield, in the Connecticut River valley of western Massachusetts, during the 1680s, and she married James Corse around 1690. Their children were Ebenezer, James and Elizabeth. James died on May 15, 1696, only months after their daughter's birth.

Elizabeth remained a widow when Deerfield was attacked in February 1704. She and her young daughter were taken captive and forced north with the retreating raiding party. The attack also struck her parents' household: John Catlin and a son died in their burning home, and another son was killed in the fighting in the meadows.

Elizabeth did not reach Canada. She was killed during the captives' journey. Her sister Mary Catlin French also died on the march. Their mother survived the attack itself but died in April.

The younger Elizabeth reached New France and eventually established a family there. Her mother's estate remained to be settled in New England: an inventory was prepared in 1705/6, and papers dated March 3, 1715/16 record a settlement involving the sons Ebenezer and James. Those later documents preserve Elizabeth's place in the family alongside the accounts of her capture and death.