"As soon as the French people at Lachine learned that the Indians had a young girl who was to be sold as a captive, they flocked to the Indian village......and they became interested in her. Among those who came to see her was Father Dubois, the venerable priest of the tribe, who interested M. de Lamorandiere, a wealthy French official, in her case. After several consultations, it was decided that she should be purchased from the Indians. The purchase money was paid, she was delivered to M de Lamorandiere, and was adopted into his family, the event being celebrated by a feast to which many of the French settlers were invited, while the little stranger was the special guest of honor.

"Father Debois's interest in the little waif continued, and under his care she soon acquired a fair knowledge of the French language. Soon after reaching Canada, Sarah had learned that her relative, Lydia Longley, who had been carried off by the Indians at the time of the Longley massacre 13 years before, was living with the sisters in charge of the Convent of Notre Dame. Her desire to see Lydia was finally gratified. She was taken to the convent and there saw not the romping child she had expected, but a sedate and most accomplished woman. She learned from Lydia, who had taken sacred vows, that when she was taken from Groton her little sister Betty had succumbed to the hardships of the march, and had died on the way to Canada; that her brother John, who had been living with the Indians, had been ransomed by his relatives and had returned to Groton to live.

"Delighted with Lydia, and especially with her surroundings, little Sarah at her own fervent request was placed in the same institution, and after faithfully serving her novitiate, was admitted to full membership in the order to which the sisters in charge belonged. At the congregation of Notre Dame at Montreal, a record in French reads as follows:

"On Monday, July 23, 1708, the ceremony of baptism was performed on Sarah Tarbell, who was born at Groton in New England, Oct. 9, 1693. Her parents were Thomas Tarbell and Elizabeth Wood, both Protestants, and she was baptized by the minister shortly after her birth. Having been taken by the savages on Monday, June 20, 1707, she was brought to Canada; she has since been sold and has lived with the sisters of the congregation of Notre Dame established at Lachine, where she abjured her religion on May 1. Her godfather was M. Jacques Urbain Robert de Lamorandiere, secretary of M. l'Intendant, and her godmother was Madame Marguerite Bouat, wife of M. Etienne Pascaud , the deputy-treasurer of the king in this country. Her name Sarah has been changed to Marguerite."

"The date of Marguerite's death is not known. Lydia died on the 20th of July, 1758, at the age of 84. Their remains lie buried in the little cemetery connected with the convent." Following this story of Sarah, is the detailed capture and adoption into the tribe of John and Zechariah, their growing up, etc. & how a descendant , a chief named Torokaron visited Europe in full Indian Chief dress.

The above was taken from "Groton Historical Series", V.3, pp. 128-134

Lydia Longley was the first woman born in America to become a nun. She was one of 2 survivors in her family whose parents and siblings were killed by Indians in Groton July 27, 1694. Her brother John stayed with the Indians 4 years until he was 15 when, against his wishes, they forced him to return to his home.

See the full story of the Longley family