Mary Draper Ingles

Mary Draper Ingles's frontier life began after her parents, George and Eleanor Draper, arrived in Pennsylvania from County Donegal, Ireland, in 1729 and later moved into Virginia, where they settled at Drapers Meadows near present-day Blacksburg. Born in 1732, Mary married William Ingles there in 1750 as conflict between England and France over territory in the New World made frontier life increasingly dangerous and Native American attacks on British settlements drew closer. In late July 1755, Shawnee attackers struck Drapers Meadows, killed several people including Eleanor Draper, and carried off Mary, her two sons, and her sister-in-law to the Shawnee nation in what is now southern Ohio, where the captives were separated. After only a few months in captivity, Mary escaped with another woman known only as the Old Dutch Woman and began a journey of several hundred miles, following the Ohio, Kanawha, and New rivers. Hunger, cold, and fear of her companion led Mary to continue alone, and after more than 40 days of traveling on foot she reached home, where Adam Harman found her. Mary was reunited with William, and they had four more children, but they never saw their son George again and did not see Thomas until 13 years after the massacre. By the 1760s, William and Mary had settled along the New River in what is now Radford, and her descendants remained there for centuries, helping shape the region while her story continued to inspire research, artistic interpretation, film, drama, and books.

Radford, Virginia · United States