Nathaniel Singletary ²⁰²⁴

   FamilySearch ID: L5JY-1FW.

  Events

• Cause of Death: killed by Indians. ¹³⁹⁷

• Military: dismissed from all trainings, being disabled by lameness, 8 Apr 1662, Salisbury, British America. ²⁰²⁶

• Probate, 25 Mar 1690. ¹³⁹⁷ estate divided Nov., 1696. Widow Sarah admin.

Bob McPherson's 7th great-grandfather - killed by Indians

Nathaniel's brother, Jonathan, Sara Spicer McPherson's ancestor, is perhaps the most enigmatic and curious of the Singletarys, having removed to Woodbridge, New Jersey about 1665 where he took the name Jonathan Dunham where another man by that name lived, and with whom biographies are confused in many histories and records; that is another subject.
Nathaniel's death occurred at the hands of a band of Indians who attacked him as he was at work in a field with his son. They killed and scalped him per this account in the History of Haverhill:
A small party of Indians, on the 13th of August, made their appearance in the northerly part of the town, and killed Daniel Bradley. They then went to the field of Nathaniel Singletary, where he, and his oldest son were at work. They approached in their slow and serpent-like manner, until they came within a few rods of them, when they shot Mr. Singletary, who fell and died on the spot; his son then attempted to escape, but was quickly overtaken and made prisoner. The Indians than scalped Mr. Singletary, and commenced a hasty retreat; but their prisoner soon eluded their vigilance, and returned to his home, on the same day, to make glad the hearts of his afflicted relatives.

He and his wife, the former Sarah Belknap, had nine children, the youngest being born the same year as her father's death.

Nathaniel married Sarah Belknap 22 Dec 1673 in Haverhill, Essex, MA.¹³⁹⁷ (Sarah Belknap was born about 1643 in Salisbury, Norfolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America ²⁰²⁴ and died after 1724 in Framington, Middlesex Co., MA ²⁰²⁴.)