Lucy Keyes was the daughter of Robert Keyes, who lived in the town of
Princeton, in Massachusetts, about the year 1755. At the age of two and
a half or three years, she disappeared one night at sunset, and was
never afterwards heard of by her parents. Her father spent the greater
part of his life in a fruitless search for her among the various tribes
of Indians; and her mother lost her reason in the contemplation of the
unknown fate which had befallen her little daughter. This is an account
of the little girl's disappearance, and the elucidation of a mystery
which, for three-quarters of a century, baffled all search. The story is
derived from traditions in the neighborhood, from allusions to Lucy in
the local histories, and from the dying statement of a chief actor in
the tragedy.
The fourth settler in the town was Robert Keyes. It is well known that
our ancestors had frequent trouble with the Indians, and that white
people were stolen, to be either put to death or returned to their
friends for a ransom. Lancaster had been burned seventy-five years
before, and Mrs. Rowlandson, the minister's wife, was carried into
captivity. She was taken to New Hampshire, and after wandering with her
captors thirty days or more, she was returned to the foot of Mount
Wachusett; and on a rock near the shore of Wachusett Lake, where the
chiefs held their councils, she was purchased of her captors by John
Hoar, an ancestor of the distinguished Senator Hoar, for thirty dollars
in silver, together with some trinkets and provisions. King Philip
himself was present, and opposed the release of Mrs. Rowlandson; but
even his influence did not overcome the cupidity of the petty chief who
held her. From this circumstance the rock is known as Redemption Rock.
It has been purchased by Senator Hoar, and its southern face now bears
an appropriate inscription to commemorate the release, and the courage
and diplomacy of John Hoar.