Mary Draper Ingles
| Mary Draper Ingles | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1732 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Died | 1 February 1815 (aged 82–83) United States |
| Known for | Escape from Indian captivity in 1755 |
| Parent(s) | George and Elenor (Hardin) Draper |
Mary Draper Ingles (1732 – February 1815), also known in records as Mary Inglis or Mary English, was an American pioneer and early settler of western Virginia. In the summer of 1755 she and her two young sons were among several captives taken by Shawnee after the Draper's Meadow Massacre during the French and Indian War. They were taken to Lower Shawneetown at the Ohio and Scioto rivers. Ingles escaped with another woman after two and a half months, making a trek of 500–600 miles through the frontier, crossing numerous rivers and creeks, and over the Appalachian Mountains to return home.
Mary Draper Ingles was born in 1732 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to George and Elenor (Hardin) Draper, who had immigrated to America from Donegal, Ireland in 1729. In 1748, the Draper family and others moved to the western frontier of Virginia, establishing Draper's Meadow, a pioneer settlement on the banks of Stroubles Creek near modern-day Blacksburg.
In 1750 Mary married fellow settler William Ingles (1729-1782). They had two sons together: Thomas, born in 1751, and George in 1753.
On July 30 (or July 8, according to one source), 1755, during the French and Indian War, a band of Shawnee warriors (then allies of the French) raided Draper's Meadow, killing four settlers, including Mary's mother and her niece. They took six captives, including Mary and her two sons, her sister-in-law Bettie Robertson Draper, and neighbors James Cull and Henry Lenard (or Leonard). Mary's husband was nearly killed but fled into the forest.
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