When: Aug. 25 (Sunday); 2 pm

Where: Cavendish Historical Society Museum, Main St. Cavendish

Description: in Reading Vermont, on route 106, there are two slate markers encased in a granite slab. The inscription reads, “These stones were placed in their / present Position by a Descendant of - Captain / James Johnson"-and Susannah; his Wife." Below that inscription is a slate stone with stepped shoulders, in which is carved "On the 31 st of August 1754, Capt James Johnson had / a Daughter born on this Spot of Ground, being / Captivated with his whole Family by the Indians." Depictions of various tools top the statement. To that stone's right is set the other slate slab, in which is carved the following inscription, accompanied by similar decoration: "This is near the Spot that the Indians Encamp^ / the Night after they took Mr Johnson 8 Family, / Mr Labarree & Farnsworth, August 30th 1754, and / Mrs Johnson was Delivered of her Child Half a mile up this Brook; // When troubles near the Lord is- kind, / He hears the Captives crys. / He can subdue the Savage mind, / And learn it sympathy."

Elizabeth Captive Johnson was the first recorded birth of a child of European ancestry in Cavendish VT.

The autobiography Susannah Johnson wrote of her capture in 1754 by Abenaki Indians, was not only the reason for the Stone Markers, in reading, but was the basis of the book “Calico Captive.”

As part of the Aug. 25th talk, Johnson’s biography will be discussed along with conditions during that time as well as what happened to the Johnson family after their capture and eventually their return to New Hampshire.

The program will include a trip to visit the Indian Stones in Reading.

FMI: 802-226-7807 or margocaulfield@icloud.com

This if a free and open to the public event.