Rebecca Kellogg Ashley (December 22, 1695[1] – August 1757) was an English child captured by allied French, Canadian militia, Iroquois, and Algonquin soldiers in the 1704 Deerfield Raid.
While adults were transported to Quebec or Montreal, Rebecca and Johanna were taken to the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, where they were both adopted by the same family.
Rebecca Kellogg Ashley eventually returned to Massachusetts in 1729 after negotiating her way back into the English settlement.
[6] It is likely when Rebecca Kellogg Ashley came back to the English Settlement in 1729 that, she came with her two sons but without her husband, who presumably died in battle.
Larger Church's gave money to their mission due to the success and size of the mixed congregation, which was credited to Rebecca's involvement.
The New England Company tasked Edwards to preach to both Native Americans and white churches to strengthen the relationship with the Mohawks.
There was tension at the time in Stockbridge due to white families claiming farmland set aside for Native Americans involved within the church.
Captain Martin Kellogg, Rebecca's older brother, ran the boys' boarding school, where he angered the Mohawks.
Martin Kellogg preferred to use Mohican and Mohawk schoolboys as cheap day laborers rather than teaching English and Christian catechism.
Johnathan Edward explained that the Mohawks had "long shown themselves very jealous of Mr. Ashley and his wife, that they are not well treated by those that have the management of things, and have very publicly complained of it".
In the Spring of 1753, Gideon Hawley came to Stockbridge to handle the school and continue the work of Johnathan Edwards, who left the mission.
Rebecca Kellogg Ashley died only a few months later in the same community she stayed within the native American territory in 1757.
In the 1900s, her remains were moved to a safer location, and in 1909, the Daughters of the American Revolution created a large headstone on a boulder in her memory.
Rebecca Kellogg Ashley left an impact on the mixing of Native American society and Christian communities.