The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America

In the study of colonial American history, particularly where it intersects with Native American history, historians do not always have surviving written records to draw from. Thus, the modern-day researcher may have an incomplete picture of what life was like in the era. Demos, however, takes great liberties when it comes to speculation and will often fill in the gaps where the historical records are sparse with his own educated guesses about what must have transpired.

This kind of speculation happens throughout the book, but in Chapter 9, on the momentous occasion when Stephen Williams, brother to Eunice, goes to meet her in Albany in 1740, Demos goes into an extended rumination on how those events must have happened. Demos first acknowledges that the historical record (Stephen Williams’s diary) will not give the full scope of events: “The words are Stephen’s and they leave much to our imagination. Where, for example, did the meeting take place? And who else was present, besides the principals?” (189). Demos then goes into a lengthy, largely fictionalized account (noted in italics) of how the events might have gone: “The message comes at dusk, as the three of them—guests these several days, of Mr. Cuyler—are together at prayer.