back to Family Stories, Fall 2021
by Alex Tessendorf
When I was working on my family tree, I came across a couple of documents on my mother’s side. A woman named Sarah Utter (1749-1800) had an interesting story, and it is told across the world to this day. After reading through various writings on the story, I discovered howher story had been retold across generations and throughout the world.
Sarah Utter was one of the few present at The Utter Massacre of 1757.[1] Sarah was the daughter of Abraham Utter Jr. (1716-1779) and Sarah Pattinson Gardner (1719-1757). The story goes that the Utter family had spent years building and settling into their home in the state of Pennsylvania. In September of 1755 during the French and Indian War, a group of fifty Indians from Canada began to attack the settlements in the area. Many families and neighbors had been attacked by the group of Indians and Canadians.
By the year 1757, the Utter family began to be attacked. However, the Indians captured two of the young girls, Sarah Utter (9) and Joanna Utter (7) (Fig. 10). The sisters were forced to watch the brutal and malicious murders of their family. Luckily, the two girls were the only two remaining from their family. Joanna Utter (1750-1845) was my 6th great-grandmother. If she had not escaped the massacre, my matrilineal lineage would not exist.
Another interesting aspect of the story was that the entire experience was turned into a movie. The movie is called The Last of the Mohicans and the two main girls are based on Joanna and Sarah Utter (The Last of the Mohicans, 2021). Reading more about Sarah and Joanna’s story, and the rest of the Utter family, was very interesting and unique because I did not expect to have a big story in my family history. While I had never heard of the massacre or the movie, my mom’s side of the family was very intrigued to learn how we are related to the story. I shared the story with my mother and my grandmother on my mom’s side and they were both surprised and interested in her story. My mom became enthralled in learning more about the story. Her cousin, Brittany, is also interested in our family ancestry, so she knew more about the Utter Massacre than I had initially. I talked with Brittany more about the massacre and she sent me more documents to uncover in relation to our ancestors. I hope to continue to learn more about Sarah and the story behind her life and her family. But, as of now, here is all that I know about my 6th great-grandmother, Sarah Utter.
[1] The Utter Massacre by Thomas Pattison