Susanna Hutchinson was born in Alford, Lincolnshire, England in 1633, and came to Boston with her parents, William and Anne Marbury Hutchinson. Soon, Anne was in trouble with the authorities in Boston for daring to disagree with their concept of Puritanism, and the family fled to Rhode Island. The father died in 1642, and Anne fled to New York, then under the Dutch, to avoid persecution from her Massachusetts tormentors, along with her minor children, Susanna being the youngest. There was at that time a war between the Dutch and the Indians in the area, and in August 1643, a band of Indians swept down on Anne's home, killing her and all of her children, save Susanna, who was carried off by the warriors. Susanna was adopted into the tribe and lived with them for about 4 years. At the conclusion of the war, she was ransomed and returned unwillingly to Boston (as she had come to love her Indian "family"), where she married John Cole a few years later (30 Dec 1651). We are descended from William Cole, her son.

A book for young people was written about Susanna's adventures called Trouble's Daughter: The Story of Susanna Hutchinson, Indian Captive, by Katherine Kirkpatrick. Ms. Kirkpatrick did research to make the book as accurate to the time as possible, but of course the account had to be fictionalized because we just don't have enough about it in the historical record.