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Blog – Genealogical Family History – “Fiery Spirits”

The Bible says: “…for I the Lord thy God am a jealousGod, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the thirdand fourth generation of them that hate me.” This is a lesson of history. But what if the opposite is true and that virtues, too, echoed through the generations? The writer’s wife, Bev, is a tenth-generation direct descendant of Hannah Dustin. Abenaki from Canada captured Hannah Dustin in 1697, forcing her to walk north wearing a single shoe. She was accompanied by her children’s nurse, Mary Neff, and carried her newborn daughter, Martha. One of the Abenakis brutally killed tiny Martha almost as soon as the journey had begun. A hundred miles north and several weeks into their captivity, Hannah and her companions saw their chance. While their captors lay in a drunken stupor, they struck—killing them in their sleep, taking their scalps, and fleeing downstream. Armed with grit and a questionably acquired canoe, Hannah rode the current homeward, where her astonished family welcomed her back from legend. Based on the scrupulously compiled, though unpublished, “A Genealogy of the Rowell and Allied Families,” the family chronicle extends far beyond that moment.

Hannah’s great-granddaughter Phebe embodied the same resolute spirit that had defined her forebear. This indomitable 91-pound spitfire—still blazing trails on the colonial frontier—insisted that the local Native men surrender their weapons to her before indulging in their customary revelry at the 1760s Powwows. History doesn’t record Phebe asking twice. Phebe’s husband, Daniel, served with distinction in both the French and Indian War as well as the War of the Revolution. Having said that, many of Massachusetts’s fiery Dustin descendants refused to accept the American Revolution, choosing to move north to Quebec, Canada as United Empire Loyalists.

After a few more generations, eighth-generation descendant Ethel Rowell, living in Montreal, Canada, exhibited her wild spirit by joining the wartime Canadian Army. Ethel (Bev’s Great Aunt) was enjoying a government-sponsored Mediterranean cruise in 1943 with 100 other military nurses—until a German JU-88 torpedo bomber RSVP’d with a bang, sending Ethel’s ride, SS Santa Elena, to the bottom. Ethel was the picture of common sense and had a knack for managing money. When told to abandon ship, Ethel made it to the lifeboats in record time—though her purse, regrettably, did not. Amidst the chaos, she held fast to one essential survival tool: her trusty hip flask, fully loaded and ready for action. She was not shy about sharing this particular fiery spirit among her nurse colleagues as they waited, shivering in the cold lifeboat. This invaluable historical artifact remains prominently displayed by Bev, a testament to its lasting importance. During the harrowing Allied campaign in Italy, Aunt Ethel’s service with the Canadian Army’s No. 14 General Hospital became a lifeline for many, her dedication saving lives in the shadow of war.

Taken by the Abenaki, telling off tribesmen, torpedoed by the Nazis—trouble seems to trail the Dustins through time. My wife, Bev, a capable veteran of many years in the military was given one year to live after having been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Six years and as many brain surgeries later, Bev is still with us—fiery as ever. She earned a Ph. D. through Aspen University in 2023.  In the same timeframe, Bev walked 100 miles in 4 days in the famous Nijmegen endurance event.  

Exodus 20:5 is often seen as a sobering reminder of the generational consequences of turning away from God. But verse 6 immediately follows with a sweeping promise of mercy: “And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” Though judgment may linger for a time, the mercy of God endures forever—nurturing the strength of families and blessing their legacy across the ages.