Book Lecture

Author Michael Wescott Loder will be doing a live reading of his historical fiction book, Taken Beyond the Ohio: The Indian Captivity of Marie LeRoy and Barbara Leininger. In addition, Loder will examine the LeRoy-Leininger experience, as well as how cultural expectations have shaped and continue to shape their story today. He speaks about his research into the girls’ story takes the audience on a visual trip across Pennsylvania and Ohio to show where the girls lived during their captivity. 

In Taken Beyond the Ohio: The Indian Captivity of Marie LeRoy and Barbara Leininger, twelve-year-old Marie LeRoy has been trying to be a good mistress to her farming family—now dwelling on the Pennsylvania frontier. But nothing prepares her for the brutal attack on her home and other farms along Penn’s Creek in October 1755. Taken prisoner, she and her friend, Barbara Leininger, live among the Delaware Indians for 3 1/2 years. In this personal and candid retelling of a true experience, Marie describes a hard, sometimes violent life mixed with brief moments of plenty, generosity, and friendship. Moved to central Ohio—far from any rescue—she must find the courage to join Barbara and two other prisoners in an escape that can only mean death if recaptured. This version follows the girls’ original narrative but fills in many details of a challenging, sometimes brutal ordeal from which both girls still emerged strong and whole. It is a story of friendship, courage, and resourcefulness driven by a constant need to regain family and home.

The reading will begin at 2 PM at the DeTurk Education Center. If you have any additional questions, please contact us at 610-582-4900 or thedanielboonehomestead@gmail.com.