1Ezra S. Stearns, William F. Whitcher, and Edward E. Parker, Genealogical and Family History of the State of New Hampshire: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the . . ., Vol. 2, p. 775 (1908).
"(I) Samuel Runnells, born about 1674, near Port Royal, Nova Scotia, was of Scotch descent, his grandfather probably having been one of the band of Scotch settlers who migrated to Nova Scotia with La Tour in 1628. They landed at Port Royal and built the "Scotch Fort." which was captured and dismantled by Sir William Pipps and English troops from Massachusetts, May 29, 1690. The defenceless inhabitants were soon after attacked by pirates, the crews of two vessels, and among these who escaped in boats are said to have been Samuel Runnells and his brother. He settled in Bradford, Massachusetts, where he married and built a home, which was standing as late as 1840.
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His death occurred in Bradford, October 27, 1745.He married in 1700, Abigail Middleton, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, who was born in Boston, March 22, 1680, and died in Bradford, October 11, 1753. She was the daughter of William Middleton, the immigrant, and his wife Elizabeth. His gravestone was found in 1850 in the wall of the tower of the Old South Church. The children of these parents were: Stephen, born May 14, 1703; Samuel, December 17, 1706; John, March 9, 1710, died within a year; John, born April 8, 1711, died July 6, 1713; Job, born June 18, 1712; Sarah, October 31, 1716; Abigail, November 11, 1722; Ebenezer, November 20, 1726.".