CONCORD – They may make an unlikely pair, but two legendary characters are joining a select group of New Hampshire historical figures.

The latest additions to the New Hampshire Historical Society's "bobblehead" series are Chief Passaconaway, a respected leader of the Pennacook tribe, and Hannah Duston, who famously killed and scalped her Native American captors during a daring escape.

Both are iconic figures from our colonial past, representing very different aspects of the history between early settlers and native peoples.

"These people were part of our history when it wasn't clear, from the settlers' standpoint, whether they're going to be able to settle the land and survive with the Native Americans," explained William Veillette, the society's executive director, who came up with the idea for historical bobbleheads.

"There's a lot of battles going on, and they both had their roles in that whole conflict."

Passaconaway, who is believed to have lived from around 1575 to 1665, is remembered by history as "a peaceful leader who wanted to cohabitate with the settlers," Veillette said.

Bill Veillette, executive director of the NH Historical Society, shows the organization's two new bobbleheads, Chief Passaconaway and Hannah Duston. (THOMAS ROY)

Credited with forming the Pennacook confederation of more than a dozen tribes, Passaconaway was a skilled magician who could "make the water burn, rocks move, trees dance, and metamorphose himself into a flaming man," according to one historical description. There's a summit in the White Mountains that bears his name.

Hannah Duston (sometimes spelled Dustin) was nearly 40 years old and had just given birth to her 13th child in 1697 when she and her nurse were captured by a band of Abenaki Indians during a raid in Haverhill, Mass. Witness accounts from the time told how her captors killed the infant girl by bashing her against a tree, then dragged the horrified mother north, wearing but one shoe.

At that time, Veillette said, "It was not uncommon that if you got captured, your captors would try to take you up to Canada and then sell you to the French. And then the French would ransom them back to the English."

Duston, her nurse and a young boy managed to escape two weeks later as their captors slept on an island in Boscawen, where an historical marker and statue now mark the spot. "She got out of her situation by killing her captors and scalping them, and coming back to Haverhill to collect the bounty" for the scalps, Veillette said.

Duston's story was first told by Puritan minister and writer Cotton Mather, "and that kind of put her in everybody's consciousness back then," he said.

John Greenleaf Whittier included a gruesome account of Duston's story in his 1831 book, "Legends of New England," under the heading, "The Mother's Revenge."

That's also the caption of the Hannah Duston bobblehead.

Cedric Dustin Jr. of Bow was president of the Duston-Dustin Family Association for many years and is now vice president.

At first, the idea of a bobblehead version of his colonial ancestor struck Dustin as "kind of humorous." Then he said, "I think it's a good idea, and I'm certainly going to go take a look at them."

He also plans to bring some to the association's annual reunion, held in Haverhill in August. "I'm sure some of the folks would want to buy them," he said.

The Passaconaway bobblehead, captioned "Child of the Bear," is based on a historical engraving of the chief.

Paul Pouliot is the "sag8mo" or "speaker" for the Cowasuck band of the Pennacook-Abenaki people, currently headquartered in Alton. There are descendents of Passaconaway himself in the band, he told the New Hampshire Sunday News.

Pouliot was surprised at the pairing of Passaconaway and Duston. "What a combination," he said.

But he was pleased that Passaconaway was selected as the seventh figure in the series, a number that has symbolic significance to native people. "I think it's kind of flattering, and since the rendering is based on the only historical document I've ever seen of his image, and it's not a caricature, I think it's kind of an honor," he said.

Pouliot said there is a lot of lore about Passaconaway's magical powers. He believes it's likely the chief was skilled in "natural science" and was able to impress the colonials with what may have been clever showmanship.

As for Duston, Pouliot said, she's hardly a heroic figure among Native Americans.

"But again, it's all a part of history, and if it's done in good taste, who cares?" he asked.

The Hannah Duston figure is modeled after a statue of her in Haverhill, Mass., not the one in Boscawen. In New Hampshire's version, "In one hand, she's holding her hatchet, but in the other she's holding the scalps," Veillette said.

After some consideration, he decided "it would be kind of icky to buy something with somebody holding bleeding scalps."

The Boscawen statue, erected in 1874, was the first permanent statue honoring a woman in this country, according to Dustin. It wasn't the killing that it was meant to commemorate, but the courage of early American women. "And they decided that Hannah was a symbol of the bravery of colonial women, so they chose her."

"I think she was a pretty gutsy gal," Dustin said.

Veillette said the historical society decided to go with high-quality likenesses, not caricatures, for its bobblehead series. The idea was to create something that "makes history a little bit fun but not go so far as to mock people," he explained.

Previous figures in the series (in order of release) are: John Stark, Daniel Webster, Sarah Josepha Hale, the Old Man of the Mountain, Franklin Pierce and Neil Tillotson.

John Stark might be the most well-traveled; one customer brought the bobblehead along on his travels to Europe and sent back photos of the Revolutionary War general eyeing such Old World wonders as Michelangelo's David.

The best-selling figure is the Old Man, with about 4,000 sold to date, Veillette said. But he wonders whether Hannah Duston will give him some competition, especially among the schoolchildren who visit the gift shop.

"She's a little bit more of an action hero," he said. "She has a weapon."

The bobbleheads retail for $15.95 at the N.H. Historical Society. Visit nhhistory.org or call the museum shop at 856-0625.