It was the spring of 1653 and Grace Minor must have been tired as she made the roughly thirty-mile trek southward along the western side of Narragansett Bay. She was headed toward home, a community now known as Stonington, Connecticut, but which was then commonly known by its Indigenous name of Pawcatuck. Though the Minors were one of the few families in her southern New England community that owned horses, Grace and her husband had travelled on foot, all the while carrying their newborn son Samuel. Grace was just shy of her fortieth birthday and this child, her tenth, proved her last. At some point in their journey a Niantic Indian messenger intercepted them. Grace and her husband Thomas listened carefully to the man's invitation to accompany him to the home of the Niantic sachem (or leader), Ninigret. Given the sachem's influence in the region, Grace and Thomas knew this invitation was less a request than a command.

After the Minors had arrived, settled, and accepted refreshments from Ninigret's family, the couple listened carefully as the sachem laid out a series of complaints for them to convey to English officials. In the letter Thomas wrote about the meeting, he referenced Grace's participation repeatedly.