ALLEGHENY TWP, Westmoreland County — Massey Harbison's dramatic escape and rescue from American Indian captors took place more than 200 years ago, but the harrowing story still resonates with historian Drenda Gostkowski of Winfield Township.

Gostkowski, 65, a retired schoolteacher, has spent years researching Harbison and will share her expertise at a luncheon at noon Friday at River Forest Country Club, located at the site of Harbison's abduction.

Gostkowski will give a multimedia presentation on Harbison's life before guiding a walking tour to the site of Reed's Station, a pioneer fort that sat along the Allegheny River.

From there, the group will view the abduction site, which is marked with a plaque from the Massey Harbison Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Now in its fourth year, the luncheon typically draws about 30 attendees, many of them descended from Harbison, Gostkowski said.

"It just goes to show how much interest there is," she said. "It's astounding to me; it really speaks for how much people like local history."

Massey Harbison and her husband John, a government scout, settled near Reed's Station in the late 1700s.

The luncheon coincides with the anniversary of Harbison's abduction on May 21, 1792.

Harbison's husband was out on a mission that night, leaving a pregnant Massey alone with their small children, Robert, Samuel and infant John. A band of American Indians raided their home and soon killed Harbison's two older sons before her eyes.

Clutching her infant son, 22-year-old Massey was forced onward, barefoot and wearing only thin nightclothes, as they moved closer to the Indian Camp near Connoquenessing Creek.

After a few days, Massey courageously broke free and fled on foot with baby John in her arms.

Using survival techniques learned from her husband, she followed Connoquenessing Creek and other streams until she came upon the Allegheny River near what is now the Fox Chapel Yacht Club, where she and her son were finally rescued by white settlers.

Gostkowski will recount in detail Harbison's life before and after the abduction.

"She's a heroine," Gostkowski said, since Harbison was able to stay strong for the sake of her family. "She's a woman that other women can look at and say, 'Massey did it, so we can do it.'"

Gostkowski first heard the story in 1998, when friend Susan Przybylek enlisted her help to develop an educational driving tour based on Harbison's route.

To supplement the driving tour, Gostkowski and Przybylek developed an audio cassette and booklet, "Escape: Massey Harbison, Wilderness Captive." Proceeds from the set helped establish the history and genealogy department of the Saxonburg Library.

Przybylek moved on to her next project, but Gostkowski couldn't stop thinking about Harbison's story.

"Massey just stuck with me," Gostkowski said. "She's almost become my alter ago even though I'm not even descended from her."

A few years later, Gostkowski reproduced Harbison's 1825 autobiography with help from friend Doris Herceg, complete with an addendum of her latest research.

She is now working to clear up several "mysteries" regarding Harbison's life, including the origins of a supposed photograph that exists of her, even though photography did not come along until several years after her death in 1837.

Gostkowski conducts research in public libraries and the Heinz History Center and even plans to travel to New Jersey, where Harbison was born.

"Wherever it leads me, that's where I go," she said.

It's important to share Harbison's story because, too often, women's stories fade into the past, Gostkowski said.

"I am not happy that there are so few women in the history books," she said. "I really want Massey Harbison in particular in the Pennsylvania history books that kids use in school."

For information on Gostkowski's work, visit www.saxonburglocalhistory.com.

<B>WHAT: </B>Luncheon, walking tour and multimedia lecture on Massey Harbison by historian Drenda Gostkowski.<B>WHEN: </B>Noon to 3 p.m. Friday<B>WHERE: </B>River Forest Country Club, 130 Clubhouse Drive, Allegheny Township, Westmoreland County, near Freeport.<B>TICKETS: </B>$12 plus tax and gratuity; call Laura Zendarski at 724-295-2298 for reservations or directions. Price covers cost of lunch of cold salad platter with chicken salad, tuna salald and potato salad on a bed of lettuce, provided by kitchen of River Forest Country Club.