words she remembers not; and something Mr. Ludlow spake, as some did or might ouer-heare what she said to him, or words to that effect, and that she tumbled the dead body of Knapps wife vp & downe and spake words to this purpose, that if these be the markes of a witch she was one, or had such markes; and concerning any promise of secrecy she remembers not.”
“Mr. Dauenport and Mris. Dauenport affirmed ypon oath, that the testimonies before written, as they properly belong to each, is the truth, according to their best knowledg & memory.
“Mr. Dauenport desired that in takeing his oath to be thus vnderstood, that as he takes his oath to giue satisfaction to the court and Mr. Ludlowes atturny, in the matters attested betwixt M’ Ludlow & Thomas Staplies, so he lymits his oath onely to that pt and not to ye preface or conclusion, they being no pt of the attestation and so his oath not required in them.
“To the latter pt of the declaration, the plant’ pduced ye proofe following,
“Goodwif Sherwood of Fairfeild affirmeth vpon oath, that vpon some debate betwixt Mr. Ludlow and goodwife Staplies, she heard M’ Ludlow charge goodwif Staplies wth a tract of lying, and that in discourse she had heard him so charge her seuerall times.
“John Tompson of Fairfeild testifyeth vpon oath, that in discourse he hath heard Mr. Ludlow express himselfe more then once that goodwife Staplies went on in a tract of lying, and when goodwife Staplyes hath desired Mr. Ludlow to convince her of telling one lye, he said she need not say so, for she went on in a tract of lying.
“Goodwife Gould of Fairefeild testifyeth vpon oath, that in a debate in ye church wth Mr. Ludlow, goodwife Staplyes desired him to show her wherein she had told one lye, but Mr. Ludlow said she need not mention ptculars, for she had gon on in a tract of lying.
“Ensigne Bryan was told, he sees how the plantife hath proued his charge, to wch he might now answer; wherevpon he presented seuerall testimonies in wrighting vpon oath, taken before Mr. Wells and Mr. Ludlow.
“May the thirteenth, 1654.
“Hester Ward, wife of Andrew Ward, being sworne deposeth, that aboute a day after that goodwife Knapp was condemned for a witch, she goeing to ye prison house where the said Knapp was kept, she, ye said Knapp, voluntarily, wthout any occasion giuen her, said that goodwife Staplyes told her, the said Knapp, that an Indian brought vnto her, the said Staplyes, two litle things brighter then the light of the day, and told the said goodwife Staplyes they were Indian gods, as the Indian called ym; and the Indian wthall told her, the said Staplyes, if she would keepe them, she would be so big rich, all one god, and that the said Staplyes told the said Knapp, she gaue them again to the said Indian, but she could not tell whether she did so or no.
“Luce Pell, the wife of Thomas Pell, being sworne deposeth as followeth, that aboute a day after goodwife Knapp was condemned for a witch, Mris. Jones earnestly intreated her to goe to ye said Knapp, who had sent for her, and then this deponent called the said Hester Ward, and they went together; then the said Knapp voluntarily, of her owne accord, spake as the said Hester Ward hath testifyed, word by word; and the said Mris. Pell further saith, that she being one of ye women that was required by the court to search the said Knapp before she was condemned, & then Mris. Jones presed her, the said Knapp, to confess whether ther were any other that were witches, because goodwife goodwife Basset, when she was condemned, said there was another witch in Fairefeild that held her head full high, and then the said goodwife Knapp stepped a litle aside, and told her, this deponent, goodwife Basset ment not her; she asked her whom she ment, and she named goodwife Staplyes, and then vttered the same speeches as formerly conerning ye Indian gods, and that goodwife Staplyes her sister Martha told the said goodwife Knapp, that her sister Staplyes stood by her, by the fire in there house, and she called to her, sister, sister, and she would not answer, but she, the said Martha, strucke at her and then she went away, and ye next day she asked her sister, and she said she was not there; and Mris. Ward doth also testify wth Mris. Pell, that the said Knapp said the same to her; and the said Mris. Pell saith, that aboute two dayes after the search afforesaid, she went to ye said Knapp in prison house, and the said Knapp said to her, I told you a thing the other day, and goodman Staplies had bine wth her and threatened her, that she had told some thing of his wife that would bring his wiues name in question, and this deponent she told no body of it but her husband, & she was much moued at it.
“Elizabeth Brewster being sworne, deposeth and saith, that after goodwife Knap was executed, as soone as she was cut downe, she, the said Knapp, being caried to the graue side, goodwife Staplyes wth some other women went to search the said Knapp, concerning findeing out teats, and goodwife Staplyes handled her verey much, and called to goodwife Lockwood, and said, these were no witches teates, but such as she herselfe had, and other women might haue the same, wringing her hands and takeing ye Lords name in her mouth, and said, will you say these were witches teates, they were not, and called vpon goodwife Lockwood to come & see them; then this deponent desired goodwife Odell to come & see, for she had bine vpon her oath when she found the teates, and she, this depont, desired the said Odill to come and clere it to goodwife Staplies; goodwife Odill would not come; then the said Staplies still called vpon goodwife Lockwood to come, will you say these are witches teates, I, sayes the said Staplies, haue such myselfe, and so haue you if you search yorselfe; goodwife Lockwood replyed, if I had such, she would be hanged; would you, sayes Staplies, yes, saith Lockwood, and deserve it; and the said Staplies handeled the said teates very much, and pulled them wth her fingers, and then goodwife Odill came neere, and she, the said Staplies, still questioning, the said Odill told her no honest woman had such, and then all the women rebuking her and said they were witches teates, and the said Staplies yeilded it.
“Mary Brewster being sworn & deposed, saith as followeth, that she was present after the execution of ye said Knapp, and she being brought to the graue side, she saw goodwife Staplyes pull the teates that were found aboute goodwife Knapp, and was verey earnest to know whether those were witches teates wch were found aboute her, the said Knapp, wn the women searched her, and the said Staplyes pulled them as though she would haue pulled them of, and prsently she, ths depont, went away, as hauing no desire to looke vpon them.
“Susan Lockwood, wife of Robert Lockwood, being sworne & examined saith as foll, that she was at the execution of goodwife Knapp that was hanged for a witch, and after the said Knapp was cut downe and brought to the graue, goodwife Staplyes, wth other women, looked after the teates that the women spake of appointed by the magistrats, and the said goodwife Staplies was handling of her where the teates were, and the said Staplies stood vp and called three or foure times and bid me come looke of them, & asked her whether she would say they were teates, and she made this answer, no matter whether there were teates or no, she had teates and confessed she was a witch, that was sufficient; if these be teates, here are no more teates then I myselfe haue, or any other women, or you either if you would search yor body; this depont saith she said, I know not what you haue, but for herselfe, if any finde any such things aboute me, I deserved to be hanged as she was, and yet afterward she, the said Staplyes, stooped downe againe and handled her, ye said Knapp, verey much, about ye place where the teates were, and seuerall of ye women cryed her downe, and said they were teates, and then she, the said Staplyes, yeilded, & said verey like they might be teates.
“Thomas Sheruington & Christopher Combstocke & goodwife Baldwine were all together at the prison house where goodwife Knapp was, and ye said goodwife Baldwin asked her whether she, the said Knapp, knew of any other, and she said there were some, or one, that had receiued Indian gods that were very bright; the said Baldwin asked her how she could tell, if she were not a witch herselfe, and she said the party told her so, and her husband was witnes to it; and to this they were all sworne & doe depose.
“Rebecka Hull, wife of Cornelius Hull, being sworne & examined, deposeth & saith as followeth, that when goodwife Knapp was goeing to execution, Mr. Ludlow, and her father Mr. Jones, pressing the said Knapp to confess that she was a witch, vpon wch goodwife Staplies said, why should she, the said Knapp, confess that wch she was not, and after she, the said goodwife Staplyes, had said so, on that stood by, why should she say so, she the said Staplyes replyed, she made no doubt if she the said Knapp were one, she would confess it.
“Deborah Lockwood, of the age of 17 or thereaboute, sworne & examined, saith as followeth, that she being present when goodwife Knapp was goeing to execution, betweene Tryes & the mill, she heard goodwife Staplyes say to goodwife Gould, she was pswaded goodwife Knapp was no witch; goodwife Gould said, sister Staplyes, she is a witch, & hath confessed had had familiarity wth the Deuill. Staplies replyed, I was wth her yesterday, or last night, and she said no such thing as she heard.
“Aprill 26th, 1654.
“Bethia Brundish, of the age of sixteene or thereaboutes, maketh oath, as they were goeing to execution of goodwife Knapp, who was condemned for a witch by the court & jury at Fairfeild, there being present herselfe & Deborah Lockwood and Sarah Cable, she heard goodwife Staplyes say, that she thought the said goodwife Knapp was no witch, and goodwife Gould presently reproued her for it.” “Witnes
“Andrew Warde,
“Jurat’ die & anno prdicto,
“Coram me, Ro Ludlowe.
“The plant’ replyed that he had seuerall other witnesses wch he thought would cleere the matters in question, if the court please to heare them, wch being granted, he first presented a testimony of goodwife Whitlocke of Fairfeild, vpon oath taken before Mr. Fowler at Millford, the 27th of May, 1654, wherein she saith, that concerning goodwife Staplyes speeches at the execution of goodwife Knapp, she being present & next to goody Staplyes when they were goeing to put the dead corpes of goodwife Knapp into the graue, seuerall women were looking for the markes of a witch vpon the dead body, and seuerall of the women said they could finde none, & this depont said, nor I; and she heard goodwife Staplyes say, nor I; then came one that had searched the said witch, & shewed them the markes that were vpon her, and said what are these; and then this depont heard goodwife Staplyes say she never saw such in all her life, and that she was pswaded that no honest woman had such things as those were; and the dead corps being then prsently put into the graue, goodwife Staplyes & myselfe came imediately away together vnto the towne, from the place of execution.
“Goodwife Barlow of Fairfeild before the court did now testify vpon oath, that when Knapps wife was hanged and ready to be buried, she desired to see the markes of a witch and spake to one of her neighbours to goe wth her, and they looked but found them not; then goodwife Staplyes came to them, and one or two more, goodwife Stapyleyes kneeled downe by them, and they all looked but found ym not, & said they saw nothing but what is comon to other women, but after they found them they all wondered, and goodwife Staplyes in pticular, and said they neuer saw such things in their life before, so they went away.
“The wife of John Tompson of Fairefeild testifyeth vpon oath, that goodwife Whitlock, goodwife Staplyes and herselfe, were at the graue and desired to see ye markes of the witch that was hanged, they looked but found them not at first, then the midwife came & shewed them, goodwife Staplyes said she neuer saw such, and she beleeved no honest woman had such.
“Goodwife Sherwood of Fairefeild testifyeth vpon oath, that that day Knapps wife was condemned for a witch, she was there to see her, all being gone forth but goodwife Odill and her selfe, then their came in Mris. Pell and her two daughters, Elizabeth & Mary, goody Lockwood and goodwife Purdy; Mris. Pell told Knapps wife she was sent to speake to her, to haue her confess that for wch she was condemned, and if she knew any other to be a witch to discover them, and told her, before she was condemned she might thinke it would be a meanes to take away her life, but now she must dye, and therefore she should discouer all, for though she and her family by the providence of God had brought in nothing against her, yet ther was many witnesses came in against her, and she was cast by the jury & godly magistrats hauing found her guilty, and that the last evidence cast the cause. So the next day she went in againe to see the witch wth other neighbours, there was Mr. Jones, Mris. Pell & her two daughters, Mris. Ward and goodwife Lockwood, where she heard Mris. Pell desire Knapps wife to lay open herselfe, and make way for the minister to doe her good; her daughter Elizabeth bid her doe as the witch at the other towne did, that is, discouer all she knew to be witches. Goodwife Knapp said she must not say anything wch is not true, she must not wrong any body, and what had bine said to her in private, before she went out of the world, when she was vpon the ladder, she would reveale to Mr. Ludlow or ye minister. Elizabeth Bruster said, if you keepe it a litle longer till you come to the ladder, the diuill will haue you quick, if you reveale it not till then. Good: Knapp replyed, take heed the devile haue not you, for she could not tell how soone she might be her companyon, and added, the truth is you would haue me say that goodwife Staplyes is a witch, but I haue sinns enough to answer for allready, and I hope I shall not add to my condemnation; I know nothing by goodwife Staplyes, and I hope she is an honest woman. Then goodwife Lockwood said, goodwife Knapp what ayle you; goodman Lyon, I pray speake, did you heare vs name goodwif Staplyes name since we came here; Lyon wished her to haue a care what she said and not breed difference betwixt neighbours after she was gone; Knapp replyed, goodman Lyon hold yor tongue, you know not what I know, I haue ground for what I say, I haue bine fished wthall in private more then you are aware of; I apprehend goodwife Staples hath done me some wrong in her testimony, but I must not render euill for euill. Then this depont spake to goody Knapp, wishing her to speake wth the jury, for she apprehended goodwife Staplyes witnessed nothing contrary to other witnesses, and she supposed they would informe her that the last evidence did not cast ye cause; she replyed that she had bine told so wthin this halfe houre, & desired Mr. Jones and herselfe to stay and the rest to depart, that she might speake wth vs in private, and desired me to declare to Mr. Jones what they said against goodwife Staplyes the day before, but she told her she heard not goodwife Staplyes named, but she knew nothing of that nature; she desired her to declare her minde fully to M’ Jones, so she went away.
“Further this depont saith, that comeing into the house where the witch was kept, she found onely the wardsman and goodwife Baldwine, there goodwife Baldwin whispered her in the eare and said to her that goodwife Knapp told her that a woman in ye towne was a witch and would be hanged wthin a twelue moneth, and would confess herselfe a witch and cleere her that she was none, and that she asked her how she knew she was a witch, and she told her she had reeived Indian gods of an Indian, wch are shining things, wch shine lighter then the day. Then this depont asked goodwife Knapp if she had said so, and she denyed it; goodwife Baldwin affirmed she did, but Knapps wife againe denyed it and said she knowes no woman in the towne that is a witch, nor any woman that hath received Indian gods, but she said there was an Indian at a womans house and offerred her a coople of shining things, but she woman neuer told her she tooke them, but was afraide and ran away, and she knowes not that the woman euer tooke them. Goodwife desired this depont to goe out and speake wth the wardsmen; Thomas Shervington, who was one of them, said hee remembred not that Knapps wife said a woman in the towne was a witch and would be hanged, but spake something of shining things, but Kester, Mr. Pells man, being by said, but I remember; and as they were goeing to the graue, goodwife Staplyes said, it was long before she could beleeve this poore woman was a witch, or that their were any witches, till the word of God convinced her, wch saith, thou shalt not suffer a witch to liue.
“Thomas Lyon of Fairfeild testifyeth vpon oath, taken before Mr. Fowler, the 27th May, 1654, that he being set by authority to watch wth Knapps wife, there came in Mris. Pell, Mrs. Ward, goodwife Lockwood, and Mris. Pells two daughters; the fell into some discourse, that goodwife Knapp should say to them in private wch goodwife Knapp would not owne, but did seeme to be much troubled at them and said, the truth is you would haue me to say that goodwife Staplyes is a witch; I haue sinnes enough allready, I will not add this to my condemnation, I know no such thing by her, I hope she is an honest woman; then goodwife Lockwood caled to mee and asked whether they had named goodwife Staplyes, so I spake to goodwife Knapp to haue a care what she said, that she did not make differrence amongst her neighbours when she was gon, and I told her that I hoped they were her frends and desired her soules good, and not to accuse any out of envy, or to that effect; Knapps wife said, goodman Lyon hold yor tongue, you know not so much as I doe, you know not what hath bine said to me in private; and after they was gon, of her owne accord, betweene she & I, goody Knapp said she knew nothing against goodwife Staplyes of being a witch.
“Goodwife Gould of Fairfeild testifyeth vpon oath, that goodwife Sherwood & herselfe came in to see the witch, there was one before had bine speaking aboute some suspicious words of one in the towne, this depont wished her if she knew anything vpon good ground she would declare it, if not, that she would take heede that the deuill pswaded her not to sow malicious seed to doe hurt when she was dead, yet wished her to speake the truth if she knew anything by any pson; she said she knew nothing but vpon suspicion by the rumours she heares; this depont told her she was now to dye, and therefore she should deale truly; she burst forth ito weeping and desired me to pray for her, and said I knew not how she was tempted; neuer, neuer poore creature was tempted as I am tempted, pray, pray for me. Further this depont saith, as they were goeing to ye graue, Mr. Buckly, goodwife Sherwood, goodwife Staplye and myselfe, goodwife Staplyes was next me, she said it was a good while before she could beleeue this woman was a witch, and that she could not beleue a good while that there were any witches, till she went to ye word of God, and then she was convinced, and as she remembers, goodwife Stapleyes went along wth her all the way till they came at ye gallowes. Further this deponent saith, that Mr. Jones some time since that Knapps wife was condemned, did tell her, and that wth a very cherefull countenance & blessing God for it, that Knapps wife had cleered one in ye towne, & said you know who I meane sister Staplyes, blessed be God for it.”
Staplies’ wife was a character. She was “a light woman” from the night of her memorable ride with Tom Tash, to Jemeaco, Long Island, to the suspicion of herself as a witch, and the “repairing” of her name by Thomas’ lawsuit, and her own indictment for familiarity with Satan some years later. That she had many of the traditional witch qualities, and was something of a gymnast and hypnotist, is written in the vivid recollections of Tash’s experience with her. This was his account of it on oath thirty years after:
“John Tash aged about sixty four or thareabouts saith he being at Master Laueridges at Newtown on Long Island aboutt thirty year since Goodman Owen and Goody Owin desired me to goe with Thomas Stapels wiffe of Fairfield to Jemeaco on Long Island to the hous of George Woolsy and as we war going along we cam to a durty slow and thar the hors blundred in the slow and I mistrusted that she the said Goody Stapels was off the hors and I was troubiled in my mind very much soe as I cam back I thought I would tak better noatis how it was and when I cam to the slow abovesaid I put on the hors prity sharp and then I put my hand behind me and felt for her and she was not upon the hors and as soon as we war out of the slow she was on the hors behind me boath going and coming and when I cam home I told thes words to Master Leveredg that she was a light woman as I judged and I am redy to give oath to this when leagaly caled tharunto as witnes my hand.
his “John+Tash mark
“Grenwich July 12, 1692.
“John Tash hath given oath to his testimony abovesaid
“Before me John Renels Comessener.”
And Mistress Staplies had other qualities, always potent in small communities to invite criticism and dislike. She was a shrewd and shrewish woman, impatient of some of the Puritan social standards and of the laws of everyday life. She openly condemned certain common moralities, was reckless in criticism of her neighbors, and quarreled with Ludlow about some church matters.
It is evident from the testimonies that Staplies was on both sides as to the guilt of goodwife Knapp, and when rumor and suspicion began to point to herself as a mischief-maker and busybody in witchcraft matters, to divert attention from his wife and set a backfire to the sweep of public opinion, Thomas sued Ludlow, and despite his strong and clear defense as shown on the record evidence, the court in his absence awarded damages against him for defamation and for charging Staplies’ wife with going on “in a tract of lying,” “in reparation of his wife’s name” as the judgment reads. Mistress Staplies did not grow in grace, or in the graces of her neighbors, since some years later she was indicted for witchcraft, tried, and acquitted with others, at Fairfield, in 1692.[J]
[Footnote J: See _Historical Note_, p. 161.]
CHAPTER XI
“The planters of New England were Englishmen, not exempt from English prejudices in favor of English institutions, laws and usages … They had not been taught to question the wisdom or the humanity of English criminal law. They were as unconscious of its barbarism, as were the parliaments which had enacted or the courts which dispensed it.” _Blue Laws, True and False_ (p. 15), J. HAMMOND TRUMBULL.
“It would seem a marvellous panic, this that shook the rugged reasoners in its iron grasp, and led to such insanity as this displayed toward Alse Young, did we not know that it was but the result of a normal inhuman law confirmed by a belief in the divine, the direct legacy of England, the unquestionable utterance of Church and State.” _One Blank of Windsor_, ANNIE ELIOT TRUMBULL.
This brief review of witchcraft in some of its historical aspects, of its spread to the New England colonies, of its rise and suppression in the Connecticut towns, with the citations from the original records which admit no challenge of the facts, may be aptly closed by what is believed to be a complete list of the Connecticut witchcraft cases, authenticated by conclusive evidence of time, place, incident, and circumstance.
Some minor questions may be put, or kept in controversy, as one writer or another, who regards history as a matter of opinion, not of fact, and relying on tradition or hearsay evidence or on superficial investigation, gives a place to guesswork instead of truth, to historical conceits instead of historical verities.
A RECORD OF THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO CAME UNDER SUSPICION OR ACCUSATION OF WITCHCRAFT IN CONNECTICUT, AND WHAT BEFELL THEM.
Herein are written the names of all persons in anywise involved in the witchcraft delusion in Connecticut, with the consequences to them in indictments, trials, convictions, executions, or in banishment, exile, warnings, reprieves, or acquittals, so far as made known in any tradition, document, public or private record, to this time.
MARY JOHNSON. Windsor, 1647.
There is no documentary or other evidence to show that Mary Johnson was executed for witchcraft in Windsor in 1647. The charge rests on an entry in Governor Winthrop’s _Journal_, “One —- of Windsor arraigned and executed at Hartford for a witch.” WINTHROP’S _History of New England_ (Savage, 2: 374).
No importance would have attached to this statement, which bears no date and does not give the name or sex of the condemned, had not Dr. Savage in his annotations of the _Journal_ (2: 374) asserted that it was “the first instance of the delusion in New England,” and without warrant added, “Perhaps there was sense enough early in the colony to destroy the record.”
In all discussions of this matter, it has been assumed or conceded (in the absence of any positive proof), by such eminent critics and scholars as Drake, Fiske, Poole, Hoadley, Stiles, and others, that Winthrop’s note was based on rumor or hearsay, or that it related to the later conviction and execution of a woman of the same name, next noted, and the errors as to person, time, and place might easily have been made.
MARY JOHNSON. Wethersfield, 1648.
This Mary Johnson left a definite record. It is written in broad lines in the dry-as-dust chronicles of the time. Cotton Mather embalmed the tragedy in his _Magnalia_.
“There was one Mary Johnson tryd at Hartford in this countrey, upon an indictment of ‘familiarity with the devil,’ and was found guilty thereof, chiefly upon her own confession.”
“And she dyd in a frame extreamly to the satisfaction of them that were spectators of it.” _Magnalia Christi Americana_ (6: 7).
At a session of the Particular Court held in Hartford, August 21, 1646, Mary Johnson for thievery was sentenced to be presently whipped, and to be brought forth a month hence at Wethersfield, and there whipped. The whipping post, even in those days, did not prove a means to repentance and reformation, since at a session of the same court, December 7, 1648, the jury found a bill of indictment against Mary Johnson, that by her own confession she was guilty of familiarity with the devil.
That she was condemned and executed seems certain (it being assumed that Mary and Elizabeth Johnson were one and the same person, both Christian names appearing in the record), since at a session of the General Court, May 21, 1650, the prison-keeper’s charges for her imprisonment were allowed and ordered paid “out of her estate.”
A pathetic incident attaches to this case. A child to this poor woman was “borne in the prison,” who was bound out until he became twenty-one years of age, to Nathaniel Rescew, to whom L15 were paid according to the mother’s promise to him, he having engaged himself “to meinteine and well educate her sonne.” _Colonial Records of Connecticut_ (I,143: 171: 209-22-26-32).
THE FIRST EXECUTION FOR WITCHCRAFT IN NEW ENGLAND
_A secret long kept made known–Winthrop’s journal entry probably correct–Tradition and surmise make place for historical certainty–The evidence of an eyewitness–A notable service._
ALSE YOUNG. Windsor, 1647.
“May 26. 47 Alse Young was hanged.” MATTHEW GRANT’S _Diary_.
“The first entry (the executions of Carrington and his wife being next mentioned) supplies the name of the ‘One (blank) of Windsor arraigned and executed at Hartford for a witch’–the first known execution for witchcraft in New England. I have found no mention elsewhere of this Alse Young.” J. HAMMOND TRUMBULL’S _Observation on Grant’s Entry_.
“Who then was the ‘witch’ with whose execution Connecticut stepped into the dark shadow of persecution? She has been called Mary Johnson, but no Mary Johnson has been identified as this earliest victim. Whose is that pathetic figure shrinking in the twilight of that early record? We could think of her with no less kindly compassion could we give a name to the unhappy victim of the misread Word of God, who was led forth to a death stripped of dignity as of consolation: who to an ignorance and credulity, brought from an old world and not yet sifted out by the enlightenment and experience of a new, yielded up her perhaps miserable but unforfeited life. Here is the note which in all probability establishes the identity of the One of Windsor arraigned and executed as a witch–‘May 26, 47 Alse Young was hanged.'” _”One Blank” of Windsor_ (Courant Literary Section, 12, 3, 1904), ANNIE ELIOT TRUMBULL.
Matthew Grant came over with the Dorchester men from the Bay Colony in 1635, and settled in Windsor, Connecticut, where he lived until his death there in 1683.
He was a land surveyor, and the town clerk, a close observer of men and their public and private affairs, and kept a careful record of current events in a “crabbed, eccentric but by no means entirely illegible hand” during the long years of his sojourn in the “Lord’s Waste.”
It has been surmised for several years–but without confirmation–and credited by the highest authorities in Connecticut colonial history, and known only to one of them, that Grant’s manuscript diary contained the significant historical note as to the fate of Alse Young. It waited two centuries and more for its true interpreter, as did Wolcott’s cipher notes of Hooker’s famous sermon, and there it is, “not made on the decorous pages which memorize the saints,” Brookes, Hooker, Warham, Reyner, Hanford, and Huit, “but scrawled on the inside of the cover, where it might be the sinner might escape detection.”
In the publication of Grant’s note Miss Trumbull has rendered a great service in the settlement of a disputed question, in the correction of errors, in fixing the priority of the outbreak between Massachusetts and Connecticut; and in the new light shining through this revelation stands Alse, glorified with the qualities of youth, of gentleness, of innocence; and the story of her going to the unholy sacrifice on that fateful May morning more than two and a half centuries ago is told with exquisite tenderness and pathos.
Confirmation of the truth of Grant’s entry is given by the scholarly historian of Windsor, Dr. Stiles, who says in his history of that ancient town:
“We know that a John Youngs, [?] bought land in Windsor of William Hubbard in 1641–which he sold in 1649–and thereafter disappears from record. He may have been the husband or father of ‘Achsah'[?] the witch; if so, it would be most natural that he and his family should leave Windsor.” STILES’ _History of Windsor_ (pp. 444-450).
JOHN and JOAN CARRINGTON. Wethersfield, 1651.
They were indicted at a court held February 20, 1651, Governor John Haynes and Edward Hopkins being present, with other magistrates; and they were found guilty on March 6, 1651. Both were executed. _Records Particular Court_ (2: 17). [Dr. Hoadley’s note in this case: “Mr. Trumbull (Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull) told me he had a record of execution in these cases. I suppose he referred to the diary of Matthew Grant.”] The entry of the execution appears in Grant’s _Diary_, after the note as to Alse Young. _One Blank of Windsor_, TRUMBULL.
LYDIA GILBERT. Windsor, 1654.
October 3, 1651, Henry Stiles of Windsor was killed by the accidental discharge of a gun in the hands of Thomas Allyn, also of Windsor. An inquest was held, and Thomas was indicted in the following December. He plead guilty, and at the trial the jury found the fact to be “homicide by misadventure.” Thomas was fined L20 for his “sinful neglect and careless carriage,” and put under a bond of L10, for good behavior for a year. _Records Particular Court_ (2: 29-57).
But witchcraft was abroad, and its tools and emissaries more than two years afterwards fastened suspicion of this death by clear accident, on Lydia Gilbert, it being charged that “thou hast of late years, or still dost give entertainment to Sathan … and by his helpe hast killed the body of Henry Styles, besides other witchcrafts.”
She was indicted and tried in September or November, 1654, and “Ye party above mentioned is found guilty of witchcraft by ye jury.” Her fate is not written in any known record, but the late Honorable S.O. Griswold, a recognized authority on early colonial history in Windsor, says that as the result of a close examination of the record, “I think the reasonable probability is that she was hanged.” _Records Particular Court_ (2: 51); STILE’S _History of Windsor_ (pp. 169, 444-450).
GOODY BASSETT. Stratford, 1651. Executed.
“The Gouernor, Mr. Cullick, and Mr. Clarke are desired to goe downe to Stratford to keepe courte uppon the tryall of Goody Bassett for her life”–May, 1651. “Because goodwife Bassett when she was condemned” (probably on her own confession, as in the Greensmith case). _Colonial Records of Connecticut_ (1: 220); _New Haven Colonial Records_ (2: 77-88).
GOODWIFE KNAPP. Fairfield, 1653. Executed.
“After goodwife Knapp was executed, as soon as she was cut downe.” _New Haven Colonial Records_ (1: 81).
Full account in previous chapter.
ELIZABETH GODMAN. New Haven, 1655. Acquitted.
Elizabeth was released from prison September 4, 1655, with a reprimand and warning by the court. _New Haven Town Records_ (2: 174, 179); _New Haven Colonial Records_ (2: 29, 151).
Account in previous chapter.
NICHOLAS BAYLEY and WIFE. New Haven, 1655. Acquitted.
Nicholas and his wife, after several appearances in court on account of a suspicion of witchcraft, and for various other offenses–among them, lying and filthy speeches by the wife–were advised to remove from the colony. They took the advice.
WILLIAM MEAKER. New Haven, 1657. Accused acquitted.
Thomas Mullener was always in trouble. He was a chronic litigant. His many contentions are noted at length in the court records. Among other things he made up his mind that his pigs were bewitched, so “he did cut of the tayle and eare of one and threw into the fire,” “said it was a meanes used in England by some people to finde out witches,” and in the light of this porcine sacrifice he charged his neighbor William Meaker with the bewitching. Meaker promptly brought an action of defamation, but Mullener became involved in other controversies and “miscarriages,” to the degree that he was advised to remove out of the place, and put under bonds for good behavior; and Meaker, probably feeling himself vindicated, dropped his suit. _New Haven Colonial Records_ (2: 224).
ELIZABETH GARLICK. Easthampton, 1658. Acquitted.
_Records Particular Court_ (2 :113); _Colonial Records of Connecticut_ (1: 573); STILES’ _History of Windsor_ (p. 735).
Account in previous chapter.
NICHOLAS and MARGARET JENNINGS. Saybrook, 1661.
Jury disagreed.
The major part of the jury found Nicholas guilty, but the rest only strongly suspected him, and as to Margaret, some found her guilty, and the others suspected her to be guilty. It is probable that the Jennings were under inquiry when, at a session of the General Court at Hartford, June 15, 1659, it was recorded that “Mr. Willis is requested to goe downe to Sea Brook, to assist ye Maior in examininge the suspitions about witchery, and to act therin as may be requisite.” _Records Particular Court_ (2: 160-3); _Colonial Records of Connecticut_ (1: 338).
1662-63 was a notable year in the history of witchcraft in Connecticut. It marked the last execution for the crime within the commonwealth, and thirty years before the outbreak at Salem.
NATHANIEL GREENSMITH and REBECCA his WIFE. Hartford, 1662. Both executed.
Account in previous chapter. _Records Particular Court_ (2: 182); _Memorial History Hartford County_ (1: 274); _Connecticut Magazine_ (November 1899, pp. 557-561).
MARY SANFORD. Hartford, 1662. Convicted June 13, 1662. Executed.
_Records Particular Court_ (2: 174-175); HOADLEY’S _Record Witchcraft Trials_.
ANDREW SANFORD. Hartford, 1662. No indictment.
_Records Particular Court_ (2: 174-175); HOADLEY’S _Record Witchcraft Trials_.
JUDITH VARLETT (VARLETH). Hartford, 1662. Arrested; released.
It will be recalled that Rebecca Greensmith in her confession, among other things, said that Mrs. Judith Varlett told her that she (Varlett) “was much troubled wth ye Marshall Jonath: Gilbert & cried, & she sayd if it lay in her power she would doe him a mischief, or what hurt shee could.”
Judith must have indulged in other indiscretions of association or of speech, since she soon fell under suspicion of witchcraft, and was put under arrest and imprisoned. But she had a powerful friend at court (who, despite his many contentions and intrigues, commanded the attention of the Connecticut authorities), in the person of her brother-in-law Peter Stuyvesant, then bearing the title and office of “Captain General and Commander-in-Chief of Amsterdam In New Netherland, now called New York, and the Dutch West India Islands.” It was doubtless due to his intercession in a letter of October 13, 1662, that she was released.
The letter:
“To the Honorable Deputy Governour & Court of “Magistracy att Harafort. (Oct. 1662)
“Honoured and Worthy Srs.–
“By this occasion of me Brother in Lawe (beinge necessitated to make a Second Voyage for ayde his distressed sister Judith Varleth jmprisoned as we are jmformed, uppon pretend accusation of wicherye we Realy Beleeve and out her wel known education Life Conversation & profession of faith, wee dear assure that shee is jnnocent of Such a horrible Crimen, & wherefor j doubt not hee will now, as formerly finde jour dhonnours favour and ayde for the jnnocent). _Ye Ld Stephesons Letter_ (C.B. 2: doc. 1).
MARY BARNES. Farmington, 1662. Convicted January 6. Probably executed. _Records Particular Court_ (2: 184).
WILLIAM AYRES and GOODY AYRES his Wife. Hartford, 1662. Arrested. Fled from the colony.
ELIZABETH SEAGER. Hartford, 1662. Convicted; discharged.
Goody Seager probably deserved all that came to her in trials and punishment. She was one of the typical characters in the early communities upon whom distrust and dislike and suspicion inevitably fell. Exercising witch powers was one of her more reputable qualities. She was indicted for blasphemy, adultery, and witchcraft at various times, was convicted of adultery, and found guilty of witchcraft in June, 1665. She owed her escape from hanging to a finding of the Court of Assistants that the jury’s verdict did not legally answer to the indictment, and she was set “free from further suffering or imprisonment.” _Records County Court_ (3: 5: 52); _Colonial Records of Connecticut_ (2: 531); _Rhode Island Colonial Records_ (2: 388).
JAMES WALKLEY. Hartford, 1662. Arrested. Fled to Rhode Island.
KATHERINE HARRISON. Wethersfield, 1669. Convicted; discharged.
See account in previous chapter. _Records Court of, Assistants_ (I, 1-7); _Colonial Records of Connecticut_ (2: 118, 132); _Doc. History New York_ (4th ed., 4: 87).
NICHOLAS DESBOROUGH. Hartford, 1683. Suspicioned.
Desborough was a landowner in Hartford, having received a grant of fifty acres for his services in the Pequot war. He owes his enrollment in the hall of fame to Cotton Mather, who was so self-satisfied with his efforts in “Relating the wonders of the invisible world in preternatural occurrences” that in his pedantic exuberance he put in a learned sub-title: “Miranda cano, sed sunt credenda” (The themes I sing are marvelous, yet true).
Fourteen examples were chosen for the “Thaumatographia Pneumatica,” as “remarkable histories” of molestations from evil spirits, and Mather said of them, “that no reasonable man in this whole country ever did question them.”
Desborough stands in place as the “fourth example.” No case more clearly illustrates the credulity that neutralized common sense in strong men. It was a case of abstraction, or theft, or mistaken thrift. A “chest of cloaths” was missing. The owner, instead of going to law, found his remedy “in things beyond the course of nature,” and he and his friends with “nimble hands” pelted Desborough’s house, and himself when abroad, with stones, turves, and corncobs, and finally some of his property was burned by a fire “in an unknown way kindled.” Is it not enough to note that Mather closes this wondrous tale of the spiritual molestations with the very human explanation that “upon the restoring of the cloaths, the trouble ceased”?
ELIZABETH CLAWSON. Fairfield, 1692. Acquitted. Account in previous chapter.
MARY and HANNAH HARVEY. Fairfield, 1692. Jury found no bill.
GOODY MILLER. Fairfield, 1692. Acquitted.
MARY STAPLIES. Fairfield, 1692. Jury found no bill. Account in previous chapter.
MERCY DISBOROUGH. Fairfield, 1692. Convicted; reprieved. Account in previous chapter. HUGH CROTIA. Stratford, 1693. Jury found no bill. Account in previous chapter. _C. & D._ (Vol. I,185).
WINIFRED BENHAM SENIOR and JUNIOR. Wallingford, 1697. Acquitted.
They were mother and daughter (twelve or thirteen years old), tried at Hartford and acquitted in August, 1697; indicted on new complaints in October, 1697, but the jury returned on the bill, “Ignoramus.” _Records Court of Assistants_ (1: 74, 77).
SARAH SPENCER. Colchester, 1724. Accused. Damages 1s.
Even a certificate of the minister as to her religion and virtue, could not free Sarah from a reputation as a witch. And when Elizabeth (and how many Connecticut witches bore that name) Ackley accused her of “riding and pinching,” and James Ackley, her husband, made threats, Sarah sued them for a fortune in those days, L500 damages, and got judgment for L5, with costs. The Ackleys appealed, and at the trial the jury awarded Sarah damages of ls., and also stated that they found the Ackleys not insane–a clear demonstration that the mental condition of witchcraft accusers was taken account of in the later and saner times.
NORTON. Bristol, 1768. Suspicioned. No record.
“On the mountain,” probably Fall mountain in Bristol, the antics of a young woman named Norton, who accused her aunt of putting a bridle on her and driving her through the air to witch meetings in Albany, caused a commotion among the virtuous people. Deacon Dutton’s ox was torn apart by an invisible agent, and unseen hands brought new ailments to the residents there, pinched them and stuck red hot pins into them. Elder Wildman set out to exorcise the evil spirit, but became so terrorized that he called for help, and one of his posse of assistants was scared into convulsions. This case may be counted among the last, perhaps the last traditions of the strange delusion which aforetime filled the hills and valleys of Quohnectacut with its baleful light. _Memorial History Hartford County_ (2: 51).
ROLL OF NAMES
ALSE YOUNG 1647
MARY JOHNSON 1648
JOHN CARRINGTON 1650-51
JOAN CARRINGTON 1650-71
GOODY BASSETT 1651
GOODWIFE KNAPP 1653
LYDIA GILBERT 1654
ELIZABETH GODMAN 1655
NICHOLAS BAYLY 1655
GOODWIFE BAYLY 1655
WILLIAM MEAKER 1657
ELIZABETH GARLICK 1658
NICHOLAS JENNINGS 1661
MARGARET JENNINGS 1661
NATHANIEL GREENSMITH 1662
REBECCA GREENSMITH 1662
MARY SANFORD 1662
ANDREW SANFORD 1662
GOODY AYRES 1662
KATHERINE PALMER 1662
JUDITH VARLETT 1662
JAMES WALKLEY 1662
MARY BARNES 1662-63
ELIZABETH SEAGER 1666
KATHERINE HARRISON 1669
NICHOLAS DISBOROUGH 1683
MARY STAPLIES 1692
MERCY DISBOROUGH 1692
ELIZABETH CLAWSON 1692
MARY HARVEY 1692
HANNAH HARVEY 1692
GOODY MILLER 1692
HUGH CROTIA 1693
WINIFRED BENHAM, SENR. 1697
WINIFRED BENHAM, JUNR. 1697
SARAH SPENCER 1724
—- NORTON 1768
What of those men and women to whom justice in their time was meted out, in this age of reason, of religious enlightenment, liberty, and catholicity, when witchcraft has lost its mystery and power, when intelligence reigns, and the Devil works his will in other devious ways and in a more attractive guise?
They were the victims of delusion, not of dishonor, of a perverted theology fed by moral aberrations, of a fanaticism which never stopped to reason, and halted at no sacrifice to do God’s service; and they were all done to death, or harried into exile, disgrace, or social ostracism, through a mistaken sense of religious duty: but they stand innocent of deep offense and only guilty in the eye of the law written in the Word of God, as interpreted and enforced by the forefathers who wrought their condemnation, and whose religion made witchcraft a heinous sin, and whose law made it a heinous crime.
Is the contrast in human experience, between the servitude to credulity and superstition in 1647-97 and the deliverance from it of this day, any wider than between the ironclad theology of that and of later times, and the challenge to it, and its diabolical logic, of yesterday, which marks a new era in denominational creeds, in religious beliefs, and their expression?
Jonathan Edwards, in his famous sermon at Enfield in 1741, on “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God,” was inspired to say to the impenitent: “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you and is dreadfully provoked; His wrath toward you burns like fire; He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire; He is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in His sight; you are 10,000 times so abominable in His eyes as the most hateful and venomous serpent is in ours…. Instead of one how many is it likely will remember this discourse in hell! And it would be a wonder if some that are now present should not be in hell in a very short time–before this year is out. And it would be no wonder if some persons, that now sit here in some seats of this meeting-house, in health and quiet, and secure, should be there before to-morrow morning.” One hundred and sixty-three years later, Rev. Dr. Samuel T. Carter, a godly minister of the same faith, “a heretic who is no heretic,” stood before the presbytery of Nassau, was invited to remain in the Presbyterian communion, and yet said this of the doctrine of Edwards, as written in the _Westminster Confession_: “In God’s name and Christ’s name it is not true. There is no such God as the God of the confession. There is no such world as the world of the confession. There is no such eternity as the eternity of the confession…. This world so full of flowers and sunshine and the laughter of children is not a cursed lost world, and the ‘endless torment’ of the confession is not God’s, nor Christ’s, nor the Bible’s idea of future punishment.”
What should constitute the true faith of a Christian, and set him apart from his fellowmen in duties and observances, was one of the crucial questions in the everyday life of the early New England colonists, and the hanging and discipline of witches was one of its necessary incidents.
It was the same spirit of intolerance and of religious animosity that was written in the treatment of the Quakers and Baptists at Boston; in the experience of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson; and of “The Rogerenes” in Connecticut, for “profanation of the Sabbath,” told in a chapter of forgotten history.
In the sunlight of the later revelation, is not the present judgment of the men and women of those far off times, “when the wheel of prayer was in perpetual motion,” when fear and superstition and the wrath of an angry God ruled the strongest minds, truly interpreted in the solemn afterthoughts which the poet ascribes to the magistrate and minister at the grave of Giles Corey?
HATHORNE
“This is the Potter’s Field. Behold the fate Of those who deal in witchcrafts, and when questioned, Refuse to plead their guilt or innocence, And stubbornly drag death upon themselves.
MATHER
“Those who lie buried in the Potter’s Field Will rise again as surely as ourselves
That sleep in honored graves with epitaphs; And this poor man whom we have made a victim, Hereafter will be counted as a martyr.”
_The New England Tragedies._
HISTORICAL NOTE
ROGER LUDLOW
The Connecticut historians to a very recent date, in ignorance of the facts, and despite his notable services of twenty-four years to the colonies, left Ludlow to die in obscurity in Virginia or elsewhere, and some of the traditions, based on no record or other evidence, have been recently repeated. It is therefore proper to state here in few words who Ludlow was, what he did both in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and after his “return into England” in 1654.
Ludlow came of an ancient English family, which gave to history in his own time and generation such illustrious kinsmen as Sir Henry Ludlow, a member of the Long Parliament and one of the Puritan leaders, and Sir Edmund Ludlow, member of Parliament, Lieutenant-General under Cromwell, member of the court at King Charles’ trial, and whom Macaulay named “the most illustrious saviour of a mighty race of men, the judges of a king, the founders of a republic.”
In May, 1630, Ludlow came to Massachusetts, as one of the Assistants under the charter of “The Governor and company of Massachusetts Bay in New England.”
His services in the Bay Colony from 1630-35 ranged from the duties of a magistrate in the Great Charter Court to those of the high office of Deputy Governor. The quality of that service is written in a bare statement of his various offices–surveyor, negotiator of the Pequot treaty, colonel ex officio, auditor of Governor Winthrop’s accounts, superintendent of fortifications, military commissioner, member of the General Court, Deputy Governor when Thomas Dudley was Governor; and he was always one of the foremost men in civil, political, and social affairs, to the day of his departure to “the valley of the long river,”–a day of good fortune for Connecticut.
When Massachusetts established church membership as the condition of suffrage,–and radical differences of opinion on other matters arose,–it marked the culmination of a set purpose of some of her ablest men to remove from her jurisdiction, among whom Hooker, Ludlow, and Haynes were the most notable. The General Court created a commission to govern Connecticut for a year, and made Ludlow its chief. He came to the new land of promise with the Dorchester men, and settled in Windsor in 1635-36.
What he did in the nineteen years of his residence at Windsor and Fairfield is epitomized in a brief summary of the duties and honors to which he was called by his fellowmen:
Chief of the Massachusetts commission and the first Governor, de facto; organizer and chief magistrate of the first court; writer of the earliest laws; president of the court which declared war against the Pequots; framer of the Fundamental Orders–the Constitution of 1639–which embodied the great principles of government by the people propounded and elucidated by the illustrious Thomas Hooker, in his letter to Governor Winthrop, and in his famous sermon; compiler, at the request of the General Court, of the _Body of Lawes_, the _Code of 1650_; commissioner on important state matters; commissioner for the United Colonies; founder and defender of Fairfield; patriot, jurist, statesman.
Ludlow left Connecticut in 1654, not to die in obscurity as the earlier writers imagined, but to serve abroad for several years in positions of honor and distinction.
Cromwell invited him to return, as he did many of the leading Puritans in New England, and appointed him a commissioner for the administration of justice in Dublin; also to serve with the chief justice of the upper bench and other distinguished lawyers, to determine all the claims to the forfeited Irish lands, and at last as a Master in Chancery.
Ten years Ludlow served in these important stations; and at his death, probably in 1664, he was buried in St. Michael’s churchyard in Dublin, with his wife–a sister of Governor John Endicott–and other members of his family.[K]
[Footnote K: _Roger Ludlow–The Colonial Lawmaker_–TAYLOR.]
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Some of the authorities and records in witchcraft literature consulted in the writing of this essay are here cited for reference and information:
Connecticut Archives: _Wyllys Papers, Original Witchcraft Depositions_; Records: _General Court, Particular Court, Court of Assistants, County Court, Colonial Boundaries, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Connecticut Colonial, New Haven Colonial, Hartford Probate, New Haven Town; Magnolia Christi Americana_ (MATHER); MATTHEW GRANT’S _Diary_ (TRUMBULL’S _Observations_) _Courant Literary Section_, 12-3-1904; HOADLEY’S _Witchcraft Trials and Notes_ (Manuscript); WINTHROP’S _History of New England_; STILES’ _History of Windsor; Blue Laws, True and False_ (TRUMBULL); PERKINS’ _Discourse; The Literature of Witchcraft_ (BURR); _Hammurabi’s Code; Cent. Mag._, June, 1903; BLACKSTONE’S _Commentaries; A Tale of the Witches_ (STONE); LECKY’S _Rationalism in Europe; The Witch Persecutions_ (BURR); Encyc. Articles (“Witchcraft”): _Britannica, Americana, International, Chambers’, Johnson’s; Connecticut: Origin of her Courts and Laws_ (HAMERSLEY); BARBER’S _Connecticut Historical Collections_; SCHENCK’S _Fairfield; Connecticut as a Colony and State_ (MORGAN et al.); _The House of the Seven Gables_ (HAWTHORNE); LATIMER’S _Salem_; JOHNSTON’S _Nathan Hale; Connecticut History_ (TRUMBULL); UPHAM’S _Salem Witchcraft; Conn. Mag_., Nov., 1899; Dalton’s _Justice; Mem. Hist, of Boston; Mem. Hist, of Hartford County_; Palfrey’s _New England; Historic Towns of New England_ (Latimer); _Giles Corey of the Salem Farms_ (Longfellow); _New France and New England_ (Fiske); Scott’s _Demonology and Witchcraft_; Lowell’s “Witchcraft” (_Among My Books_); Whitmore’s _Colonial Laws_; Drake’s _Witchcraft Delusion in New England_; Fowler’s _Salem Witchcraft_; Hutchinson’s _Hist, of Massachusetts Bay_; Larned’s _Hist, of Ready Reference_ (Mass.); Howe’s _Puritan Republic_; Goodwin’s _Pilgrim Republic_; Merejkowski’s _Romance of Leonardo da Vinci_; Bulwer’s _Last Days of Pompeii_; Weyman’s _The Long Night_; Crockett’s _The Black Douglas_; Lea’s _Hist, of the Inquisition; Scarlet Letter_ (Hawthorne); _A Case of Witchcraft in Connecticut_ (Hoadley); _Witches in Connecticut_ (Bliss); _Historical Discourses_ (Bacon); _History of Wethersfield_ (Stiles); _History of Long Island_ (Thompson), _Witchcraft in Boston_ (Poole); _Literature of Witchcraft in New England_ (Winsor); _Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Scottish Highlands_ (Campbell); _Witch-hunter in the Bookshops_ (Burr); _Epidemic Delusions_ (Carpenter); _History of New England_ (Neal); _History of Colonization of U.S._ (Bancroft); _Salem Witchcraft_ (Fowler); Bouvier’s _Law Dic.; Witchcraft in Connecticut_ (Livermore); _Witchcraft in Salem Village_, 1692 (Nevins); _History of Stratford and Bridgeport_ (Orcutt); _Bench and Bar_ (Adams); Conway’s _Demonology and Devil-lore; Domestic and Social Life in Colonial Times_ (Warner); _Nat. Mag._ Nov. 15, 1891.
INDEX
A
Allyn, John 44, 51-56, 65-67, 71, 84, 106, 109, 117 Allyn, Thomas 148
Ashley, Jonathan 117
Austen, Thomas 103
Ayres, Goody 152, 157
Ayres, William 152
B
Baldwin, Goodwife 133, 137
Ball, Allen 94
Bankes, John 126
Barlow, Goodwife 135
Barlow, John 65
Barnard, Bartholomew 117
Barnes, Mary 152, 157
Bassett, Goody 130, 148, 156 Bates, Sarah 104
Bayley, Goodwife 149, 156
Bayley, Nicholas 149, 156
Belden, Samuel 51
Bell, Jonathan 44, 105-107, 110, 113 Benham, Winifred, Jr. and Sr. 155, 157
Benit, Elizabeth 67, 70
Benit, Thomas 67, 71
Benit, Thomas, Jr. 70
Birdsall, Goody 120
Bishop, Bridgett ix
Bishop, Ebenezer 108
Bishop, Edward ix
Bowman, Nathanael 117
Bracy, Thomas 49
Branch, Catherine 65, 103-104, 108-116 Brewster, Elizabeth 131
Brewster, Mary 132
Brundish, Bethia 134
Bryan, Ensign 126, 129
Bulkeley, Rev. Gershom 57
Bull, Joseph 117
Burr, Abigail 43
Burr, John 110, 119
Burr, Sarah 43
Buxstum, Clement 113
C
Carrington, Joan 38, 145, 147, 156 Carrington, John vii, 38, 145, 147, 156 Carter, Dr. Samuel T. 159
Chester, Stephen 117
Clarke, Mr. 38, 148
Clarke, Henry 50, 52, 53
Clarke, William 51
Clawson, Elizabeth 44, 63, 101-116, 154, 157 Clawson, Stephen 101
Cole, Ann 97
Collins, Samuel 117
Comstock, Christopher 133
Corey, Giles 15, 27
Corwin, George ix
Corwin, Jonathan 27
Cross, Abigail 104
Cross, Nathanael 104
Crotia, Hugh viii, 117-119, 155, 157 Cullick, Mr. 38, 56, 148
D
Davenport, Rev. John 85, 122, 125-128 Davis, Goody 120
Desborough, Nicholas 153, 157
Dickinson, Joseph 50
Disborough, Mercy 15, 44, 62-78, 154, 157 Disborough, Thomas 63, 65
Duning, Benjamin 65
E
Eaton, Theophilus 85, 125
Edwards, Goody 120
Edwards, Jonathan 158
Eliot, Joseph 76, 78
F
Finch, Abraham 107
Fowler, William 125, 138
Francis, Joane 53
Fyler, Walt. 85
G
Gardiner, Lion 119
Garlick, Elizabeth 119-121, 150, 156 Garlick, Joshua 119
Garney, Joseph 101
Garrett, Daniel 80
Garrett, Margaret 80
Gedney, Bartholomew 27
Gibbons, William 117
Gilbert, Lydia 148, 156
Gillett, Cornelius 117
Godfree, Ann 70
Godman, Elizabeth 85-96, 149, 156 Gold, Nathan 110, 119
Goodyear, Stephen 85-89, 92, 93 Gould, Goodwife 139
Grant, Matthew 146-147
Graves, John 52
Greensmith, Nathaniel 96-100, 151, 156 Greensmith, Rebecca 96-100, 151, 156 Grey, Henry 68, 69, 70
Griswold, Edward 38
Griswold, Michael 59
Grummon, John 70
H
Hale, Mary 54
Halliberch, Thomas 66
Hand, Goody 121
Harrison, Katherine 47-61, 153, 157 Hart, Stephen 38, 81
Harvey, Hannah 115, 154, 157 Harvey, Mary 154, 157
Hathorne, John 27
Haynes, John 38, 97, 98, 147 Heyden, Daniel 117
Hollister, Mr. 38
Holly, Samuel 109
Hooker, Thomas 162
Hopkins, Edward 38, 147
Hopkins, Matthew 21
Howard, Abigail 43
Howell, Goodwife 119
Hubbard, Elizabeth ix
Hull, Rebecca 133
Hull, Cornelius 133
J
Jennings, Margaret 150, 156
Jennings, Nicholas 150, 156
Jesop, Edward 63
Joanes, William 117
Johnson, Jacob 53
Johnson, Mary 35, 143, 144, 156 Jones, Martha 35
Jones, William 40
Judd, Theo. 38
K
Kecham, Sarah 103
Kelsey, Stephen 117
Knapp, Goodwife 109, 122-141, 156, 176
L
Lamberton, Desire 93
Lamberton, Elizabeth 86, 90
Lamberton, Hannah 86, 90
Langton, Joseph 117
Leawis, Will. 38
Leete, William 47, 125
Lewis, Mercy ix
Lockwood, Deborah 133
Lockwood, Robert 132
Lockwood, Susan 124, 131, 132, 136, 138 Loomis, Jonathan 117
Loomis, Nathanael 117
Ludlow, Roger 123, 125-129, 161-163 Lyon, Thomas 136, 138
M
Mansfield, Moses 117
Marsh, John 117
Mason, John 47
Mather, Cotton 28-34, 153
Meaker, William 149, 156
Migat, Mrs. 82
Miller, Goody 154, 157
Milton, Daniel 38
More, John 38
Montague, Richard 51
Mullener, Thomas 149
Mygatt, Joseph 117
N
Newell, Samuel 117
Newton, Thomas 27
North, Joseph 117
Norton 155, 157
O
Odell, Goodwife 124, 131, 135
P
Palmer, Katherine 157
Pantry, John 117
Pell, Luce 124, 130, 135, 138 Penoir, Lydia 112
Phelps, Abraham 117
Phelps, Mr. 38
Pitkin, William 78, 117
Pratt, Daniel 81
Pratt, John 38
Purdy, Goodwife 124, 135
Putnam, Ann ix, 30
R
Renels, John 141
Richards, John 27
Russel, William 120
S
Saltonstall, Nathl. 27
Sanford, Andrew 151, 157
Sanford, Mary 151, 156
Seager, Elizabeth 80-85, 152, 157 Selleck, David 108, 114
Selleck, Jonathan 106, 107, 110, 116 Sergeant, Peter 27
Sewall, Samuel 27
Shervington, Thomas 133, 138
Sherwood, Isaac 64
Sherwood, Mistress Thomas 124, 128, 135, 139 Slawson, Elezer 113
Smith, Elizabeth 56
Smith, Philip 51
Smith, Samuel 38, 50, 52, 53, 66 Spencer, Sarah 155, 157
Stanly, Caleb 117
Stanly, Nath. 78, 117
Staplies, Mary 125-141, 154, 157 Staplies, Thomas 125, 126
Steele, James 117
Sterne, Robert 81, 84
Stiles, Henry 148
Stirg, Joseph 66
Stoughton, John 117
Stoughton, William 27, ix
T
Tailecote, Mr. 38
Tash, John 140, 141
Tompson, J. 129, 135
Treat, Robert 48, 62, 117
Trumbull, J. Hammond v
V
Varlett, Judith 151, 157
W
Wadsworth, Joseph 117
Wakely, James 50
Wakeman, Sarah 43
Walcott, Mary ix
Walkley, James 153, 157
Ward, Andrew 134
Ward, Hester 129, 136
Ward, Thomas 117
Webster, Mr. 38
Wells, Mr. 38, 129
Wells, Hugh 49
Wescot, Abigail 106, 112
Wescot, Daniel 101-116
White, John 38
Whiting, Rev. John 96, 97
Whitlock, Goodwife 134
Wiat, Nath. 102
Willard, Josiah 81
Williams, Abigail ix
Williams, William 117
Willis, Samuel 78, 117
Wilson, Hannah 43
Wilton, David 51
Winthrop, John 35, 47, 143
Winthrop, Wait 27
Woodbridge, Rev. Timothy 76, 78
Woolcott, Mr. 38
Y
Young, Alse 35, 145-147, 156