DOCSLIB.ORG

The Ancestry of Annis Spear

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Ancestry of Annis Spear THE ANCESTRY OF ANNIS SPEAR ANNIS SPEAR THE ANCESTRY OF ANNIS SPEAR 1775-1858 OF LITCHFIELD MAINE BY WALTER GOODWIN DAVIS PORTLAND, MAINE THE SOUTHWORTH-ANTHOENSEN PRESS 1945 The Ancestry of Annis Spear, 1775- 1858, of Litchfield, Maine, was written by Walter Goodwin Davis. The book was originally published by The Anthoensen Press of Portland, Maine, in 1945. This 1987 reprint edition faithfully reproduces the text and illustration of the original edition. It is publish­ ed under the auspices of Parker River Researchers, P.O. Box 86, Newbury­ port, Massachusetts 01950. CONTENTS I. SPEAR, OF BRAINTREE 3 II. HEATH, OF ROXBURY 29 III. DEERING, OF BRAINTREE 37 IV. NEWCOMll, o~· BRAINTREE 41 V. TowER, OF HINGHAM 49 VI. !BROOK, OF HINGHAM 55 VII. HATCH, OF YORK AND WELLS 59 VIII. EDGE, OF y ORK 73 IX. LITTLEFIELD, OF WELLS 77 X. WARDWELL, OF \VELLS 87 XI. Low, oF MARSH.FIELD AND V\TELLS 95 XII. HowLAND, OF MARSHFIELD 103 XIII. WoRMwoon, OF YoRK 111 XIV. ANNIS, OF NEWBURY AND WELLS 119 xv. CHASE, OF NEWBURY 129 XVI. WHEELER, OJ<' NEWBURY 133 XVII. MORRISON, OF NEWBURY 139 XVIII. GRIFFIN, OF IPSWICH 145 XIX. ANDREWS, OF IPSWICH 151 xx. SHATSWELL, OF IPSWICH 157 INTRODUCTION EvERY genealogist knows that some families arc interesting, entertaining and even exciting to study while others arc dull and tedious. Unhappily, I found the Spears of Braintree to be in the latter category. The second and third generations of this family were eminently respectable, on a sound middle-class level, but there are no il1uminating court cases, no neighborhood scan­ dals, no military exploits and only a minimum of wills in the records, and as a result few of these early Spears "come alive." A succession of fence-viewers, trading in Braintree farm land, is all that the town and county books produce. To toil through the many Spear deeds in the Suffolk County registry required more time than I was prepared to give, so I turned the task over to Miss Marion C. Reed, a Boston genealogist, who attacked it in a scientific spirit but in the end confessed that she found the early Spears as wearying as I did. Miss Reed's report will be given to the library of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society. Miss Reed and I are not the first to attempt an account of the Spears. There is a tentative manuscript genealogy by E. E. Jackson in the library of the New England Historic-Genealogi­ cal Society, written in 1905, and in 1938 a book entitled "The Speare Family"* appeared. Little can be said to its credit. Here are the hazy and unscientific account of the origin of the name and the family, the coat-of-arms to which no legitimate claim can be mad~ and the explanation of its "meaning," and an infuriating lack of standard arrangement-all too common faults. As to the genealogical judgment displayed by the com­ pilers it is sufficient to point out only one of several possible examples. On pages 48 and 49 a mother and daughter are stated to have made one Joseph Green a doubly happy bridegroom on the very same day-a most immoral proceeding. Of the twenty families that make up the ancestry of Annis Spear, four others have been the subject of full-scale genealo­ gies-Tower, Chase, \Vhcclcr and Andrews. The Chase bookt is one of the outstanding American genealogies in every re- * The Speure Fumi/.y, by C. L. and Sceva Speare, Rutlantl, Vt., 193H. t The Descendants of Aqnil{t and ThO'llws Chase, by John Carroll Chase an<l George Walter Chamberlain, Derry, N. II., rn2H. Introduction spcct and the Tower book* is a sound, simple and workmanlike job. The Andrcwst and Wheeler+ books, while they do not come up to the Chase standard, are honest factual accounts and arc free from the happy imaginings which mar too many books of this class. WALTER GOODWIN DAVIS. Portland, Maine July 20, 1945 * Tower (;enealurJ?I, by Charlemagne Tower, Cambridge, Mass., 1891. t History of the Andrews Famil'!I, by H. Franklin Andrews, Audubon, Iowa, !H911. t History of 1/ie Wh"ela F(tticily in America, by Albert Gallatin Wheeler. Boston. !\Ia:-.~ .• 1914. GEORGE SPl!!il EBEYEZEll SPEA~-1 WILLIAM HEATH I MARY HEATH MAllY Ca.A)[PTHORSE ED.E){EZEll s~ I SA.31UEL DEEaL~O 1 RACHEL Du:at:s-o I FRANCIS NEWCO!'dB ~M~il~Y_N=E.;..w..ccoc..><~n~- GIDEON SPEAI JoHY TowE.B. -,Jou:s- T_E_~E-•--1- RrcHilD IBJlOOit MA1WAB.ET 1Baoo11: '-'M=All:cY:__,Tc:o:::vrc:E=a'----1 '--'==='--'==:.__- : SAil.AH HAllDL"(G Pun.IP H'"A"TC,::H:,,_ __ RosERT Eoot p A.TIEN CE EDGE Jouy HATCH Eo~ruxn LnTLEFIELD r;I' ,I I •• ··- ---- I ADAH HATCH LITTLEFIELD~ FRANCIS LITrLEFIELD I AxNrs Au:-."TIY A~~IS SPEAR l \VILUA"M \VARDWE.LL i ! Mt:RI:SAU WARDWELL 1------- -- ·---- JonY Low J OAYY A HATCH Joe_ Low ___ -- !E~IZABETH HoWLAND AKTHUR HowLAso __ l'L\ay Low WrLLIA~I Woa:uwooo MARY \\oaYwooo, --------- CHARLES AY}JIS I RE:SECCA AN YIS ~,'H~,?r_A:",'<ts_l AQuru s;~sE__ _____ _ I 1 CuAB.LF.s A!iYis ; SAR-\H CHA!l"t: I - - ------1 H,.,1'fAH i A,r,r WHEELER H UJlPHREY GatFnx _ __f!-~~I_f:L M_E~ISOY I JOHN GRIFFIN - --------- ELIZAllETH (AYnREws?) }{ARY ~foRRISON H.\.SY AH GillFFIY THEOPHIL"C'S SHATSWELL I LYDIA SH,\TSWELL I SPEAR, OF BRAINTREE THE ANCESTRY OF ANNIS SPEAR SPEAR 1. GEORGE SPEAR was born, presumably in England, about the year Hil:3. He is first found in New England records in 1644 when on April 21 his daughter Mary was baptized in Roxbury, the parson stating that the father was "of the church of Bran­ tree." Spear's wife was named :Mary, and, as William HPath of Roxbury mentioned his daughter Mary Spere in his will in 1652, it is obvious that Mary (Heath) Spear had gone to her own home for the birth of her first child, as was a common custom, and had offered the baby for baptism at the hands of her fam­ ily's friend and parson, Reverend John Eliot, "the Apostle to the Indians." George was the only Spear in New England in these early decades of the seventeenth century with, or without, a wife named Mary. George Spear took the Freeman's Oath on May 29, 1644. One of the principal landed proprietors of Braintree was Captain ·William Tyng, a Boston merchant, and Spear occupied one of his farms as a tenant. When Tyng died his estate was divided on March 28, 1661, among four daughters, and the share of Anne, wife of Reverend Thomas Shepherd, included "one Messuage liing and being in the Town of Braintree in New England aforesaid together with all houses, edifices, buildings, barnes, yardes, lands, meadowes, pastures feedings, commons, profits and cornodities whatsoever to the said messuage ... in the occupation and by lease in the hands of George Spcare of braintry ."* The town had allowed him a "driftway" for driving his cattle across other land belonging to Tyng in 1652 and in Tyng's inventory of 16,53 cattle at George Spere's farm arc listed. "George Spcerc Aged forty yeares or theare aboutes" testi­ fied on ,January 24, 1653, that about the end of April or begin­ ning of May, 1652, he had paid to John Hardman two cows * Suffolk Deerls, IV: 0. 4 The Ancestry of Annis Spear valued at £10: 10: 00 upon Mr. William Awhry's note to Mr. Rawson and Mr. Rawson's order to Spear, "which was for clcareinge of a debte I owed to Capt. \Villiam Tinge."* In 1662 Spear had moved, or was contemplating moving, to a place called Bogstow by the Indians, later incorporated as Sherborn, for his name appears on the petition of the inhabi­ tants "for liberty to be a town."t This venture was of short dur­ ation, however, and he was soon back in Braintree if, indeed, he ever left it. Although no deeds granting him land are of record, Spear may have owned some Braintree property for on 12 December 20 Chas. II "George Spec res meadow neare rock ,Island bridge" is mentioned.! Apparently he had also participated in town grants of common lands, for in 1672 he sold to Robert Badcock of Mill Town for £50 over one hundred acres in four lots, two being in the great meadow, one on the west side of the Charles river beyond Medfield at the place commonly called Bogistow and the fourth "in Natick's bounds."§ Mary, wife of George Spear, died in Braintree December 7, 1674. His second wife, whom he married April 27, 1675, was the widow Mary (Newcomb) Deering who died in Braintree August 1, 1678. In his old age he married the widow Elizabeth Gent of New Dartmouth in the Province of Maine, presumably in Bos­ ton where she had taken refuge with her children during the Indian Wars.II Spear had as servant a Scot named Henry McKenney, aged twenty-one, in 1651. After King Philip's war the colonial gov­ ernment sold Indian captives as slaves, Capt. Hull acting as selling agent, and George Spear bought an Indian boy for £2. Two years later the government reversed its policy, reclaimed the captives, and the boy was taken away by the Braintree con­ stable. Spear petitioned for redress and obtained twenty nobles. In his petition, dated March 6, 1678/9, he stated that he had "be~towcd two yceres care & education [ on the Indian boy] to prepare him for my service which tooke good efect he being brought to be very tractable & hopefull to be very serviceable." * Supreme Jucticial Court, Suffolk County, No.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Historical Studies Journal 2013
    Blending Gender: Colorado Denver University of The Flapper, Gender Roles & the 1920s “New Woman” Desperate Letters: Abortion History and Michael Beshoar, M.D. Confessors and Martyrs: Rituals in Salem’s Witch Hunt The Historic American StudiesHistorical Journal Building Survey: Historical Preservation of the Built Arts Another Face in the Crowd Commemorating Lynchings Studies Manufacturing Terror: Samuel Parris’ Exploitation of the Salem Witch Trials Journal The Whigs and the Mexican War Spring 2013 . Volume 30 Spring 2013 Spring . Volume 30 Volume Historical Studies Journal Spring 2013 . Volume 30 EDITOR: Craig Leavitt PHOTO EDITOR: Nicholas Wharton EDITORIAL STAFF: Nicholas Wharton, Graduate Student Jasmine Armstrong Graduate Student Abigail Sanocki, Graduate Student Kevin Smith, Student Thomas J. Noel, Faculty Advisor DESIGNER: Shannon Fluckey Integrated Marketing & Communications Auraria Higher Education Center Department of History University of Colorado Denver Marjorie Levine-Clark, Ph.D., Thomas J. Noel, Ph.D. Department Chair American West, Art & Architecture, Modern Britain, European Women Public History & Preservation, Colorado and Gender, Medicine and Health Carl Pletsch, Ph.D. Christopher Agee, Ph.D. Intellectual History (European and 20th Century U.S., Urban History, American), Modern Europe Social Movements, Crime and Policing Myra Rich, Ph.D. Ryan Crewe, Ph.D. U.S. Colonial, U.S. Early National, Latin America, Colonial Mexico, Women and Gender, Immigration Transpacific History Alison Shah, Ph.D. James E. Fell, Jr., Ph.D. South Asia, Islamic World, American West, Civil War, History and Heritage, Cultural Memory Environmental, Film History Richard Smith, Ph.D. Gabriel Finkelstein, Ph.D. Ancient, Medieval, Modern Europe, Germany, Early Modern Europe, Britain History of Science, Exploration Chris Sundberg, M.A.
    [Show full text]
  • Social, Religious, and Economic Status of Women in Colonial Days As Shown in the Writings of That Period
    University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 1915 Social, religious, and economic status of women in Colonial days as shown in the writings of that period Sylvia M. Brady The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Brady, Sylvia M., "Social, religious, and economic status of women in Colonial days as shown in the writings of that period" (1915). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 3600. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/3600 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE SOCIAL, RELIGIOUS, AND BCOîOMIC STATUS OF WOMM IN COLONIAL DAIS AS SHOWN IN THE WRITINGS OF THAT PERIOD Submitted as a Partial Requirement for the Master of Arts Degree (1912) SYLVIA M. BRADY. (Typed from copy of thesis in Montana State University Library) UMI Number; EP36353 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMT DkKMMlation RiMtsMng UMI EP36353 Published by ProQuest LLC (2012).
    [Show full text]
  • Perjurium Maleficis: the Great Salem Scapegoat
    Perjurium Maleficis: The Great Salem Scapegoat by Alec Head The Salem Witch Trials, often heralded as a sign of a religious community delving too deep into superstition, were hardly so simple. While certainly influenced by religion, the trials drew upon numerous outside elements. Though accusations were supposedly based in a firm setting of religious tradition, an analysis of individual stories—such as those of Rebecca Nurse, John Alden, and George Burroughs—shows that the accused were often targeted based on a combination of either fitting the existing image of witches, personal feuds, or prior reputations. The Puritans of Salem considered themselves to be “God’s chosen people,” building a new land, a heaven on earth.1 As with many endeavors in the New World, the Puritans faced innumerable struggles and hardships; their path would never be an easy one. However, rather than accepting their hurdles through a secular perspective, the Puritans viewed matters through a theological lens to explain their difficulties. While other, non-Puritan colonies faced similar challenges, the Puritans took the unique stance that they lived in a “world of wonders,” in which God and Satan had hands in the daily lives of humanity.2 In effect, this led to desperate—eventually deadly— searches for scapegoats. Upon his arrival in Salem, Reverend Samuel Parris publicly insisted that the hardships were neither by chance nor mere human hand. After all, if they were God’s chosen people, any opposition must have been instigated by the devil.3 Satan would not simply content himself with individual attacks. Rather, Parris insisted, grand conspiracies were formed by diabolical forces to destroy all that the Puritans built.
    [Show full text]
  • Salem Witch Crisis: Summary
    Salem Witch Crisis: Summary The Salem witchcraft crisis began during the winter of 1691- 1692, in Salem Village, Massachusetts, when Betty Parris, the nine- year-old daughter of the village’s minister, Samuel Parris, and his niece, Abigail Williams, fell strangely ill. The girls complained of pinching, prickling sensations, knifelike pains, and the feeling of being choked. In the weeks that followed, three more girls showed similar symptoms. Reverend Parris and several doctors began to suspect that witchcraft was responsible for the girls’ behavior. They pressed the girls to name the witches who were tormenting them. The girls named three women, who were then arrested. The third accused was Parris’s Indian slave, Tituba. Under examination, Tituba confessed to being a witch, and testified that four women and a man were causing the girls’ illness. The girls continued to accuse people of witchcraft, including some respectable church members. The new accused witches joined Tituba and the other two women in jail. The accused faced a difficult situation. If they confessed to witchcraft, they could escape death but would have to provide details of their crimes and the names of other participants. On the other hand, it was very difficult to prove one’s innocence. The Puritans believed that witches knew magic and could send spirits to torture people. However, the visions of torture could only be seen by the victims. The afflicted girls and women were often kept in the courtroom as evidence while the accused were examined. If they screamed and claimed that the accused witch was torturing them, the judge would have to believe their visions, even if the accused witch was not doing anything visible to the girls.
    [Show full text]
  • WITCHCRAFT in SALEM VILLAGE. Harmony So
    134 WITCHCRAFT IN SALEM VILLAGE. given was that certain changes be made in the records. Harmony could not be secured, how- ever, and Mr. Lawson withdrew in 1688. Fol- lowing him came Rev. Samuel Parris, who was ordained on Monday, Nov. 19, 1689. It is evi- dent, therefore, that from the calling of Mr. Bayley in 1672 to the ordination of Mr. Parris in 1689 there was wanting in the parish that harmony so essential to church prosperity. That the disagreements about the settlements of the different pastors and over the parish rec- ords affected the minds of the people after the witchcraft delusion appeared among them there is little doubt. That it was the cause of the first charges being made seems hardly probable. George Burroughs, on leaving Salem Village, returned to Casco, Maine, He remained there a long time, for he and others were there in 1690 when the settlement was raided by Indians. Burroughs then went to Wells, Maine, and preached a year or more. There he was living in peace and quietness when the messenger from Portsmouth came to arrest him, at the demand of the Salem magistrates, in 1692. After leav- ing Salem Village he had married a third wife, a woman who had been previously married and of her own for after had children ; Burroughs' death, when the Massachusetts colony granted compensation to his family, his children com- plained that this third Mrs. Burroughs took the KEV. GEOBGE BUBBOUGHS. 135 entire amount for herself and her children/ Mr. Burroughs was a small, black-haired, dark com- plexioned man, of quick passions and possessing great strength.® We shall see by the testimony to be quoted further on that most of the evi- dence against him consisted of marvellous tales of his great feats of strength.
    [Show full text]
  • The Salem Witch Trials from a Legal Perspective: the Importance of Spectral Evidence Reconsidered
    W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1984 The Salem Witch Trials from a Legal Perspective: The Importance of Spectral Evidence Reconsidered Susan Kay Ocksreider College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the Law Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Ocksreider, Susan Kay, "The Salem Witch Trials from a Legal Perspective: The Importance of Spectral Evidence Reconsidered" (1984). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539625278. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-7p31-h828 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS FROM A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE; THE IMPORTANCE OF SPECTRAL EVIDENCE RECONSIDERED A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History The College of Williams and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Susan K. Ocksreider 1984 ProQuest Number: 10626505 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10626505 Published by ProQuest LLC (2017).
    [Show full text]
  • Sarah Wildes: an Accused Witch and a Victim of Witch-Hunting in Salem
    SARAH WILDES: AN ACCUSED WITCH AND A VICTIM OF WITCH-HUNTING IN SALEM A PAPER BY KYUNG M. KIM SUBMITTED TO DR. MINKEMA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COURSE CH 8000: WITCHCRAFT AND WITCH-HUNTING AT TRINITY EVANGELICAL DIVINITY SCHOOL DEERFIELD, ILLINOIS, MAY 2014 Puritans founded New England communities with a vision of building a holy kingdom. During the early period, religious life was closely tied with the socio-political life of the community. When this tie was threatened by new merchants and when ideas emerged into the community, the witch-hunting started. Other factors such as Indian attacks, famines and diseases contributed to the witch-hunting. These factors placed fear upon the community. Also, ministers were worried of spiritual and moral decline in the community. The hysteria at Salem was a complex event; thus, an investigation of an individual or incident is fitting for this subject. People of Salem would probably have traced their heritage back to Puritanism, and their ideology shaped their society and culture. This ideology was also evident in the Salem witch- huntings. One evidence is seen through the ratio of accused male witches to accused female witches. According to Brian Levack, "The image of the witch as morally weak and sexually inclined may very well have encouraged members of the educated and ruling classes to suspect and prosecute women as witch, especially when they were engaged in religiously inspired campaigns to reform popular morality."1 Levack’s statement also properly describes the New England community and their ideology. The promoters of Salem witch-hunting were religiously inspired groups who had a vision of establishing God’s kingdom; their Puritan perspective considered women as weaker vessels.2 For this reason, in Essex County between 1560 and 1675, 290 out of 313 accused witches were female.3 1 Brian P.
    [Show full text]
  • Radicals, Conservatives, and the Salem Witchcraft Crisis
    Griffiths 1 RADICALS, CONSERVATIVES, AND THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT CRISIS: EXPLOITING THE FRAGILE COMMUNITIES OF COLONIAL NEW ENGLAND Master’s Thesis in North American Studies Leiden University By Megan Rose Griffiths s1895850 13 June 2017 Supervisor: Dr. Johanna C. Kardux Second reader: Dr. Eduard van de Bilt Griffiths 2 Table of Contents Introduction: A New Interpretation………………………………………………....… ……..4 Chapter One: Historiography....................................................................................................11 Chapter Two: The Background to the Crisis: Fragile Communities.........................................18 Puritanism……………………………………………………………….……..18 Massachusetts, 1620-1692……………………………………………...……...21 A “Mentality of Invasion”……………………………………………...……...24 The Lower Orders of the Hierarchy…………………………………………....26 Christian Israel Falling........................................................................................31 Salem, 1630-1692: The Town and the Village...................................................33 Chapter Three: The Radicals.....................................................................................................36 The Demographic Makeup of the Radicals……………………..……....……..38 A Conscious Rebellion……………………………..……….…………..….…..42 Young Rebels………………………………………………….……….……....45 Change at the Root…………………………………………...……....…….......49 The Witches as Rebels: Unruly Turbulent Spirits…………………...…..…......53 The Witches as Radicals: The Devil’s Kingdom……………………...…….....58 Chapter Four: The Conservatives...............................................................................................64
    [Show full text]
  • William "Of Ipswich"
    Descendants of William of Ipswich Averell Generation 1 1. WILLIAM OF IPSWICH1 AVERELL1-2 was born in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England. He died between 03 Apr 1652-29 Mar 1653 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts3. He married Abigail Hynton on 26 Nov 1618 in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England2. She was born on 05 Oct 1595 in Bicester, Oxfordshire, England4. She died before Mar 1655 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts5. Notes for William of Ipswich Averell: Decendants names appear as Everil, Averill, Averil, Avirel, Averel, Eviril, Averal The notes refer to this William Avery as William (Sr), who was also called Avery. According to the notes, William and Abigail Averell settled at Ipswich, Essex Co, MA before March, 1637. Also their last son was born in 1632 in England. Averill Book Notes Ipswich received its present name August 5, 1634. It was taken from common land which had been known as Aggawam before Captain John Smith visited it in 1614. It was occupied by settlers in 1628, but ordered abandoned in 1630; so that the first permanent settlement was made by John Winthrop, Jr. and his companions in 1632-1633, when it was called Plantation of Aggawam. The following year, 1634, about one hundred settlers came, and in 1635 a much larger number, including Bradstreets, Dudleys, Cogswells, Saltonstall, Jackson, Kinsman, Perley, Woodmansee, Andrews and others with whom William Averell was associated more or less. All the records we have of our progenitor from 1637 to 1653 show that he was a resident of Ipswich and these are found in the Town Proceedings of Ipswich (1634-1885), and Essex County Records at Salem (which include land transfers, probate records, court records, and two volumes of Essex County Marriages).
    [Show full text]
  • Salem Witch Trial Lesson Plan Grades
    History Detectives: Using Historical Inquiry to Teach the Salem Witch Trials in the Elementary Classroom Christopher Martell, Ed.D. Total Time: 45-60 minutes Massachusetts History/Social Science Curriculum Frameworks Addressed: Grade 3 Concept and Skills 2. Observe visual sources such as historic paintings, photographs, or illustrations that accompany historical narratives. (H) Grade 3 Learning Standards 3.4 Explain how the Puritans and Pilgrims differed and identify early leaders in Massachusetts, such as John Winthrop; describe the daily life, education, and work of the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. (H, E, C) Grade 5 Concept and Skills 1. Identify different ways of dating historical narratives (17th century, seventeenth century, 1600s, colonial period). (H) Grade 5 Learning Standards 5.8 Identify the links between the political principles and practices developed in ancient Greece and such political institutions and practices as written constitutions and town meetings of the Puritans. (H, C) 5.14 Explain the development of colonial governments. (H, G, E, C) Lesson Plan: 1. Introduction: (5-10 minutes) What really happened in Salem in 1692? Brainstorm: What do you know about the “Salem Witch Hunts?” 2. Demonstration: Witch Trial Activity (15-20 minutes) [Worksheet: Witch Hunting] A. Witch Hunt: Have students participate in a “Witch Hunt” following the directions on the worksheet. First, students will ask questions to their peers and log them on their charts. Next, students will accuse the people they believe are witches. Each accused witch will defend themselves in front of the town (our classroom). Finally, the instructor will reveal who the real witches are (no one, since this was a case of created paranoia) and hand out worksheet explaining beliefs related to witchcraft from the period.
    [Show full text]
  • Summary the Salem Witchcraft Crisis Began During the Winter of 1691
    Salem Witch Crisis: Summary The Salem witchcraft crisis began during the winter of 1691- 1692, in Salem Village, Massachusetts, when Betty Parris, the nine- year-old daughter of the village’s minister, Samuel Parris, and his niece, Abigail Williams, fell strangely ill. The girls complained of pinching, prickling sensations, knifelike pains, and the feeling of being choked. In the weeks that followed, three more girls showed similar symptoms. Reverend Parris and several doctors began to suspect that witchcraft was responsible for the girls’ behavior. They pressed the girls to name the witches who were tormenting them. The girls named three women, who were then arrested. The third accused was Parris’s Indian slave, Tituba. Under examination, Tituba confessed to being a witch, and testified that four women and a man were causing the girls’ illness. The girls continued to accuse people of witchcraft, including some respectable church members. The new accused witches joined Tituba and the other two women in jail. The accused faced a difficult situation. If they confessed to witchcraft, they could escape death but would have to provide details of their crimes and the names of other participants. On the other hand, it was very difficult to prove one’s innocence. The Puritans believed that witches knew magic and could send spirits to torture people. However, the visions of torture could only be seen by the victims. The afflicted girls and women were often kept in the courtroom as evidence while the accused were examined. If they screamed and claimed that the accused witch was torturing them, the judge would have to believe their visions, even if the accused witch was not doing anything visible to the girls.
    [Show full text]
  • The Legitimacy of Spectral Evidence During the Salem Witchcraft Trials
    1 REBECCA ELISE EATON THE LEGITIMACY OF SPECTRAL EVIDENCE DURING THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT TRIALS Submitted for the LLB (Honours) Degree Faculty of Law Victoria University of Wellington 2013 2 Abstract This paper looks at the use of spectral evidence during the Salem witch trials and examines whether its use was legitimate and in accordance with the evidential standards of the time (1692). Ultimately this paper finds that the use of spectral evidence was legitimate as it followed the slim guidelines available at the time. The court followed a strong precedent and the limited statutory guidance and instructions that were available. However there was acknowledgement at the time that spectral evidence was limiting the rights of those accused and was leading to unjust convictions. As such these trials invoked an acknowledgement of more modern standards of evidence. Therefore spectral evidence was legitimately used given the guidelines of the time despite the unjust effect that it had. Key words : Salem, witchcraft trials, spectral evidence 3 Contents I. Introduction……………………………………………………4 II. Background to the trials……………………………………….4 III. Legal Procedure……………………………………………….7 a. Establishment of court, juries and judges………………….7 b. Evidence used……………………………………………...7 IV. Spectral Evidence……………………………………………...9 a. Background………………………………………………...9 b. How Spectral Evidence was used in the trials…………….10 c. How heavily was Spectral Evidence relied upon?...............12 d. Use of evidence was informed by popular beliefs………...13 V. Spectral Evidence and evidential standards of the time……....14 a. Guidance given on the use of Spectral Evidence………….14 i. Case law…………………………………………….14 ii. Statute………………………………………………15 iii. Legal texts………………………………………….15 b. General evidential standards of the time…..……………....17 c.
    [Show full text]