Witch-Hunting in Seventeenth-Century New England: A Documentary History, 1638-1693

384 Pages·1999·27.116 MB·English

by  David D. Hall

Witch-hunting in Seventeenth-CenturyNewEngland

WITCH
HUNTING
IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY
NEW ENGLAND
A DocumentaryHistory, 16]8-169]
SECOND EDITION
EditedandwithanIntroduction
by David D. Hall
Northeastern UniversityPress
BOSTON
NortheasternUniversityPress
Copyright1991, 1999byDavidD.Hall
Allrightsreserved. Exceptfor thequotationofshortpassagesforthe
purposesofcriticismandreview,nopartofthisbookmaybereproduced
inanyform orbyanymeans, electronicormechanical,including
photocopying,recording, oranyinformationstorageandretrievalsystem
nowknownortobeinvented,withoutwrittenpermissionofthepublisher.
LibraryojCongress Cataloging-in-PublicationData
Witch-huntinginseventeenth-centuryNewEngland : a d.ocumentary
history, 1638-1693 / editedandwithanintroductionbyDavidD.
Hall. - 2nded.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN 1-55553-416-3 (hardcover: alk.paper). - ISBN 1-55553-415-5
(pbk. :alk. paper)
1. Witchcraft-NewEngland-History-17th century.
2. Persecution-NewEngland-History-17thcentury. 3. NewEngland
-History-Colonialperiod, ca. 1600-1775. 4. NewEngland-Social
lifeandcustoms-To 1775. I. Hall,DavidD.
BF1575.W62 1999
133.4'3'097409032-dc21 99-25383
DesignedbyEvansDayDesign
ComposedinWalbaumbyCoghillComposition,Richmond,Virginia.
PrintedandboundbyHamiltonPrintingCompany,Rensselaer, NewYork.
ThepaperisSebagoAntique, anacid-freesheet.
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
03 5 4 3 2
Contents
•
Prifaceto the SecondEdition
1
Introduction
3
Guideto Sources andAbbreviations
17
1. TheEarlyCases (1638-1651)
19
2. TheParsons ofSpringfield:
A FamilyatOdds (1651-1652)
29
3. Suspicion:A Widow'sResistance(1653-1655)
61
4. TheHigh PriceofSilence(1654)
74
5. A Handful ojTroublemakers (1652-1661)
87
6. A Long-RunningFeud(1656-1675)
99
7. OneMan'sManyAccusers (1658-1669)
115
8. MotherandDaughter:
TheHolmans ojCambridge(1659-1660)
134
9. TheHartford Witch-hunt (1662-1665)
147
10. A Father'sBattle(1666-1667)
164
11. One "CunningWoman":AtOdds WithAll(1668-1670)
170
12. ThreeAmbiguous Cases (1669-1681)
185
13. A Servant "Possessed"(1671-1672)
197
14. VehementSuspicion:
Eunice ColeofHampton (1656-1680)
215
15. Two Grandparents, One Grandson,
anda Seaman (1679-1681)
250
16. The StrangeDeath ofPhilip Smith (1683-1684)
260
17. The "Possession"ofthe Goodwin Children (1688)
265
18. The Salem Witch-hunt (1692)
280
19. The Stamford-FairfieldWitch-hunt (1692-1693)
515
Appendix
TheHarf{ordWitch-hunt:AdditionalTexts
555
SelectiveBibliography
559
Index
565
Priface to the Second Edition
~
The second edition ofWitch-hunting in Seventeenth-CenturyNew
England contains a significant number of additional documents:
five thatsupplementthematerialinthefirsteditionontheHartford
witch-hunt of1662-1665, and dozens that detail the history ofthe
Stamford-Fairfield, Connecticllt,witch-huntof1692-1693. Contem
porary with Salem and no doubt for this reason less studied than
any othermajor episode in seventeenth-century New England, the
events in Stamford and Fairfield are for the first time made fully
available in the documents that follow. This edition also contains
an updated bibliography. In preparing the new documents I have
enjoyed the assistance ofEmma Anderson and, for a second time,
have relied onthe skills ofAnne S. Brown.
Iwish to dedicate this new edition to the memory ofElizabethB.
Clark (1952-1997), who worked carefully and lovingly alongside
mein preparingthe edition of1991.

Introduction
•
The purpose of this book is to tell the history of witchcraft and
witch-hunting in seventeenth-century New England-a history that,
as related here, emerges through the original documents. Many of
tllese documents appear here in print for the fi.rst time. Others were
publishedlong ago byantiquarians, orin editions ofcolonyand court
records. Thestorythatthesetextsnarrate beginsin 1658and extends
to the Salemtrials of1692.
This story has many dimensions. Some of the documents reveal
with compelling imlnediacythe emotions ofparents as they struggle
to understand why a child has fallen ill or died. We learn ofquarrels
betweenneighbors and oflong-lasting fears that one partyto a quar
relwants to gainrevenge. Othertexts describe the psychologicaldis
turbance that people in the seventeenth century thought ofas "dia
bolical possession." Still others show the civil state intent on
suppressing deviant behavior. Or it may be neighbors who want to
punish someone they dislike. In most cases someone describes "pre
ternatural" events-an apparition, a shape-changing animal, a magi
cal pudding. There is much about religion, as when scriptural texts
areusedtorepelthe devil.Welearnofcountermagic,whichisalways
controversial. In telling us about witchcraft and witch-hunting, the
documentsilluminatethesocialhistoryofNewEngland.Theycapture
deep-rooted attitudes and expectations; they reveal the tensions that
underlaycommunallife andfamily relationships.
The Incidence ofWitch-hunting
in Early New England
Thesedocumentsarefull ofsurprises.Formanyreaders,thefirstof
these surprisesmaybethatpeoplewerebeingpunishedforthe crime
of witchcraft long before the celebrated trials at Salem. Everyone
knows somethingaboutSalem. Buthowmanyofus knowthatwitch
huntingfigured in the socialhistoryofseventeenth-centuryNewEn
gland almost from its founding? The early cases are slimly docu-
4 .& Introduction
mented. Btltonce we getto the 16-50s, a wealth ofcourt records, dia
ries, andletters opens up aworld differentfrom ourown-aworldin
which the natural and the "preternatural" were strangely intermin
gled, and where powerful feelings of anger, grief, and revenge led
neighborsto accuse one anotherofcommittingwitchcraft.
Accordingto a careful count, atleasta hundredpersonswere com
plained of or indicted for witchcraft before the Salem trials of 1692.
\iVhenthe hysteria atSalemcameto an end, almost anothertwo hun
dred persons had been named as witches in that massive outpouring
ofsuspicionandself-doubt.t Behindthesenumbersliesignificantvar
iations in the institutional response to particular accusations. Many
times,thecry(orwhisper) of"witch"didnotresultinformal charges.
Instead, the outcome could be a suit for defamatioll bythe person so
accused.Whentherewasacourthearing,orexamination,itcouldfail
to yield persuasive evidence; and in certain cases higher judicialau
thority threw out or suspended the verdict of a jury. Despite these
many exceptions, in the years between 1648 and 1663 the courts in
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and NewHaven (thena separate colony)
orderedtheexecutionofsomefifteenpersons.Anothernineteendied
as a consequence of the Salem trials.2 Witch-hunting was an ever
presentrealityin seventeenth-centuryNewEngland.3
The Lore ofWitchcraft
Everyone in the seventeenth century seeIns to have known some
thing ofthe lore ofwitchcraft-that fem.ale witches had a distinctive
"teat" (ortit) ontheirbodies;thatimps oranimal"familiars"cameat
night to suck this tit; that shape-changing animals (cats, birds, dogs,
and snakes) embodied the devil orhis agents and thatwitches cove
nantedwiththe devil. Sotoo, peopleknewthelore ofcountermagic
that a horseshoe nailed up over a front door would prevent a witch
from entering, and that witches were revealed ("discovered") by
burning an enchanted object. This lore of magic and countermagic
must not be confused with the actual practice of witchcraft. True,
these documents reveal that some women, and possibly a few men,
mayhave spoken ofthemselves aswitches. The idea ofcallingonthe
devil's powers (as thoughhe were a kind ofgenie), togetherwith the
fantasy of being tempted by the devil, occurs in these documents.
MaryJohnson, a servant inWethersfield, Connecticut, imagined that
the devil had agreed to perform a chore she disliked; and a sixteen
year-oldgirl, ElizabethKnapp, believedthatthe devilhad offeredher