Mary Barnes 1620 - 1662 First wife of Thomas Barnes Hanged as a Witch in Hartford Connecticut in the winter of 1662 From the history of Thomas Barnes of Hartford and Farmington Connecticut, written by Frederick R. Thomas ...When Mary Barnes was hauled into court at Hartford, three frightened children, a girl about 13 and two boys still younger, were requiring a fathers care then more than ever. That, and his outside affairs as farm work then went, together with constant thought of the tragic plight of the one for whom he must have been racking his mind to find a way to relieve her-- all these were obviously more than the tragically perplexed man could manage single-handed. So it is likely that some of the good women of the church became a volunteer committee to look after things for a few days at Thomas house. But it is easy also to imagine that the Constable of 1661, John Andrews, was still that officer when Mary was arrested, and that he, a good man, would readily be touched with a feeling of her infirmities, especially while on the way with her to the authorities in Hartford; as it was, he could not fail to feel the agony of her soul and appreciate the distress of her bereft family. Such an arrest and transfer to court would impel John to offer to have his oldest daughter, Mary, go daily and take care of the Barnes house, pending a time when the other Mary would be coming home again, or her fate sealed otherwise. But when any hope of the absent mothers return was forever lost, January passed into February and that into March, springs work came on and temporary arrangements simply had given way to permanent ones. Probably young Mary proved to be a steady, strong and willing young worker, such as was invaluable in Widower Barnes practical arrangements. At all events, before March was over Thomas was thinking seriously of Mary as his second wife. And to her the idea, at least in its aspect of being queen of his house, must have had its appeal. So, notwithstanding that he was more than twice as old as she, Thomas interviewed her father. People in 1663, it seems, did not look askance upon such a marriage, for they had little labor-saving farm machinery and both widows and widowers, if they had obligations connected with farm work and also little children, were almost forced to re-marry if they would keep up their homes. So a business-like understanding between Thomas Barnes and John Andrews followed. It covered these points: As to Elizabeth: Unconditionally she was to have a life-interest in the home lot; contingently upon Thomas death before Elizabeth. She and any of their children would be supported from his property, she would have a half-interest in his personal property and she would receive, in lieu of a wife’s dowry, full title to six acres of his choice meadowland; as to the children of the first marriage: Adjustments were made for their domicile. In other words, they would be put out of the house at Elizabeths. As it turned out, the youngest remained until his twenties. These conditions were signed and witnessed by Thomas Barnes, John Andrews and Samuel Steel. Bill Griebling. Early America Witchcraft at Work Salem Massachusetts was not the only place where witchcraft was punished The first witch executed in North America was Alse Young of Windsor Connecticut. She was hung in Hartford Connecticut where the Old State House now stands. any people know about the Salem Witchcraft trials but their were many executed before the 1692 hysteria. In fact there was a small hysteria outbreak in Connecticut in 1651 when four people were hung that year and dozens were accused and examined. There was a total of 13 witches hung in Connecticut documented and one from Connecticut was brought to Boston to be executed. A total of 24 were hung in Massachusetts, totaling 37 hung in New England. There were also others that died in jail while waiting to be examined and tried as witches. Other than New England two witches were executed in Maryland and two in Virginia. The main problem with researching Pre-Salem executions in New England has been difficult because of the lack of records and documents of the trials and/or executions. 1647 May 26: Alse (Alice) Young, Windsor CT, hung in Hartford 1648 June 15: Margaret Jones, Charleston CT executed in Boston MA December: Mary Johnson, Wethersfield CT, hung in Hartford 1650 Mrs. H. (Alice) Lake, Boston MA 1651 May: Goody (Mary) Bassett, Stratford CT Mrs. (Lizzy) Kendal, Cambridge MA executed in Boston MA March 6: Joan Carrington, Hartford CT John Carrington, Hartford CT May 29: Mary Parsons, Springfield MA executed in Hartford CT 1653 Goody (Elizabeth) Knapp, Fairfield CT 1654 Kath Grady, Jamestown VA, hanged at sea June 23: Mary Lee, MD, hanged at sea September: Lydia Gilbert, Windsor CT hung in Hartford 1656 June 19: Anne Hibbins, Salem MA 1658 Elizabeth Richardson, Maryland, hanged at sea Katherine Grade, Jamestown VA, hanged at sea 1662 Mary Sanford, Hartford CT 1663 June 25: Mary Barnes, Farmington CT, hung in Hartford Rebecca Greensmith, Hartford CT Nathaniel Greensmith, Hartford CT 1685 October 3: Rebecca Fowler, Calvert MD 1688 November 15: Goody (Annie) Glover, Salem 1692 Salem June 10: Bridget Bishop July 19: Sarah Good Rebecca Nurse Susannah Martin from Amesbury Elizabeth Howe from Topsfield Sarah Wildes from Topsfield August 19: George Burroughs John Proctor John Willard George Jacobs Martha Carrier from Andover September 16: Giles Corey, pressed to death September 22: Martha Corey Mary Easty Alice Parker Mary Parker Ann Pudeator Margaret Scott Wilmot Redd Samuel Wardwell Died in Jail: William Hobbs May 10, 1692: Sarah Osburne The magistrates holding the court were Matthew Allyn, moderator, Samuel Wyllys, Richard Treat, Henry Wolcott, Daniel Clark, secretary, John Allyn. The jury were Edward Griswold, Walter Filer, Ensign Olmsted, Samuel Boardman, Gregory Winterton, John Cowles, Samuel Marshall, Samuel Hale, Nathaniel Willett, John Hart, John Wadsworth and Robert Webster. Note: two of the magistrates who held court in the conviction of Mary Barnes, who was the first wife of Thomas Barnes, my 7th great-grandfather, were Richard Treat my 9th great-grandfather and Henry Wolcott my 8th great-grandfather. Bill Griebling. A CASE OF WITCHCRAFT IN HARTFORD. BY CHARLES J. HOADLY, LL. D. Published in the Connecticut Magazine November, 1899 The case of Rebecca Greensmith and her husband, now to be related, was considered by Increase Mather, taking into account the circumstances of her confession, to be as convictive a proof of the reality of witchcraft as most single examples he had met with. This author published at Boston in 1684, a small book entitled An Essay for the Recording of Illustrious Providences, which is among the rarer of the Mather publications. It was reprinted in London in 1856, and is perhaps best known as Mather’s Remarkable Providences. This book and a letter to the author, dated Dec. 4, 1682, by Rev. John Whiting, pastor of the Second Church in Hartford, have been drawn on for a considerable part of this narrative: the record and a single deposition being all the official papers connected with the trial which have come down to us. Cotton Mather published an abridged account of the case in the Magnalia. There are in every community those who for one cause or another unfortunately incur the dislike and suspicion of the neighbors, and when belief in witchcraft prevailed such persons were easily believed to have familiarity with the evil one. Nathaniel Greensmith and Rebecca his wife, Elizabeth wife of Richard Seager, the wife of William Ayres, Andrew Sanford and Mary, his wife, were of this class. They all lived in Hartford in 1661-2, 1—2, and, as I think, south of the little river. Greensmith owned a house and barn with some twenty acres of land, valued at 46 pounds. He seems to have been engaged in agriculture. In March, 1650, he was found by the court guilty of stealing a bushel and a half of wheat. In June of the same year he was convicted of stealing a hoe and lying in the face of the court; in March, 1651-2, he was the unsuccessful defendant in an action of battery. He married Rebecca, widow of Jarvis Mudge, previously widow of Abraham Elson of Wethersfield, by whom she had two daughters who at the date of this tragedy were about 17 and 15 years old. She had no children by her second and third husbands. Rev. John Whiting speaks of her as “a lewd, ignorant and considerably aged woman.” In the spring of 1662 the daughter of John Kelley, a child of 8 years, died after a short illness. In her delirium she cried out against goody Ayres as afflicting her. Her parents and sundry of the neighbors thought the child was bewitched to death. Thereupon sundry persons were examined by the magistrates; some were committed to prison, while some managed to escape. Goody Ayres was arrested, and on some testimony being given in court said, “This will take away my life.” However, by the aid of some friends she succeeded in escaping and with her husband fled with great precipitation. James Walkley was one who fled and took refuge in Rhode Island. Judith, daughter of Caspar Varleth, a dutchman, was imprisoned on “pretend accusation of witchery,” as we learn from a letter in her behalf from her brother-in-law, Governor Peter Stuyvesant, dated Oct. 13, 1662. May 13, 1662, Nathaniel Goldsmith brought against William Ayres an action of slander respecting his wife, which we may suppose had relation to charges of witchcraft, but it never came to trial, the plaintiff and his wife being soon arrested for alledged familiarity with satan, and the defendant out of the court’s jurisdiction. On the 13th of June, 1662, Mary, wife of Andrew Sanford, was indicted for having had familiarity with the great enemy of God and mankind and by his help having acted, and also come to the knowledge of secrets in a preternatural way beyond the ordinary course of nature, to the great disturbance of several members of this commonwealth. She was found guilty by the jury, but we do not know what became of her or whether her case had anything to do with the Greensmiths. We only know that she was a reputed witch. Ann Cole, daughter of John Cole, a godly man who lived next neighbor to the Greensmiths, had some time been afflicted and in some fears about her spiritual estate. In the year 1662, she was taken with strange fits, wh
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 03:24:20 +0000
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