I Danced for the Devil!
(or how to use court records, diaries, and church minutes to locate accused witches in your ancestral lines)
Long before the infamous Salem witch trials, the United States was plagued with witch panic. Carried over from the world the settlers left behind in Europe, the fear of the unknown and the blaming of innocent women to explain it away is older than the country itself.
The Salem Witch Trials were made famous through books, films, television, and tourism. The names Betty Parris and Abigail Williams have been burnt into our brains like a branding iron on cowhide. But if you don't already know the devastating tale of the Salem Witch Trials, it goes something like this.
After hearing tales from Puritan Minister and plantation owner Samuel Parris' enslaved servant, Tituba, Betty Parris, Samuel's daughter, and her friend Abigail Williams decided to entertain themselves by claiming Bridget Bishop (a local barkeep who was not part of the Puritan faith) were, in fact, witches.
Abigail Williams would accuse upwards of 57 people in the Village of Salem, and Betty Parris, whose accusations led to actual charges, named around 156 people.
A third girl, Ann Putnam, also took part in their game of accusing local women and a few men of performing witchcraft – and she was the only one who later admitted they made it all up. (That being said, she also claimed the devil made her do it…)
The story of Salem and its witches began to fade over time. Embarrassed by their history, residents of Salem and Danvers (known as Salem Village at the time of the trials and where the actual trials began) let the story of the Salem Witches fade with time – but then, tourism.
In 1867, a man named Daniel Low moved into Salem, Massachusetts, and he opened a high-end jewelry shop on Essex Street (now Rockafellas Restaurant). The story goes that in 1891, Daniel Low vacationed in Europe and discovered "souvenir spoons," which gave him an idea. Once he returned to Salem, he created the Salem Witch Trials Souvenir Spoon. The spoon became an instant hit with tourists, and all the stories of Salem resurfaced.
While Parris, Williams, and Putnam accused nearly 200 women, men, and children in the Salem Trials – the public has become familiar with the nineteen people who hung and the one crushed by rocks.
But, the hysteria in Salem was near the end of the witch trials in New England. The beginning of the Witchcraft Hysteria in New England arrived when the English Colonists set foot in the colony of Jamestown.
In England, in 1604, King James I helped transfer the witch trial from the church to the court. So, when the colonists brought their old world beliefs to the new world, that included laws forbidding witchcraft.
In the new world, those English colonists made it a quarter of a century before the accusations began. Then, in September of 1626, in the colony of Jamestown, Virginia where a midwife named Joan Wright was accused of witchcraft.
What had poor Joan Wright done? Well, for starters, she was left-handed. Then, the man who had initially intended to hire Joan Wright to help his wife deliver their child, Lieutenant Giles Allington, dismissed her when his wife learned Joan was left-handed. Later, when his wife and their newborn child died, he accused Wright of their deaths, citing witchcraft.
Joan Wright was later acquitted, but the accusations of witchcraft in the New World wouldn't stop there.
Accusations of witchcraft weren't only made on land.
In 1654, Katherine Grady was executed before even setting foot in Jamestown. Her execution was ordered by the ship's captain, Captain Bennet, who blamed her for the poor sailing conditions. Then, in 1659, Elizabeth Richardson was hung aboard another vessel for similar reasons.
Another notable "panic" that tends to get overlooked is the Witch Trials of Connecticut, which occurred between 1647 and 1663. At least 34 people were accused of witchcraft in the Connecticut Colony, with 11 executions carried out.
While the hysteria in Salem surmounts all of these other panics and trials – it is still important to note that if your family history dates back to Colonial America, your ancestors most likely were touched by trials of witchcraft.
Or maybe even accused of witchcraft themselves.
Witch Trials of Connecticut
The Connecticut witch trials began nearly half a century before the more well-known Salem witch trials. The first recorded witchcraft execution in New England took place in Connecticut in 1647, twenty-one years after Joan Wright's acausal and forty-five before Bridget Bishops, there was Alse (Alice) Young.
Alse Young of Windsor was hung for being a witch, and her execution is considered the first recorded instance of hanging for witchcraft in Colonial America. Like so many other women before and after her, Alse was accused of sorcery. According to her friends and neighbors, her use of sorcery was what caused all the cases of illness in her colony — Alse was to blame!
It is important to note that her trial, and many others, occurred during a time of great social and religious tension in the colonies, fueled by Puritan beliefs and fears of the supernatural. All of this, coupled with the laws of England, carried over to the new settlements and led to the demise of many women and a few men.
The Connecticut Trials helped pave the way for those in Salem.
Key Events and Figures of the Connecticut Witch Trials
1647: Alse Young becomes the first person executed for witchcraft in New England.
1651: Mary Johnson of Wethersfield confesses to witchcraft and is executed.
1662: The most famous case involves Rebecca Greensmith and her husband Nathaniel, who were both executed.
1663: The Hartford Witch Hunt reaches its peak, resulting in multiple executions.
Researching Witch Trials in Colonial America
While researching the trials in Salem, Massachusetts, may be easier than other early American History cases, many resources are still available.
A great place to start is:
Start with primary sources, like:
Plymouth court records date back to 1623.
They have been reprinted many times and are available through the Massachusetts Archives.
Explore secondary sources, like:
Also, contacting libraries in your research areas can help you understand what resources are available for your research.
Note:
Be aware that records from this period can be incomplete or difficult to read due to archaic handwriting and language.
Cross-reference multiple sources to verify the information.
Consider the context of the time when interpreting documents.
Be respectful of the tragedy these events represent for the families involved.
Witches in American
The Salem Witch Trials are the most famous, and the Connecticut witch trials represent a complex and often overlooked period in American history – but accusations of witchcraft in America began when our ancestors arrived from the “old world.” Cases of women executed on ships before even setting foot in the new world, women blamed for famine, poor weather conditions, and epidemics (flu, yellow fever, smallpox, etc.) stain our history.
When researching your colonial family history, events like witch hunts and trials help gain insights into colonial New England's social, religious, and legal dynamics. As you embark on your research journey, remember not to limit your research to the happiest moments but to embrace all of your family's history.
While approaching the subject with sensitivity and a critical eye is always important, keeping our history intact and not altering it to fit our preferred narrative is also important.
Most of all, we should always strive to understand the human stories behind the historical facts because our families' histories are made up of individuals who endured long before we were born.
Great research and story! One of my husband's ancestors was a witness at the trial of a witch in Salem. No one in the present-day family had ever heard a thing about it until I located his testimony in various court records of the day. You never know what you'll find when you start looking, right?
Isn't it fascinating? Just last week I shared a note about how I'd used a discovery of witchcraft in my family history as a hook to engage my cousins in our stories. It worked pretty well! Mine was a relation who was among the accused (and hanged) in the Connecticut witch trials. I was super impressed with the incredible investment of effort by the team at the connecticutwitchtrials.org