My Relatives with Ties to Witchcraft Trials

We hear so much about the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, but I’ve found accusations of witchcraft involving my ancestors decades before the hysteria in Salem. It’s noteworthy that in the 17th century a witch was often thought to be someone who worked with the Devil rather than a person with magical powers. I think Halloween is a fitting time to write about them!

Elizabeth Holmes: Accused

In 1661 Elizabeth Holmes of Marshfield in Plymouth Colony was accused of being a witch by Dinah Silvester. Elizabeth was in her late 40s and Dinah was 18. It is interesting in that the tables turned on the accuser and she ended up to be the one punished by the court. Elizabeth is my 10th great-grandmother. 

On 5 March 1660/1 “Dina[h] Silvester, being examined, saith the bear she saw was about a stone’s throw from the highway when she saw it; and being examined and asked what manner of tail the bear had, she said she could not tell, for his head was towards her.” A marginal annotation in record states: “This was ordered to be recorded for the clearing of a report about Wm Holmes his wife being accused to be a witch.” [Records of New Plymouth Colony, hereafter PCR, 3:205, 207] Dinah was accusing Elizabeth of interacting with the devil who 17th century people believed took the form of an animal familiar, in this case a bear. 

Elizabeth’s husband William Holmes could not abide his wife being slandered and brought a lawsuit against Dinah Silvester. From Plymouth court records, on 7 May 1661 “[c]oncerning the complaint of Willam Holmes, of Marshfield, against Dinah Silvester, for accusing his wife to be a witch, the Court have sentenced, that the said Dinah Silvester shall either be publicly whipped or pay the sum of five pounds to the said William Holmes; or in case she…shall make a public acknowledgement of her fault in the premises, that then she shall bear only the charge the plaintiff hath bin at in the prosecution of his said suit; the latter of which was chosen and done by the said Dinah Silvester, viz a public acknowlidgment” on 9 May 1661. [PCR 3:211]

On May 9, 1661, Dinah signed, with her mark, an official confession stating that regarding her defamation concerning Goodwife Holmes: "I doe freely acknowlidg I have wronged my naighbour, and have sined against God in soe doeing; though I had entertained hard thoughts against the woman…” completely clearing Elizabeth's name. [PCR 3:211]

This case illustrates how accusations were handled more rationally by the Plymouth Colony courts than later by the courts in Massachusetts Bay at the time of the Salem hysteria of 1692. Plymouth established strict evidentiary standards and penalized false accusers, whereas Salem allowed highly unreliable evidence, including spectral evidence, and provided legal protections for accusers. Plymouth Colony’s laws helped avoid mass hysteria—accusations of witchcraft rarely reached the courts. It was too risky for the accusers! Additional factors that contributed to the Salem hysteria: an expired colony charter caused unstable judicial structures, food shortages due to extreme cold, stress from smallpox epidemic, trauma and displaced refugees from recent wars with Indians.

Unfortunately Elizabeth’s maiden name is not recorded. She was born in England about 1613 and married William Holmes about 1638. Elizabeth was the mother of eight children born in Scituate, and I descend from her daughter Sarah who married Rev. Samuel Arnold. William and Elizabeth left Scituate to live in nearby Marshfield where Elizabeth Holmes died 17 February 1698/99, likely in her mid-80s. 

Mehitable Woodworth: Accuser

On 6 March 1676/7 Mary Ingham of Scituate in Plymouth Colony was tried for witchcraft at the court in Plymouth. Her accuser was 14 year-old Mehitable Woodworth who was “almost bereaved of her senses” and “fell into violent fits” because of Mary’s alleged witchcraft. [PCR 5:223] Mehitable is my 10th great-aunt. 

The indictment reads in part “…by the help of the Devil in a way of witchcraft or sorcery maliciously procured much hurt, mischieff & pains unto the body of Mehitable Woodworth, daughter of Walter Woodworth.” [PCR 5:223-24]

Mary Ingham was found not guilty by a jury of twelve men: Mr Thomas Huckins, John Wadsworth, John Howland (second), Abram Jackson, Benaiah Pratt, John Black, Mark Snow, Joseph Bartlett, John Richmond, James Talbot, Seth Pope and one other man. Abram Jackson, Benajah Pratt, Mark Snow, and Seth Pope are all my direct ancestors; John Howland is also a relative.

Mehitable was frequently ill and apparently afflicted with a nervous disorder. [Edith Bartlett Sumner, Ancestry and Descendants of Samuel Bartlett and Lucy Jenkins, 1951] Perhaps her ill-health led her to make the false accusation or her parents were looking for an explanation for their daughter’s troubles.

Mehitable was born 15 August 1662 at Scituate, the daughter of my 10th great-grandparents Walter Woodworth and his wife whose name is not known. Mehitable was unmarried when her father’s will was written on 26 November 1685 and I have found no evidence of her marrying, which was unusual for the times, but perhaps due to her ill health or unstable nature.

James Davis: Accuser 

James Davis, my 12th great-grandfather, accused a man of witchcraft in 1659 in Massachusetts Bay Colony. 

James Davis, Sr. and his son Ephraim Davis of Haverhill, along with others, signed a paper presented to the Ipswich Court in February 1658/9 accusing John Godfrey of witchcraft. They said they had suffered losses in their estates or afflictions to their bodies that were not from natural causes but rather from an ill-disposed person.[David W. Hoyt, The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts, 1897]

The case against John Godfrey, a notorious character consistently involved in litigation and endlessly at odds with his peers, was dismissed. He was a bachelor and a roving herdsman who took jobs throughout Andover, Haverhill and other nearby towns. Godfrey was accused of witchcraft again in 1662. [John Demos, The William and Mary Quarterly, ”John Godfrey and His Neighbors,”  Vol. 33, No. 2 (April 1976)]

Before the 1692 witchcraft trials, there were other trials concerning witchcraft held periodically, and the outcomes generally favored the accused.  Although accusations against men were far less common than against women, Godfrey fit the profile of someone accused—a social outcast who was outspoken and quarrelsome and clashed with more influential neighbors. 

James was born in the 1580s at Wiltshire, England, the son of John Davis. He was married to a woman named Cicily (possibly Thayer) and they had six children. They lived at Newbury before becoming early settlers of Haverhill. He died at Haverhill 29 January 1678, likely in his 90s. I descend through their son John.  

Samuel Willard: Voice of Reason 

Samuel Willard was a Puritan minister educated at Harvard, later the college’s president, and a level-headed critic of the Salem Witch Trials. Samuel is my first cousin ten times removed.  He was a minister in Groton, Mass., but fled the town when it was attacked during King Philip’s War in which his father’s house was burned. While serving as pastor of the Third Church in Boston, he strongly opposed the witchcraft trials and tried to influence public opinion through his sermons and other writings. When Governor William Phips sought guidance from respected clergy, Samuel was one who contributed toward and signed a document called “The Return of Several Ministers.” The document acknowledges the devil might be responsible for the afflictions occurring in Salem, but urged the court to prevent innocent people from being convicted. The ministers also questioned the reliability of spectral evidence, but the Salem court ignored this caution. Samuel continued to speak out in his sermons and other writings. One of his chief complaints was that during the witch trials, a confession often resulted in an acquittal and asserting one’s innocence seemingly guaranteed a conviction. He continued to work to heal divisions after the hysteria passed.

Samuel was born Concord 31 January 1640, to Simon and Mary (Sharpe) Willard. His father was commander in chief in the Narragansett expedition, a wealthy merchant, assistant to the Governor, and founder of Concord, Mass. Samuel married first Abigail Sherman and second Eunice Tyng and had a large family. He died at Boston 12 September 1707.