Line 12, Mary Barrett Dyer, More Rope in the Family Tree

Mary Barrett Dyer, friend of Anne Marbury Hutchinson and willing to die for her faith, was an emotional and determined woman who made her mark on America. Conflict seemed to follow her around but on the whole Mary was a woman who stood her ground, was faithful to her God and friends and who was would not quit.

Mary Barrett, daughter of unknown parents.

She married William Dyer 23 October 1633 at St. Martin-in-the-fields, London, England

She died 01 June 1660 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts

Mary and William Dyer had the following children:

1.   William Dyer born and died in London, Middlesex, England in October 1634

2.   Samuel Dyer who married Anne Hutchinson, granddaughter of Anne (Marbury) and William Hutchison and daughter of Edward and Catherine (Hamby) Hutchinson

3.   Daughter Dyer born 17 October 1637 in Boston, Suffolk, MA

4.   William Dyer born about 1642 in Boston, Suffolk, MA. He died about 1687 in Sussex Co., PA. He married Mary Walker and was the father of at least five children.

5.   Mahershalalhasbaz Dyer born 1643 in Newport, Newport, RI. He married Martha Pearce.

6.   Henry Dyer born about 1647 in Newport, Newport, RI and died there February 1689/90. He married Elizabeth Sanford, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Sanford

7.   Mary Dyer born about 1647 in Newport, Newport, RI and died Aft. 26 January 1678/79 in McHenry Ward, New Castle co., Delaware. She married Henry Ward and was the mother of at least two children.

  

Mary Barrett Dyer’s life was a life of legends, mystery and determined faith. Little is known about her early life, her birth or parentage. A supposed brother has been recently been discovered but aside from that her life before her marriage to William Dyer is a blank. For years there was speculation that she was the daughter of Lady Arabella Stuart by her secret marriage to Sir William Seymour. But this, though a romantic tale, has proven to be just that. What ever background Mary came from, she was a woman of great emotion and determination and equal to any drama a royal descendant could deliver. Mary was also a “comely” woman, as John Winthrop described her. It’s not hard to imagine this energetic woman, as the heroine in a dark drama. She had not only the personality for drama, but, most likely, the physical make up of a movie star.

 William Dyer married Mary Barrett in St. Martin-in-the Fields chapel in London, England on 27 October 1633. William must have been a dynamic man, himself, for he was not only a milliner in the New Exchange but also a member of the Fishmonger’s Company in London, England. In New England, he stood up for Mrs. Hutchinson and Rev. Wheelwright, along with Mary and in Rhode Island he served as Clerk of the Assembly, Attorney General and Deputy to the Rhode Island General Assembly. Both William and Mary were well educated and of good families.

Mary’s troubles in Boston began within a few years of arriving in the New World. Shortly before leaving England, she gave birth to a son named William who baptized in London on 24 October and buried three days later. Her second son, Samuel who would married the granddaughter of Anne Marbury Hutchinson, was born in Boston, a healthy child who would grow into a man and follow his mother’s religious footsteps. However, Mary’s third child was the most unfortunate of all. Mary was probably already a friend of Anne Hutchinson by the time she was carrying her third child. Anne, being a midwife, had probably helped her Mary through all her pregnancies in Boston. On October 17, 1637, Mary went into premature labor. Anne, Jane Hawkins and one other woman were called to help with the difficult birth, which produced a badly deformed and stillborn daughter. Because a deformed, dead child might be considered a punishment from God or an indication that Mary had been involved in witchcraft or other ungodly behavior, Anne, the other midwifes and William agreed to keep the birth and details secret. Anne sought advise from the Rev. John Cotton about how to deal with the burial of the child and whether the birth should be recorded. The Rev. Cotton didn’t hold to the belief that a deformed child was proof and punishment of the parents’ sins, advised Anne to bury the child secretly. English law said, "If any child be dead born, you yourself shall see it buried in such secret place as neither hog nor dog, nor any other beast may come unto it, and in such sort done, as it may not be found or perceived, as much as you may." Jane Hawkins and Anne Hutchinson burial of the child remained a secret for five months.

In November of 1637, Anne Hutchinson and her followers were disenfranchised. Mary and William Dyer were among her supporters. How it must have pained Mary to see her friend publicly scorned. In March the following year, Anne Hutchinson was excommunicated from the church. As she left the church, Mary Dyer walked with her. One woman outside the church asked, "Who is that woman accompanying Anne Hutchinson?" Someone else cried, “She is the mother of a monster!” John Winthrop on hearing this called John Cotton over and questioned him. John confessed that he and God and Anne Hutchinson had buried the stillborn child “too deep for dog or hog”. However, it wasn’t too deep for Winthrop who immediately ordered it exhumed. A large crowd watched as the decaying, deformed body was lifted from the ground. He later wrote about the “monster.”

     :

    "It was a woman child, stillborn, about two months before the just time, having life a few hours before; it came hiplings [breach birth] till she turned it; it was of ordinary bigness; it had a face, but no head, and the ears stood upon the shoulders and were like an ape's; it had no forehead, but over the eyes four horns, hard and sharp, two of them were above one inch long, the other two shorter; the eyes standing out, and the mouth also; the nose hooked upward all over the breast and back, full of sharp pricks and scales, like a thornback; the navel and all the belly, with the distinction of the sex, were where the back should be; and the back and hips before, where the belly should have been; behind, between the shoulders, it had two mouths, and in each of them a piece of red flesh sticking out; it had arms and legs as other children; but, instead of toes, it had on each foot three claws, like a young fowl, with sharp talons."

With, no pity from the people of Boston, the poor body of her stillborn child, sealed Mary’s fate. Winthrop considered the child a sign of God’s displeasure in Mary and her husband. Mary, most likely would have left Massachusetts with the Hutchinson party even if there had been no stillborn child, but the tragedy played itself out to a greater degree because of the child. Mary and William and their young son, left Boston with the Hutchinson and several others and relocated to the wilderness of Rhode Island.

In Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the Dyers settled into exile. The men there quickly drew up and signed the Portmouth compact. There, Mary gave birth to four more sons and a daughter. In 1650, William and Mary along with Roger Williams and John Clarke returned to England for political reasons. I have not been able to determined if any of their children went with them but it is possible that at least the youngest may have gone as they could only have been, at most four or five years old. Samuel, the oldest, would have 15 and old enough to leave behind to care for the farm. While in England, Mary meet George Fox who had founded the Society or Friends, or Quakers, who theology was similar to Anne Hutchinson’s. Mary quickly became a follower and joined the Friends church. When William Dyer was ready to go home to Rhode Island, Mary stayed behind to learn more about Fox’s theology.

George Fox, born in 1624, was a young man with big thoughts. At age 19 he left his trade as a cobbler and began wandering about England in search of truth. He developed the belief that God’s light worked through him and other true believers “without the help of any man, book, or writing.” He denounced “man made” religion, creeds, rites and such. He used the biblical “thee” and “thou” that distinguished Quakers up until the twentieth century. Mr. Fox also believed that Christ could enlighten any man or woman. Mary, an intelligent woman, must have been very attached to this thinking, especially in view of her friendship with Anne Hutchinson and the banishment from Boston.

While William Dyer returned to Rhode Island in 1653, it was another five years before Mary came home. By the time she returned she was a full pledge Quaker. Mary’s timing couldn’t have been worst. John Endicott, a strong-willed man who felt that a different religious view point, especially one as unstructured as the Quaker’s, could be the downfall of Boston’s church-state partnership. Mary Fisher and Ann Austin had been the first Quakers to taste Endicott’s bitter pill. They were jailed as soon as they left their ship and then sent back to England on the next ship out. In 1656, Christopher Holder, John Copeland and six other Quakers were met by the same hostile welcome when they disembarked in August. Endicott was amazed at their Bible knowledge and Holder’s legal knowledge. Holder and Copeland demanded they be released, as they were aware that there was no law permitting their imprisonment. Endicott, however, felt threatened by the Quakers and did what he felt he had to safe guard the souls of Boston. In late 1656 and 1657, the Massachusetts General Court passed laws against “the cursed sect of heretics…commonly called Quakers”. The colony was allowed to banish, whip and cut off ears or tongues in order to control the sect. All this was done before Mary and Anne Burden, another Quaker, arrived in Boston on a third ship. The two women were taken from the ship and escorted to a dark, windowless cell. Their books and papers were burned.

Mary was able to get a letter out of the prison to let her husband in Rhode Island know of her plight. Nearly three months later, an irate William Dyer marched into Endicott’s home demanding the release of his wife. While William had been disenfranchised by Boston, he was still an important man in the colonies and Endicott was compelled to release Mary into her husband’s care. But William was given strict instructions to take Mary home and to keep her out of Boston.

Mary had a martyr’s complex, for sure. She set about preaching about the “inner light” to anyone who would listen. Of her beliefs, Mary wrote: "Was ever the like laws heard of among a people that profess Christ come in the flesh? . . .Of whom take ye counsel? Search with the light of Christ in you, and it will show you of whom, as it hath done with me and many more. . ."

Brave Mary ventured into Massachusetts where she was banished from New Haven for her “false” preaching. Her fellow Quakers who had been banished back to England, had returned to New England and were preaching to and being banished from Massachusetts towns. Holder ended up in Salem where he challenged the church there with his Quaker theology. Governor Endicott’s men caught up with Holder in Salem, nearly killing him as he was being arrested. Samuel Shattuck saved his life, but for his effort he was taken to jail, along with Copeland. Shattuck was released soon after but Holder and Copeland remained in jail for several months. Holder and Copeland, like Mary, would not quit. By June of 1658 they were back in the Boston jail. Katherine Marbury Scott, a sister of Mary’s friend, Anne Hutchinson, protested when Holder’s ear was cut off and landed in jail herself. Boston authorities were being a bit tired of the relentless persistence of the Quakers and quickly made being a Quaker a crime that was punished by death. A year later in June of 1959, Marmaduke Stephenson of Rhode Island and William Robinson of London, accompanied by Patience Scott (Katherine Scott’s daughter whose sister would later marry Christopher Holder) and Nicholas Davis began to preach in Massachusetts. On entering Boston, they were thrown into jail. Mary Dyer, of course, on learning that her friends had been jailed, immediately returned to Boston, where, of course, she was jailed.

William Dyer learned about his wife’s incarceration and wrote a scathing letter to Endicott and the Boston Magistrates, which can be read in William’s profile [line 13] following Mary’s. William’s influence once again saved his wife and the other Quakers. The Puritans leaders banished the Quaker, threatening execution if they came back to Boston. Davis and Mary Dyer returned to Rhode Island but some of the Quakers remained in Boston and continued to preach. Within a month, they, of course, were arrested. Mary Dyer, Hope Clifton and Mary Scott walked back to Boston to plea for their friends’ freedom. As Mary Dyer spoke to Christopher Holder through the prison bars, she was arrested again, tried along with the imprisoned men and condemned to death.

The Quaker trio would not repent and on 27 October 1659 the two men, Marmaduke Stephenson and William Robinson were hanged. Mary, bound, blindfolded and with a noose around her neck, once more was spared again by a family member, this time her son, William Dyer, with the help of Governor John Winthrop, Jr. of Connecticut and Governor Thomas Temple of Nova Scotia.  Mary was released into the custody of her son. There is speculation that Mary’s near-death experience was all a scheme to scare her into leaving Boston, at least in by the Governors and leaders of Boston. Her reprieve read: “Whereas Mary Dyer is condemned by the Generall Court to be executed for hir offences, on the petition of William Dier, hir sonne, it is ordered that the sajd Mary Dyer shall have liberty for forty-eight howers after this day to depart out of this jurisdiction, after which time, being found therein, she is forthwith to be executed, and in the meane time that she be kept a close prisoner till hir sonne or some other be ready to carry hir away within the aforesajd tyme; and it is further ordered, that she shall he carried to the place of execution, and there to stand upon the gallowes, with a rope about her neck, till the rest be executed and then to returne to the prison and remain as aforesaid.” Mary wrote the General Court and refused the reprieve.

When she returned to prison and understood the ground of the reprieve, she refused it, and the next morning she wrote to the General Court ”My life is not accepted, neither availeth me, in comparison with the lives and liberty of the Truth and Servants of the living God, for which in the Bowels of Love and Meekness I sought you; yet nevertheless with wicked Hands have you put two of them to Death, which makes me to feel that the Mercies of the Wicked is cruelty: I rather chose to Dye than to live, as from you, as Guilty of their Innocent Blood.” 

The citizens of Boston were amazed at Mary’s courage and determination. Their voice against harming Mary caused the officials to put her on horseback and send her on her way back to Rhode Island where she promptly left and wintered on Long Island. In the spring of 1660, Mary set out once more for Boston where she arrived on 21 May and was once more brought before Governor Endicott. He tried once more to get Mary to deny her faith but she once more refused. The governor condemned her to die. Mary’s family tried once more to intervene but their petition was denied. At nine o’clock on June 1, Mary was taken from the jail and walked to the gallows that stood on the Boston Common. As she walked up the ladder she was told that if she denied her faith she could save her life. She replied “Nay. I cannot; for in obedience to the will of the Lord God I came, and in His will I abide faithful to the death.”

With Mary’s death, the hanging of Quakers ended. Hanging men was one thing, but even the starch Puritans population couldn’t stomach hanging a woman. As for Mary herself, she was quit the drama queen but one with a flare and strength that you can’t help but admire her faith even in the face of death. She stands as one of the most remarkable women of her time.

***SOURCES***

1. By the Name of Dyer by William Allen Dyer 1940

2. NEHGR, Vol. CIV, Jan. 1950, page 40 "The True Story of Mary Dyer" by G. Andrews Moriarty

3. Dyer Search, Summer 1990, page 44 "William and Mary Barret Dyer; The Monster Story" by Johan Winsser

4.      http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/enquirer/mary-dyer "Mayflower Families; Mary Dyer"

5. The Great Migration, Vol. II, C-F by Robert Charles Anderson and George Sanborn Jr. and Melinde Lutz Sanford, NHGS

6. William Dyer's Letter of 30 August 1659 to Boston Magistrates for release of Mary Dyer from prison

7. Martyrdom of Mary Dyer (d. June 1, 1660) from Smitty's Genealogy, Quaker, and Civil War Pages http://www2.gol.com/users/quakers/martydom_of_mary_dyer.htm

Line 11.1 Anne Hutchinson Dyer; A legacy of friendship

The second Anne Hutchinson in my genealogy was born with the name of Hutchinson. She was the granddaughter of Anne Marbury Hutchinson and daughter of Edward Hutchinson. Although she didn’t leave the historical mark her grandmother did and little is known of her, she is important to my line and to the faith stories of my ancestors. She married the son of Mary Barrett Dyer and thus joined together two families that were already bound by history and loyal friendship.

Anne Hutchinson, daughter of Edward Hutchinson and his wife Catherine Hamby, was born 17 November 1643, in Boston, Massachusetts.

She married Samuel Dyer, son of William Dyer and his wife Mary Barrett, before 1675 and probably in Boston.

Anne married second David Vernon who was born 01 September 1643 probably in London, England and died 28 October 1715 in Newport, Rhode Island

She died 1717 in Newport, Newport County, Rhode Island

Anne and Samuel Dyer had the following children:

1.   William Dyer born 07 March 1662/63 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died 22 July 1738 in Truro, Barnstable, MA. He married Mary Taylor the daughter of Henry Taylor and his wife Lydia Hatch

2.   Samuel Dyer born about 1665 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died 15 July 1724 in Newport, Newport, Rhode Island. He married Mary Cotta

3.   Nathaniel Dyer born 1667 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died 21 April 1729 1724 in Newport, Newport, Rhode Island. He married Elizabeth Parrott.

4.   Edward Dyer born 1670 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died 1724 in North Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island. He married Mary Green as born 8 Jan 1677. She was the daughter of William Greene and Mary Sayles who was the was the daughter of Mary Williams who was the daughter of Roger Williams, who came to Rhode Island as the same time as William and Mary Dyer, Edward’s grandparents. Mary Sayles married 2. the Rev. John Holms.

5.   Elisha Dyer born 1672 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died after 1744 in North Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island. He married

6.   Anne Dyer born 1673 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died 1717 in Newport, Newport, Rhode Island. She married Carew Clarke, the son of Joseph Carew.

7.   Henry Dyer born 1774 in Boston, Suffolk, MA 1724 and died after 1740 in Newport, Newport, Rhode Island. He married Mary Rice.

8.   Barrett Dyer born 1678 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died there 07 December 1753. He married Hannah Steward.

Anne and her second husband, David Vernon had:

9.      Daniel Vernon born 1682 in Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island and probably died young.

10.  Samuel Vernon born 06 December 1683 in Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island. He died 05 December 1737 in Newport, Newport, Rhode Island. He married Elizabeth Fleet

11.  Catherine Vernon born 03 October 1686 in Kingstown, Rhode Island and died March 1769.

Church records in Boston, Massachusetts record Anne Hutchinson’s birth and baptism as an infant. “Anne dau. of Edward and Katherine Hutchinson born 18th 9th month”  “Anne dau. of Edward Hutchinson, the younger, aged about 2 days, bap. 9 day 9 mo.” Edward is called the younger, as his Uncle Edward Hutchinson, also lived in Boston.

Anne was named in her father's will: In his will of 17 July 1675, Edward Hutchinson included a bequest to 'my daughter Anne Dyer' "...I give unto my daughter Anne Dyer whom I have already given her portion in land, what bedding or other household stuffe I have at Narragansett as also one Maire ther sud as she shall choose.”

Anne became a Quaker. She married the son of Mary Dyer [See Barret Line 12] the Quaker Martyr and her husband William Dyer. The younger Dyer couple ended up back in Newport, Rhode Island where both Anne, her first husband Samuel Dyer and her second husband, David Vernon, were all buried. Anne and Samuel Dyer were both born in Boston and probably returned to the more tolerant Rhode Island at the time that Samuel’s mother became a martyr. However even in Rhode Island the family faced some persecution for their faith. [See Samuel Dyer, Dyer Line 6] Little is known about Anne’s second husband, David Vernon, but it is highly likely that he too was a Quaker.

Anne died at Newport, R.I., 10 Jan. 1716/7, and buried there with her second husband and two Vernon children, in a narrow plot surrounded by cypress trees. She lived a good long life dieing at the age of 74 and leaving a will that was proved 1 June 1717. She named her sons, Samuel, Elisha, Henry and Barrett Dyer and daughter, Catherine Vernon. Court records show that her son Edward Dyer and daughter Anne Dyer, wife of Cary Clark, were probably left out the will because they had already received valuable gifts from her before her death.

***SOURCES***

1. Internet Frank E. Dyer www.familytreemaker.com/users/d/y/e/Frank-E-Dyer/GENES-0004.html

2. New England Marriages Prior to 1700 by Clarence Almon Torrey

3. Genealogical Guide to the Early Settlers by Henry Whittemore

4.  Boston Vital Records 1630-1699

5.  Internet "Register Report - Hutchinson" by Sam Behling http://www.genweb.net/~samcasey/hutchinson.html

6. NEHGR April 1991 "The Ancestry of Katherine Hamby, Wife of Captian Edward Hutchinson of Boston, MA" by Wayne Howard Miller Wilcox, page 258

7. "Some Untraced Dyers" additional material, Vol 26, 1950, page 56 of the American Genealogist

10. The Great Migration, Vol II, C-F by Robert Charles Anderson and George Sanborn Jr. and Melinde Lutz Sanford, NHGS

11. Will of Edward Hutchinson Senr. of Boston, 1675

Line 11, Edward Hutchinson; Return from banishment

Line 11

Edward Hutchinson

Return from banishment

Although not as historic as his mother, Edward was indeed his mother’s son, fighting, in a quieter way, for freedom of belief. He had been raised at his mother’s knee, studying the Bible and learning to delve into its wisdom. He had followed her into banishment and then set out on his own, only to return to Boston, where he, like his mother would lose his life by the hand of American Indians.

Edward Hutchinson baptized 28 May 1613 in Alford, Lincoln, England, son of William Hutchinson and his wife Anne Marbury.

He married Catherine Hamby 23 October 1636 in Ipswich, County Suffolk, England where Catherine, the daughter of Robert Hamby and his wife Elizabeth Arnold was born in 19 October 1615.

He married secondly Abigail Firmage or Vermais the daughter of Alice (Blessing) Firmage. Abigail married first Robert Button by whom she had four children, including Abigail who was the second wife of Barnabas Lathrop, son the Rev. John Lathrop. Abigail died August 10, 1689 in Boston.

Edward died 19 August 1675, Marlborough, Middlesex, MA and was buried at Spring Hill Cemetery, Marlborough, Middlesex, MA

Edward and Catherine Hutchinson had the following children:

1.      Elisha Hutchinson who was born and died in 1637, Boston, Suffolk, MA

2.      Elizabeth Hutchinson born 04 November 1639 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died there 16 September 1718. She married Edward Winslow son of John and Mary (Chilton) Winslow and grandson of Mayflower passenger James Chilton.

3.      Elisha Hutchinson born 16 November 1641 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died there 10 December 1717. He married Hannah Hawkins.

4.      Anne Hutchinson born 17 November 1643 Boston, Suffolk, MA and died in 1717 in Newport, Newport, RI. She married Samuel Dyer, son of William and Mary (Barrett) Dyer (Line 12)

5.      William Hutchinson born November 1645 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died young.

6.      Catherine Hutchinson born 12 May 1648 Boston, Suffolk, MA. Died young.

7.      Susanna Hutchinson born 19 May 1649 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died 26 May 1716 in Newport, Newport, RI. She married Nathaniel Coddington son of son of Governor William Coddington and his wife Ann Brinley

Edward and Abigail Hutchinson had:

8.      Edward Hutchinson born January 1651/52 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died

9.      Catherine Hutchinson born 13 February 1652/53 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and married Henry Bartholomew who was related to both William Bartholomew who came on the Griffin with Edward Hutchinson Sr.’s family and to Elizabeth Scudder  who married John Lathrop’s son.

10.  Benjamin Hutchinson born 08 April 1656 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died there 1675.

11.  Hannah Hutchinson born 16 May 1658 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died 15 January 1703/04 in Taunton, Bristol, MA. She married Peter Walker

Edward was born in the year1613 in Alford, County Lincoln, England, where all his siblings except his youngest brother were born and baptized. He, as well as the rest of his family, came over on the Griffin with John Lathrop, John Cotton and William Bartholomew.

Nearly immediately, he became involved with community affairs and was made a freeman of Boston and admitted to the First Church of Boston. Two years later he returned to England where he married Catherine Hamby. Catherine came from a family with lines back to the Second King Henry of England. The trouble in Boston was beginning to brew by the time Edward returned there with his bride. The young couple followed his parents to Rhode Island but did not stay long. The town of Boston was forgiving and they received the young couple, returning the family property and allowing Edward to be active in the community. Edward, however, was much more tolerant of differences in theology and showed more sympathy to the Quakers and others who, though Christian, leaned toward teachings outside of the Puritan theology. It is to be expected, that Edward still sympathized with his mother’s teachings and his tolerance toward the Quakers and Baptists proved that. While he returned to the people who had banished his family, his experience must have tempered his heart, as he proved to be far more tolerant towards those who expressed theology outside the Puritan expression. His daughter, Anne Hutchinson (named for her grandmother) [see line 11.1], married the son of the Quaker martyr, Mary Dyer [who see, line 12].

Edward became known as Captain Hutchinson because of his activities in the militia. In the summer of 1675 the Boston militia was sent to negotiate with the Nipmuck Indians. “King Philip” the warrior son of Massassoit who had befriended the Pilgrims at Plymouth and then Boston. “Philip” as the colonist knew him, was called Metacom, Pometacom or Metacomet in his native tongue. With the arrest and death by illness of Philip’s brother Wamsutta, the warrior had an excuse to attack the English colonist, which led to the English colonist burning a Pokanoket village.

Philip aside, Edward Hutchinson had a good relationship with the Indians near Boston. He trusted them and they him. As an employer, the Indians who worked for him found him fair and respectful. The government of Boston often asked Hutchinson to negotiate with the natives of New England when the situation called for negotiations.

Because of the peaceful relationship the colonist had had with the native population while Massassoit (for whom Massachusetts was named), the war between the two peoples groups came as a surprise to the colonist. Many Indians were still friendly toward the colonist, but the threatened Nipmuck felt differently. Under Philip, they retaliated with violence. Capt. Thomas Wheeler and Capt. Edward Hutchinson went out to negotiate with the Nipmuc who ambushed them

Ephraim Curtis of Boston was sent to negotiate with the Nipmucs but was surprised by empty villages. The Nipmucs, unknown to Curtis, had already attacked the village of Mendon and had joined the rebellion that became King Philip’s War. Curtis did met up with Muttawmp, the Nipmuck chief in July who forged friendship, all the while knowing some of his warriors were attacking Mendon. He and Curtis arranged for a meeting in Boston. Curtis must have sensed something was not quit right as on returning to Boston, he sent Captain Edward Hutchinson and Captain Thomas Wheeler, 30 solders and Christian Natick Indians as guides, to continue the negotiations with the Nipmucks. They found the village empty. Curtis and the Naticks found the village near Brookfield. Negotiation didn’t go well except that Muttawmp agreed to meet with Hutchinson in Brookfield on the following day.

The Nipmuck, once again, had moved their camp and the stubborn English Captains decided to follow. The Indian guides, knowing ambush along the narrow swampy trail, protested. Hutchinson and Wheeler, however, decided to ignore the warning and walked into an ambush just 400 yards into their journey. The fleeing Englishmen were blocked on their retreat by other Nipmuc. Hutchinson and Wheeler as well as several of their men were wounded. Their saving grace was a Natick guide who took over command of the company out of the swamps. Edward Hutchinson died of his wounds several days later. Captain Wheeler survived and his son wrote an account of the skirmish.

A rustic gravestone in honor of Edward Hutchinson was erected by the Daughters of the Revolutionary War in 1921. It reads in part:

CAPTIN
EDWARD HUTCHINSON
AGED 67 YEARES
WAS SHOT BY
TREACHEROVS INDIANS
AVGVST 2 1675
DYED 19 AVGVST
1675

Through Edward’s line, Massachusetts would once again be touched by the Hutchinsons. His grandson, Thomas Hutchinson became governor of the colony of Massachusetts and again causing dissension in that state. Thomas, a loyalist in a fiercely rebellious state, was force to leave Massachusetts, like his great-grandmother.

***SOURCES***

1. "The Hutchinson Family of England and New England, and its Connections wit the Marburys and Drydens" by Joseph Lemuel Chester, New England Historical and Genealogical Register (NEHGR)

2. A Brief Genealogy of the Hutchinson Family by W. H. Whitmore from the Genealogies of RI Families from the NEHGR Vol I

3. Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis

4. "Family History, the Marbury Family" http://www.plix.com/~users/ncallahn

5. Vital Records of Boston, 1630-1699

6.  http://genweb.net/~blackwell/blql "Hutchinson Ancestry" by David C. Blackwell

7. Internet "Register Report - Hutchinson" by Sam Behling

 http://www.genweb.net/~samcasey/hutchinson.html

8 Will of Edward Hutchinson Senr. of Boston, 1675

10 New England Historical and Genealogical Register April 1991 "The Ancestry of Katherine Hamby, Wife of Captain Edward Hutchinson of Boston, MA" by Wayne Howard Miller Wilcox, page 258

11. Find a Grave www.findagrave.com

12.  "Memoir of Governor Hutchinson, "New England Historical and Genealogical Register" Vol. I, October 1847, No. 4

Line 10. 1 Anne Marbury Hutchinson, Banished!

Usually not a whole lot is known about the personal lives of colonial women aside from, possibly who their parents were, when and where they were born and died and whom they married. The Puritans in New England kept meticulous vital statistic records almost from the start but other then birth, marriage and death record, women were rarely mentioned in other records. Ever now and then, however, a New England woman stood above even the men of her community and made history. I had at least two of these women in my ancestral line, Anne Marbury Hutchison being one of them.

Anne Marbury baptized 20 July 1691 in Alford, Lincoln, England, daughter of Rev. Francis Marbury and his wife Bridget Dryden.

She married William Hutchinson 19 August 1612 in St. Mary Woolnoth's, London, England

She died August 1643 in Pelham Bay, NY

Anne and William Hutchinson had the following children:

1.   Edward Hutchinson born May 1613 in Alford, Lincoln, England; died 19 August 1675 in Marlborough, Middlesex, MA; married Catherine Hamby

2.   Susanna Hutchinson born 1614 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died and was buried there 08 September 1630

3.   Richard Hutchinson born 1615 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died 1670 in London, Middlesex, England

4.   Faith Hutchinson born 1617 in Alford, Lincoln, England; died 20 February 1651/52 in Boston, Suffolk, MA. She married Thomas Savage of St. Albons, England who died 1682 also in Boston, MA.

5.   Bridget Hutchinson born in Alford, Lincoln, England; died August 1698 in Boston, MA. She married 1. Mr. Willis of Bridgewater 2. John SANFORD who died 1653. and 3. William Philips.

6.   Francis Hutchinson born 1620 in Alford, Lincoln, England. He married Mary Cushman and died with his wife and mother and other family members 1643 in Pelham Bay, NY

7.   Elizabeth Hutchinson born 1621 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died there 04 October 1630.

8.   William Hutchinson born 1623 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died in 1643 along with his family in Pelham Bay, NY.

9.   Samuel Hutchinson born 1624 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died in 1643 along with his family in Pelham Bay, NY.

10.     Anne Hutchinson born 1626 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died in 1643 along with his family in Pelham Bay, NY.

11.    Mary Hutchinson born 1627 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died in 1643 along with his family in Pelham Bay, NY.

12.    Katherine Hutchinson born 1629 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died in 1643 along with his family in Pelham Bay, NY.

13.    William Hutchinson born 1631 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died in 1643 along with his family in Pelham Bay, NY.

14.    Susanna Hutchinson born 1633 in Alford, Lincoln, England; died 1713 in North Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island. She was captured by the Indians who killed her family and rescued by and married John Cole

15.    Zuriel Hutchinson born 1636 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died in 1643 along with his family in Pelham Bay, NY.

Anne Marbury was born in Alford, Lincoln, England the daughter of Rev. Francis Marbury and his second wife Bridget Dryden. As mentioned in the chapter on her father, Anne was evidently well-educated and very intelligent woman. Early on, she was exposed to her father’s concerns about the English clergy and their lack of Biblical understanding. Francis Marbury’s large library and his and his wife’s intense study of the Bible was their children’s classroom. They must have instilled an attitude of wonder and excitement about God and learning in general to their children.

In 1612, Anne married William Hutchinson at St. Mary Woolnoth's, in London, England. William, himself, was of the reform movement, a good steady Puritan with a strong gift of leadership and yet a man who did not seem to be threatened by his wife’s intelligence and scholarly nature even when her wit and wisdom overwhelmed other men.

In England, the Hutchinsons closely followed the sermons of the Protestant minister John Cotton who was among the most influential Puritans of the early 1600s. John Cotton left with the Winthrop Fleet in 1634 for the Massachusetts colony. The William and Anne Hutchinson with their fifteen children, his mother Susanna and Anne’s sister Katherine Marbury (mentioned in Line 3) followed shortly after on the Griffin. Their fellow passengers included at least two other ancestors of mine, William Bartholomew (who would later testify at Anne’s trial) and John Lathrop. John Cotton, an intelligent and celebrated preacher and teacher of early Boston, would play a greater and harsher role in the Hutchinson’s life at a later date. He was a compassionate man but lived his puritan orthodoxy to a painful degree. His grandson, Cotton Matters, would play a role in the lives of other ancestors of mine, the Walcotts and the Putnams of Salem, Massachusetts.

Anne’s beliefs were based on what she had learned from John Cotton’s sermons with a measure of her own father’s beliefs and a lot of in-depth Bible study. She wasn’t content to just go by what other’s taught. She driveled into the Word and discovered much more then Cotton taught. She believed strongly in a personal relationship with God but also realized that she needed to temper her words so as not to appear vain and shortsighted. Once in the colony of Massachusetts, Anne began to hold Bible studies for women in her home so that they could express their own insights and theological ideas. Soon men, including pastors and magistrates began to attend her meetings. Governor Henry Vane was among her students. Anne’s teaching followed the Puritan theology in the salvation came from God’s grace, but she stopped there. It was God’s grace and man’s faith and acceptance in that grace that resulted in salvation. The saved man was no longer bound works. The Puritans felt that the Antinomians would be the end of Christianity with their “anything goes” theology and that moral anarchy would pursue.

In the summer of 1637, following John Winthrop’s election to the governorship of the colony, a synod was called to deal with the “errors” of Mrs. Hutchinson’s theology. The pro-Hutchinson deputies of the General Court were not allowed to take their seats. A synod was held and eight-two heresies committed by those who followed Anne’s teaching was read. Private meetings were banned. However The Rev. Wheelwright continued his preaching and Ann continued her meetings. Anne Hutchinson’s brother-in-law John Wheelwright was later banished because of a sermon preached on the grace issue. Mary Hutchinson Wheelwright left Boston with her husband and children to Exeter, New Hampshire and later to Salisbury, Massachusetts. The Wheelwrights were considered the founders of Exeter. John Wheelwright also spent some time in England where he renewed his friendship with a schoolmate of his, Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of England.

Back in Boston in November of 1637, Anne Hutchinson stood trial for heresy. Anne was accused of sedition. The procecution hounded her but she was able to defend herself with her biblical knowledge and her well thought out defense. But when Anne declared she had direction revolations from God, the court turned against her. John Winthrop denounced her meetings, calling them 'a thing not tolerable nor comely in the sight of God, nor fitting for your sex.' He called Anne, herself, “an American Jezebel, who had gone a-whoring from God' who should be 'tried as a heretic.” The court would not declare to the public the reasons she was banished. Governor John Withrop, when asked said “Say no more, the court knows wherefore and is satisfied.”

The court wasn’t totally heartless though. It was was winter and Mrs. Hutchinson’s was suffering from poor health. Instead of sending her on her way, she was placed underhouse arrest until a church trial could be conducted in the Spring. She was tutored by John Cotton where he and the Rev. John Davneport who tried to convince her of her errors.

In the spring of 1638 the Hutchinson family and 60 followers  (including William and Mary Dyer – see Line 7) emigrated with her family to the colony on the island of Aquidneck, later known as Rhode Island. They purchased the island of Aquidnect also called Peaceable Island, from the Narragansetts Indians and founded the town of Portsmouth.

William Hutchinson, age about 56, died sometime in 1642. Without her husband and with the threat of Massachusetts colony taking over the Rhode Island colony, Anne and five of her children moved to the Dutch controlled Long Island and later to what is now Pelham Bay on the mainland. The other living children had either married or choose to stay in Rhode Island or return to Boston. While there is proof that Anne and her family got along with the local natives, a warring group of Mohegan Indians arrived in the area and slaughtered the entire Hutchinson family residing there except for one daughter, Susanna. She was taken captive by the Mohegans and later ransomed by the Dutch. Susanna married John Cole of Rhode Island in 1651. She and several other children of William and Anne Hutchinson married and had children; some of whom influenced the history of the colony and later state of Massachusetts.

Anne Marbury Hutchinson was a remarkable woman no matter what your opinion of her is. She was certainly an intelligent and likeable woman, an effective midwife, a faithful Christian with a hunger to know God. People, even many men of her age, were drawn to her thoughtful interpretations of the Bible, while others found her influences too strong and outside the established Boston beliefs, a real threat to their Calvinist biblical view. While her opposition was successful in driving her out of Boston, they weren’t successful in taking her out of the history boos. She is not a well know figure in history, but she will appear in a well written history of the New England colonies and her story was one of the reasons we are free to worship God in our chosen way in the United States of America.

My Hutchinson line:

John Hutchinson, Mayor of Lincoln, England m. Anne?

Edward Hutchinson, died 1632 in England m. Susanna? who died in Wells, Maine

William Hutchinson 1568-1642 m. Anne Marbury

Edward Hutchinson (Line 4) married Catherine Hamby

***SOURCES***

1. Passengers and Ships by Banks

2. "The Hutchinson Family of England and New England, and its Connections wit the Marburys and Drydens" by Joseph Lemuel Chester, NEHGR

3. The Royal Descents of 500 Immigrants by Gary Boyd Roberts, page 351 & 233

4."Family History, the Marbury Family" http://www.plix.com/~users/ncallahn

5. The American Genealogist Oct 1992 "The Well Beloved Mother-in-law of Robert Marbury"

6.  http://genweb.net/~blackwell/blql "Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson, wife of William Hutchinson" by David C Blackwell

7. http://www.rootsweb.com/~nwa/ah.html "Notable Women Ancestors - Anne Hutchinson" from Text compiled by Sam Behling, 1998

8. "Anne Hutchinson" http://www.annehutchinson.com/anne_hutchinson_biography_001.htm

Line 10, Francis Marbury; Setting a Faithful Example of a Holy Life

I was going to do Anne Marbury Hutchinson as “Line 2” in my ancestor’s faith stories but when I started to write her story I discovered that setting the stage for New England was going to take up as much space as Anne’s story in Massachusetts. The story of her remarkable and fearless father sets the stage for Anne’s story but is also an intriguing story in itself.

Francis Marbury was born about 1555 probably in London, Middlesex, England, baptized 27 October 1555 at St. Pancras, Soper Lane, London, England the youngest son of William Marbury and his wife Agnes Lenton, daughter of John Lenton, Esquire.

Francis married first Elizabeth Moore who died sometime after the birth of her youngest daughter Susan in September 1585

He married second Bridget Dryden, the daughter of John Dryden and his wife Elizabeth Cope.

Died January 1610/11 in Lincoln, County Lincoln, England

Children by his first wife, Elizabeth Moore:

1.      Mary Marbury who died young

2.      Elizabeth Marbury who died age about 18

3.      Susan Marbury who died young

By is second wife:

4.      Mary Marbury born 1588 and died 18 April 1643 in St Mary Woolnoth, London, England. She married Bartholomew Layton

5.      John Marbury born 1589 in Alford, Lincoln, England

6.      Anne Marbury born 1591 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died August 1643 in Pelham Bay, NY. She married William Hutchinson

7.      Bridget Marbury born 1593 and died 1598 in Alford, Lincoln, England

8.      Francis Marbury born October 1594 in Alford, Lincoln, England. He married and left children.

9.      Emme Marbury born Dec. 1595 in Alford, Lincoln, England and married John Saunders.

10.  Erasmus Marbury born February 1595/96 Alford, Lincoln, England and died 1627.

11.  Anthony Marbury born 1598 and died April 1601 in Alford, Lincoln, England

12.  Bridget Marbury Nov. 1599 in Alford, Lincoln, England

13.  Jeremuth Marbury born 1601 Alford, Lincoln, England and died 1623

14.  Daniel Marbury born Nov. 1602 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died 1611 in London, England

15.  Elizabeth Marbury born January 1604/05 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died 09 March 1613/14 in London, England

16.  Anthony Marbury born 1608 in London, Middlesex, England. He married and had at least three children.

17.  Katherine Marbury born about 1610 and died 02 May 1687 in Providence, Providence, RI. She married Richard Scott.

Francis Marbury was the son of William Marbury and his wife Agnes Lenton, daughter of John Lenton. Freshmen nobility with a rough edge, William Marbury's father and grandfather rubbed elbows with the likes of King Henry the Seventh and his henchmen. Francis was the youngest son and while he didn’t inherit much wealth from his father, he was given a good education and married, as his second wife, Bridget Dryden who not only had royal connections; she was actually descended from English kings. Francis’ first wife by whom he had three daughters, who all died before they were old enough to marry, seems to have been of simpler stuff but was probably from a well to do family as well.

Bridget Dryden was the great-aunt of John Dryden the poet and descended through several noble English lines. Her parents were John Dryden and Elizabeth Cope, large estate owners in central England. Elizabeth’s ancestral line included King Edward the First and his wife Eleanor of Castile as well as many of the important English families of the Middle Ages. By the time Bridget Dryden was born, many of her family had become Puritans and at least one relative had been imprisoned in the Tower of London because he advocated religious reforms.

 Francis Marbury attended Christ College, Cambridge and although he didn’t receive a degree he began his pastoral career at the church in Northampton near the Dryden estate. Anglican clergymen were not appointed to their churches because of education or even skills of preaching and teaching, but rather by appointment from the ruling bishops who used these posts for political reasons. Whatever political reason Francis’ bishops may have had in placing Francis in Northampton, it was soon waylaid as Francis radical preaching landed him in prison three times before his 23^rd birthday. Marbury was a passionate Puritan preacher, outspoken and highly intelligent. Francis complained and spoke out again the incompetence of English ministers, hired not for their love of God or for their study of the Bible, but for political reasons and family connections. In 1579 he wrote an allegorical play called “The Contract of Marriage between Wit and Wisdom” which once more landed him in prison. However, Marbury didn’t seem to lack for pastoral positions. By 1585 he was a curate and schoolmaster in Aford, co., Lincoln. But by 1590 he was in trouble once again with the Anglican Church and went to trail again. He won the trail but was forbidden to preach for several years. With a large family to support, Francis gave up trying to reform the church and in 1605 became the pastor of St. Martin Vintry, then St. Pancras, Soper Lane and finally St. Margaret, New Fish Street, in London while he was still pastor of St. Martin Vintry.

The Marbury household must have been a lively one. It is evident from the well-educated and thoughtful testimonies of his daughters Anne Marbury Hutchinson and Katherine Marbury Scott that the children, even the daughters, were all well educated and encouraged to express their intellectual side. Of the four sons who reached college age, three of them, Erusmus, Jeremuth and Anthony received degrees from Brasenose College at Oxford. Their father’s attraction to church reform certainly influenced Anne and it can be imagine that many theology discussions must have occurred in the Marbury’s household. Add to that the fact that Bridget Dryden’s family was steeped in Puritan leanings, even after Francis gave up trying to reform the Church of England, the Marbury’s must have engaged in many vigorous theological debate.

A note needs to be made here of Francis’ daughter, Katharine. She married Richard Scott and became a Quaker while living in Massachusetts. She, as well as her sister, Anne were friends of Mary Dyer who probably influenced Katherine’s decision to become a Quaker. (See Mary Barrett Dyer). In 1658 Katherine Scott was imprisoned in Boston and whipped with "Ten cruel Stripes with a three-fold-corded knotted Whip" for denouncing the Massachusetts’ government of cruelty and intolerance toward Quakers. If Francis gave up church reform, he only stopped at the door of his house for his daughters seemed to have carried on his determination of reform into the New World.

Francis died between June 25, 1610 when his will was written and February 14, 1611 when it was proved. His twelve living children were left 200 pounds each and his daughters were to stay with their mother until they married. Francis’ greatest legacy was the education and the strong love of God that he passed onto his children.

My Marbury line:

John Marbury died 1640 married Eleanor

William Marbury who died about 1512 married Anne Blount who died 20 November 1537 in

 Lincoln Co., England, the daughter of Thomas Blount and Agnes Hawley

Robert Marbury who died 07 August 1545 who married Katherine Williamson the daughter of  John Williamson and his wife Jane Angevine, daughter of Michael Angevine

William Marbury who died 1581 in Lincolnshire who married Agnes Lenton of

      Aldwinkle, Northampton, England, the daughter of John Lenton, Esq.

Francis Marbury who married Bridget Dryden

Anne Marbury who married William Hutchinson

Anne Hutchinson who married Samuel Dyer

Samuel Dyer II who married Mary Cotta

Samuel Dyer III whose wife is unknown

John Dyer who married Mary  Hickey

James Dyer who married Mary  Marcy

James Dyer whose wife is unknown

Sarah Dyer who married Joel Chubb

James Harvey Chubb who married Martha Braman

***SOURCES****

1. "The Hutchinson Family of England and New England, and its Connections wit the Marburys and Drydens" by Joseph Lemuel Chester, NEHGR

2. The Royal Descents of 500 Immigrants by Gary Boyd Roberts, page 351 & 233

3. The Heraldic Journal Recording the Armorical Bearings and Genealogies of American Families Vol I Pub. by J. K. Wiggins 1865

4. "Family History, the Marbury Family" http://www.plix.com/~users/ncallahn

5.  Internet http://www.genweb.net/~samcasey/Marbury.html "Register Report - Marbury" by Sam Behling

6. Plantagenent Ancetry by David Faris

7. "Anne Hutchinson" http://www.annehutchinson.com/anne_hutchinson_biography_001.htm

8. Sam Behling, www.homepages.rootweb.ancestry.com/~Sam/Marbury/francis.html

9. The American Genealogist, October 1992 "The Well Beloved Mother-in-law of Robert Marbury" by F. N. Craig

Line 9.2, Anne Walcott; Never praise a sister to a sister

As a small child of seven, Anne Walcott witnessed the hysteria of the pending Salem witchcraft trials in her own home. How this impressed her young mind as she witness the behavior of her sister and her friends that brought suffering and death to many innocent people can only be guessed at. We don’t know a lot about Anne. She is seldom in the Salem Records but she was involved in the horror just because of who her half-sister and her cousin, Anne Putnam were.

Anne Walcott was born 17 January 1685/86 in Salem, Massachusetts, the daughter of Jonathan Walcott and his second wife Deliverance Putnam

She married Joshua Felt son of Moses Felt and his wife Lydia Mains on15 January 1712/13 in Salem, Essex, MA

Died before 16 June 1736

Putnam’s children were:

1.   Moses Felt born 22 December 1714 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died at sea 13 June 1780. He married Mary Potts Pettee

2.   Jonathan Felt born 03 June 1719 Dedham, Suffolk, MA, died 16 May 1786 in Peterborough, NH. He married Lovewell Welds.

3.   Aaron Felt born 21 June 1716 in Rummey Marsh, Lynn, MA and died 1769 in Lynn, MA. He married Mary Waite the daughter of Peter Waite and Sarah Pierce. She was born 28 April 1716 in Lynn, MA and died there 05 September 1767.

4.   Anne Felt about 1722 and died age 94 in Andover, MA. She married Robert Russell of Andover, MA.

    The Salem birth records list Anne’s birth and later her marriage to Joshua Felt. The Felt family was an adventuresome one, having been among the first Englishmen to settle in what would become the state of Maine. Joshua was probably born in Maine but by 1712/3 when he married Anne Walcott, he was living in Salem. Just by the fact that he was living in Salem, he must have known about the witchcraft trials but that did not deter him from courting and marring the sister of one of the accusing girls. Anne, like her mother, married at a rather older age then most women of her generation. She was just short of 27 years of age when she married Joshua. One, again, can wonder if the influences of the dark cloud that lead to the trial kept her segregated from the joys of courting. That she married a man not raised in the town could also be an indication of the grief that darkened her family. Her sister, Mary, the accusing girl, married at age 21 to Isaac Farrer the son of John Farrar of Woburn, Massachusetts. Why Mary seemed to move on to marriage and children at a younger age then her innocent half-sister, is only known now to God. But surely the shadow of the witchcraft trial haunted the Walcotts for their whole lives.

We can’t know the state of Anne’s faith. She was of the second generation of Massachusetts born Puritans and with the horror of the trials, her faith may have been tested more so then others of her generation. The fiery zeal of the original Puritan settlers in the New World was tempered with each generation, leading to a less vigorous display of religious passion as the younger generations took their place in society and the church. Joshua Felt came from strong Puritan stock. His grandfather George Felt emigrated with the future Governor Endicott and settled in Charlestown. Old George lived to into his eighties and seems to have been a faithful Puritan. With this background, one might think that the children and grandchildren would be strong in their faith as well, but that is not always true. We know the Felts were involved in the church as their children were baptized there but that is all we know from the records. However, the Felts in the following generations seemed to have stayed with their God so even with the shadow of the witchcraft trials looming over her, Anna may very well have been a strong woman of faith.

Anne and Joshua Felt’s children were born in different village near Boston between 1714 and about 1722. Anne Walcott Felt died sometime before 1736, when Joshua took Dorcas Gould, the widow of Anthony Buxton, as his second wife. Joshua lived at least another eight years after marring Dorcas as she was named his widow in her will made in 1747.

Several of Anne and Joshua’s grandchildren would take an active part in the American Revolution. Jonathan, Joshua and Samuel Felt were present at the battle of Lexington and Concord that started the war. Despite being involved, even just by association, in one of the biggest controversies in American History, Anne managed to raise children who gave back to their country. I can only hope that she was able to realize that God the author of the sad chapter in Salem’s history.

***SOURCES***

1. Felt Family Gen. Internet http://home.att.net/~rialots/datl.htm

2. Internet Rick Ingersoll, http://www.my-ged.com/db/page/inger

3. http://familytreemaker.com "Al & Judy Sporny's Genealogy"

4. Colonial Families of the United States by George Norbury Mackenie, Vol. VI

5. Salem Vital Records, Vol. I, Births, Pub by the Essex Institute, 1916

6. http://familytreemaker.com "Yet Another 'Descendent of John Putnam'"

Line 9.1 Jonathan Walcott; Father of an Accusing Girl

Line 9.1

Jonathon Walcott

Father of an Accusing Girl

It’s hard to imagine Jonathan Walcott as anything but a grim boy and man. His father was at odds with the religious status quo of Salem, Massachusetts and his daughter was caught up in the fiery of the Salem Witchcraft Trails. But Jonathan was considered a well like man who stood by his responsibilities and faith with resolve even when it lead him down a road to hysteria.

Jonathan Walcott was the son of William Walcott and Alice Ingersoll

He married 1. Mary Sibley, born 1644 the daughter of John Sibley. She died 28 December 1683 in Salem, Mass.

     2. Deliverance Putnam the daughter of Thomas Putnam and his first wife Ann Holyoke

He died 16 December 1699 in Salem, Massachusetts

Jonathan Walcott’s children by Mary Sibley were:

   1.   John Walcott born 07 December 1666 in Salem, Mass. and married Mary ?.

2.   Hannah Walcott born 06 December 1667 in Salem, Mass

3.   Jonathan Walcott born 01 September 1670 married Priscilla Bayley

4.   Joseph Walcott born 25 September 1673 in Salem, Mass and died there 30 June 1674

5.   Mary Walcott born May 1675. She was one of the accusing girls in the Salem Witchcraft trail. She married Isaac Farrer

6.   Samuel Walcott born 12 October 1678 in Salem. He married Katherine ?

Jonathan Walcott’s children by his second wife, Deliverance Putnam were:

7.   Anne Walcott born 17 January 1685/86 and married Joshua Felt

8.   Thomas Walcott born 25 March 1688 and died 5 June of the same year

9.   Thomas Walcott born and died in 1689

10.  William Walcott born 27 March 1691 in Salem, Mass, died 13 November 1777. He married Mary Felt the sister of Joshua Felt

11.  Ebenezer Walcott born 19 April 1693 in Salem, Mass. He married Elizabeth Wiley.

12.  Benjamin Walcott born 23 April 1695 in Salem, Mass. He married Abigail Waters

13.  Prudence Walcott born 10 July 1699 in Salem, Mass. She married Edward Hircum.

Jonathan was the son of William Walcott or Wolcott and his wife Alice Ingersoll. Alice’s parents were Richard Ingersoll and his wife Agnes (Ann) Langley. A letter written by Matthew Craddock of London to Capt John Endicott in 1629 mentions Richard: “one Richard Haward and Richard Inkersall, both Bedfordshire men, hyred for the Company, with their famylis, who wee pray you will be well accomodated, not doubting but they will orderly demean themselves."7 It is possible that Richard Ingersoll and his family came over from England with Rev. John Higginson in 1629 on the Mayflower II. “Mayflower, William Peirce, Master, left Gravesend in Marsh with thirty-five passengers, mostly from Leyden, Holland, destined for Plymouth. She arrived May 15 ... Richard Ingersoll of Sandy, county Bedford to Salem; with Mrs. Anne Ingersoll, George Ingersoll, Joanna Ingersoll, John Ingersoll, Sarah Ingersoll, and Alice Ingersoll.”7 Alice Ingersoll’s brother Nathaniel, born in Salem after the family left England, also played a large role in the witchcraft trails. He ran the village inn and tavern, playing host to villagers and travelers alike and to the trial itself.

 Jonathan Walcott was admitted freeman and elected captain of the military company at Salem in 1690. He was a Wheelwright made the wheels for the guns for the fort at Winter Island, near Salem, which may have been why he was made captain in the Salem Militia. He served in King Philip's War 1675-6. He was a taxpayer in 1692 at Salem Village, which is now the town of Danvers, in 1692. The land he owned was next to his Uncle Nathaniel Ingersoll who served as corporal, sergeant and finally as lieutenant of the all-important militia at Salem.  The Walcott house was also near the Rev. Parris’s parsonage where the accusing girls who would be involved in the witchcraft trail meet.

Salem Village and Salem Town were at odds with each other. They were also living in a tense situation with the Indians and were always watching for signs of trouble. Jonathan married and raised his family in this stressed atmosphere and though he was known to oppose violence in other situation, was sucked into the frenzy that ensnared his daughter, niece by marriage and his neighbors. Jonathan became involved as a protective father and concerned churchman. His involvement was not as clear as his brother-in-law, Thomas Putnams but it included arresting some of the accused “witches.”

WARRANT FOR THE ARREST OF ELIZABETH PROCTOR AND SARAH CLOYCE (APRIL 4, 1692): 

Aprill. 4'th 1692

There Being Complaint this day made (Before us) by capt Jonat Walcott, and Lt Natheniell Ingersull both of Salem Village, in Behalfe of theire Majesties for themselfes and also for severall of their Neighbours Against Sarah Cloyce the wife of peter Cloyce of Salem Village; and Elizabeth Proctor the wife of John Proctor of Salem farmes for high Suspition of Sundry acts of Witchcraft donne or Committed by them upon the bodys of Abigail Williams, and John Indian both of Mr Sam parris his family of Salem Village and mary Walcott daughter of the abovesaid Complainants, And Ann Putnam and Marcy Lewis of the famyly of Thomas Putnam of Salem Village whereby great hurt and dammage hath beene donne to the Bodys of s'd persons above named therefore Craved Justice.
You are therefore in theire Majest's names hereby required to apprehend and bring before us Sarah Cloyce the wife of peter Cloyce of Salem Village and Elizabeth proctor the wife of John Procter of Salem farmes; on Munday Morneing Next being the Eleventh day of this Instant Aprill aboute Eleven of the Clock, at the publike Meeting house in the Towne, in order to theire Examination Relateing to the premesis aboves'd and here of you are. not to faile Dated Salem Aprill 8'th 1692
To George Herick Marshall of the County of essex

John Hathorne

Jonathan Corwin   Assists

Salem

The reverberating horror of the trial and then the realization that the real victims of witchcraft were the ones falsely accused must have cast a greater sorrow over the Walcott family. They went on to lead “normal” lives but how normal a life can one lead when one realizes the horror and wrong done to their neighbors, their town, and themselves. “John Hathorne” who signed Elizabeth Proctor and Sarah Cloyce’s arrest warrant was the ancestor of Nathaniel Hawthorn who wrote “The Scarlet Letter” in penance to his ancestor’s involvement in the trials. Surely, Jonathan and his family must have felt guilt and hopefully remorse that changed their hearts toward following a gentler faith.

Jonathan died 16 December 1699 two years after Salem’s day in remembrance of those falsely accused and killed because of the hysteria generated by a group of young girls getting involved with witchcraft. We can only hope that Jonathan and Deliverance Walcott found some peace with God.

***SOURCES***

1. Felt Family Genealogy, Internet http://home.att.net/rialots/dat10.htm

2. Internet Rick Ingersoll http://wwwmy-ged.com/db/page/inger/4658

3. The Devil Discovered, Salem Witchcraft, 1692 by Enders A. Robinson

4. Salem Vital Records, Vol. III, Deaths

5. Salem Vital Records, Vol. II, Marriages

6. Familytreemaker.com "Yet Another 'Descendants of John Putnam'"

7. Massachusetts and Maine Families by Walter Goodwin Davis

8. Ancestors of Dorr Eugene Felt by Alfred L. Holman, 1921

9. The History of Salem, Mass. by Sidney Perley Vol. III 1671-1716, pub. 1928

10. "The Walcott Family of Salem" by John B. Wolcott, Internet, http://members.nbci.com/XMCM/wolcott/salem.htm

11. SALEM WITCHCRAFT; With an Account of Salem Village and A History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects by Charles W. Upham

10.  Warrant for the Arrest of Elizabeth Proctor and Sarah Cloyce, April 4, 1692