Who Was The Connecticut Person Virtuous, Pure Witchcraft?

The Connecticut witch trials, also known as the Hartford witch trials, occurred from 1647 to 1663 and were the first large-scale witch trials in the American colonies. They predated the Salem Witch Trials by nearly thirty years. John M. Taylor lists 37 cases, 11 of which resulted in executions. Goodwife Knapp, a “simple minded woman”, was one of the accused.

The trial was a pivotal case in the transformation of colonial witchcraft prosecution from reliance on single-witness testimony to requiring multiple and more witnesses. In 1653, Goodwife Knapp was executed for witchcraft. Elizabeth “Goodwife” Seager, a wife and mother from Hartford, Connecticut, was the first well-documented case in the chronology of Connecticut’s witchcraft trials.

In 1662, a woman named Rebecca Greensmith was on trial for witchcraft. Elizabeth was accused of bewitching Betty Howell to death, daughter of Lion. Connecticut senators voted on May 25, 2023, to absolve the 12 women and men convicted of witchcraft, 11 of whom were executed, more than 370.

The Salem witch trials began in 1692, with Dorothy and her mother Sarah accused of practicing witchcraft in Salem. The Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project, an organization made up of descendants of accused witches, is backed by the statewide effort.

Witch fever started in Connecticut about 50 years before the Salem Witch Trials. In 1651, a woman named Goody Basset was executed in Stratford after making a confession, probably under torture. In 1662, a woman named Rebecca Greensmith was on trial for witchcraft, and during her interrogation, she named Elizabeth as another witch in the community.

Who was the last real witch?

Anna Göldi, an 18th-century Swiss housemaid, was one of the last people to be executed for witchcraft in Europe. Born in Sennwald, she began working as a domestic servant at age 18. At 31, she was impregnated by a mercenary who left Switzerland before giving birth. Her baby died the night it was born, and she was pilloried and sentenced to six years of house arrest.

Göldi escaped and found employment with the Zwicky family in Mollis, where she had a son with Johann Melchior Zwicky, the son of her employer. In 1780, she began working as a maid for the Tschudi family, and was reported for putting needles in the bread and milk of one of his daughters. Initially escaping arrest, Göldi was arrested and tortured under torture, admitting to entering a pact with the Devil. She withdrew her confession after the torture ended but was sentenced to execution by decapitation.

The charges were officially of “poisoning” rather than witchcraft, but the law at the time did not impose the death penalty for non-lethal poisoning. Göldi was posthumously exonerated by the government of the canton of Glarus in 2008.

Who was the first person to be hanged for witchcraft?

In May 1647, Alse Young, also known as Achsah or Alice, was the first person executed for witchcraft in America. He was hanged at the gallows by Meeting House Square in Hartford, which is now the site of the Old State House. The panic over witchcraft in Connecticut began four decades earlier than in Salem and continued for several decades. Alse Young was one of over ten people accused and hanged for witchcraft in Connecticut.

Mary Johnson of Wethersfield was executed in 1648 after confessing to entering into a compact with the devil, the earliest confession of this kind in the colonies. Joan and John Carrington, the first of several accused couples, were executed in 1651. Some of the accused were acquitted or exonerated with damages, while others fled the colony.

John Winthrop Jr. became Connecticut’s governor and chief magistrate in 1657 and was given an official royal charter from King Charles II. This charter established Connecticut as an independent colony and granted Winthrop the right to pardon offenders. He overturned the conviction of Elizabeth Seager of Hartford at her third witchcraft trial in 1666 and saved Katherine Harrison from a death sentence in 1669. Harrison’s trial changed the way evidence was used in Connecticut, determining that there should be a plurality of witnesses and that the burden of proof should be on the accusers.

Who was first accused of witchcraft?

Tituba, a Native South American female slave owned by Parris, was the first to be accused of witchcraft by Betty and Abigail. She confessed and accused others, first naming Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. The Parris Household, including the Putnams and other “afflicted” girls, was led by Pastor Samuel Parris, who preached about the Devil’s work. Elizabeth “Betty” Parris and Abigail Williams, the first of the “afflicted” girls, began experiencing unexplained fits in January 1692 after experimenting with fortune-telling.

They remained the main accusers throughout the trials. Tituba was the first to tell elaborate stories about rituals and animal familiars, leading to further accusations. Parris refused to pay her jailing costs, so she spent thirteen months in jail before someone else paid for her. Her fate after being released is unknown.

Who was the youngest witch killed?

Dorothy Good, the youngest individual subjected to the Salem witch trials, was executed at the age of four or five. It is believed that she was born in 1687 or 1688 and died in 1692.

Who was accused of witchcraft in Connecticut?

In 1662, four people were executed in Hartford for witchcraft, including Nathaniel and Rebecca Greensmith, Mary Sanford, and Mary Barnes. Elizabeth Seager was also accused but the charges were dropped due to weak evidence. By 1663, the witchcraft trials in Hartford were winding down due to the return of John Winthrop Jr., the governor of the Connecticut colony. Winthrop was considered “New England’s quintessential adjudicator of witchcraft cases” due to his knowledge of natural magical practices and his experience with alchemy.

His involvement in witchcraft cases led to increasing skepticism towards accusations of witchcraft. In 1669, Winthrop’s court established that multiple witnesses needed to bear witness to the same act of witchcraft simultaneously, which significantly reduced the flow of accusations.

On October 6, 2012, descendants of the executed petitioned the Connecticut government to posthumously pardon the victims, but the motion was not passed. In 2007, Addie Avery communicated with the British government in an attempt to acquit the convicted witches. Avery, the descendant of Mary Sanford, was involved in many theatrical performances about the Connecticut witch trials, such as The Witching Hour.

Who was the 4 year old girl accused of being a witch?

In 1692, Dorothy Good of Salem Village was arrested on suspicion of witchcraft, along with her mother Sarah. The trouble began in February 1692 when Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris, daughters of Reverend Samuel Parris, began acting strangely, complaining of bites, contorting their bodies, throwing things, and falling into trances. A doctor’s examination concluded they were suffering from the evil effects of witchcraft. The “afflicted” girls were asked to name names, and it was believed that witches were in Salem Village due to the fear of attack from warring tribes and unease about a new charter.

Historian Margo Burns, associate editor of Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt, examines the witch trials through original-source documents in “The Capital Crime of Witchcraft: What the Primary Sources Tell Us”, a presentation sponsored by the New Hampshire Humanities Council.

Was Goody a real witch?

Eunice “Goody” Cole, a famous resident of Hampton, was tried for witchcraft twice in 1656 and 1673. Sentenced for life, she petitioned to care for her aging husband and was released. In 1938, the Society in Hampton for the Apprehension of Those Falsely Acusing Eunice “Goody” Cole of Having Familiarity with the Devil was formed to clear her reputation. On March 8, 1938, the 300th Town Meeting passed a resolution restoring Eunice “Goody” Cole to her rightful place as a citizen of Hampton. Certified copies of her court documents were burned and mixed with soil from her last home and reputed resting place. The urn was later given to the Tuck Museum.

Why was Goody Glover condemned as a witch?

Goody Glover, whose date of birth is uncertain but whose date of death is known to be 1688 in Boston, was accused of witchcraft by her employer, John Goodwin, after four of his children fell ill. Despite her knowledge of the English language, she declined to speak Gaelic during her trial and was subsequently convicted and executed. Reverend Cotton Mather was instrumental in her execution.

Who were the 19 witches of Salem?

In 1692, nineteen individuals were executed on Gallows Hill on charges of witchcraft. Those convicted and sentenced to death included Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Good, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, Sarah Wildes, George Burroughs, Martha Carrier, John Willard, George Jacobs, Sr., John Proctor, Martha Corey, Mary Eastey, Ann Pudeator, Alice Parker, Mary Parker, and Wilmott Redd.

Why was Goody accused of witchcraft?

Sarah Good, also known as Dorothy Good or Dorcas Good, was one of the first three women accused of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials in 1692. Born in 1653, Sarah was the daughter of a wealthy tavern owner named John Solart. Her father committed suicide at the age of 17, leaving a 70-acre estate valued at around 500 pounds. The Solarts were involved in land disputes around Salem, with the estate divided between his widow and two sons.

Sarah was left with no dowry and no prospects beyond marriage to an indentured servant named Daniel Poole, who left her heavily in debt when he died soon after. Good was accused of rejecting the puritanical expectations of self-control and discipline when she chose to torment and “scorn” children instead of leading them towards salvation.

Who was blamed for witchcraft?

Tituba, a Native South American slave owned by Parris, was the first to be accused of witchcraft by Betty and Abigail. She was also the first to confess and accuse others, first naming Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. The Parris Household, including the Putnams and other “afflicted” girls, was a driving force behind the accusations. Pastor Samuel Parris, who preached about the Devil’s work, was a driving force behind the accusations.

Elizabeth “Betty” Parris and Abigail Williams, the first of the “afflicted” girls, began having unexplained fits in January 1692 after experimenting with fortune-telling and were diagnosed as being possessed.

They remained the main accusers throughout the trials. Tituba was the first to tell elaborate stories about rituals and animal familiars, leading to further accusations. Parris refused to pay her jailing costs, so she spent thirteen months in jail before someone else paid for her. Her fate after being released is unknown.