Showing posts with label Sleeper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sleeper. Show all posts

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Joanna Sleeper and Goody Cole


A belated memorial
From The Witch of Hampton (4)


Eunice (or Unise) Cole lived in Hampton, New Hampshire from before 1640 until her death in 1680. She was charged with being a witch on and off throughout her life. "Goody" Cole, as she was known, was accused, possibly indicted, whipped, imprisoned, and generally made miserable by her neighbors.

From The Witch of Hampton: "During the quarter century from her first witchcraft trial in 1656 until her death in 1680, Unise spent more than half the time in prison. In all, she was whipped at least two, perhaps three, times, was hauled before the court on at least eight occasions, fined twice, admonished once, twice put under a bond, set in the stocks, searched for witch-marks, watched for diabolical imps, and, near the end of her life, was locked in leg irons and imprisoned one final time." (4)

From Wikipedia:  "Goody Cole was almost certainly unpleasant in the extreme - Hampton historian Joseph Dow referred to her as "ill-natured and ugly, artful and aggravating, malicious and revengeful" - but certainly not a witch. Such behaviour is unsurprising given the accusations leveled against her and her treatment by those in her community." (2)
When she died, she was buried in an unmarked grave. Local legends abound regarding her life and her death, but in 1937 the townspeople formed a Goody Cole Society, more formally known as  "The Society in Hampton Beach for the Apprehension of Those Falsely Accusing Eunice (Goody) Cole of Having Familiarity With the Devil." Their intent, although much belated, was to clear her name. (2)

I am sorry to tell you that my 9th great grandmother, Joanna Lee Sleeper, was one of the townsfolk who gave sworn testimony about Goody Cole. 

Joanna Sleeper on a cat that afflicted Goodman Wedgewood
Joanna Sleeper aged 33 years or thereabouts testifieth that last winter was a twelve month this deponent went into Goodman Wedgewood's to see him he being sick when I came in he was very cheer[i]ly over what he had been, and when I arose up to go away yet standing by his bedside I saw a cat come down from the plancher [Planking or platform.](of a gray color) over his bed to my best thinking and she came upon his breast: and he cried out Lord have mercy upon me the cat hath killed me, and broken my heart, and his wife asked me if that were the cat (which she showed me), and I thought the cat which I saw as aforesaid was bigger than the cat she showed me although she was like that cat for color, and it was the same evening the which Goodwife Cole was there about noon before, and farther saith not. 
Sworn in court September 4, 1656 Edward Rawson Secretary.
Source: Suffolk County Court Files, 2:256a (MA) (1)

For other testimony against Goody Cole, see Vehement Suspicion (3).

This is a sad chapter in my ancestors' history. It was bad enough that Joanna was giving testimony as a witness in a witch's trial. For others in our family, the witch trials were a great deal more personal and tragic. Next time...

*****
Sources

1. Witch-Hunting in Seventeenth Century New England; A Documentary History, 1638-1693, edited by David D. Hall. Duke University Press, 2005. 
2. Wikipedia: Eunice Cole. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunice_Cole
3. Vehement Suspicion: Eunice Cole of Hampton (1656-1680).  http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/biog/hall.htm
4. The Witch of Hampton, the Woman and Her Legend, by Cheryl Lassiter. 2015. http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/biog/goodylassiterHU20151027
5. Joanna Lee Sleeper 1623-1703) was the wife of Thomas Sleeper and the mother of Elizabeth Sleeper Perkins who I wrote about in My 8th Great Grandfather: Slayne by ye Indians.

 Here is how we are related:


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Saturday, July 22, 2017

My 8th Great Grandfather: "Slayne by ye Indians"

In Abraham Perkins of Hampton, New Hampshire, I introduced you to Abraham and Mary's large family. One of his sons was Abraham, Jr., who was born in 1639 in Hampton. 

This Abraham married Elizabeth Sleeper in 1668. They had three daughters, and then the unthinkable happened: Abraham was killed by Indians. 

King Philip's War had been underway since 1675. Here is a brief explanation of what was happening: 

King Philip’s War of 1675-1676 (also known as Metacom’s Rebellion) marked the last major effort by the Indians of southern New England to drive out the English settlers. Led by Metacom, the Pokunoket chief called ‘King Philip’ by the English, the bands known today as Wampanoag Indians joined with the Nipmucks, Pocumtucks, and Narragansetts in a bloody uprising. It lasted fourteen months and destroyed twelve frontier towns. (1)

In southern New Hampshire, there had been attacks on settlers in Oyster River, Exeter, and Greenland. Then, in 1677 in Hampton (2):



Abraham: Death Record (6)

This was a tragedy for everyone involved on both sides of the conflict, leading both to greater enmity and expanded warfare. 

For Abraham's widow, Elizabeth, it had to have been a terrible loss. It must have been emotionally crushing and economically devastating as well. Elizabeth was 31, and her daughters Mercy, Mary, and Elizabeth were five, three, and one. The town was on edge, every household was to have loaded arms at the ready, men were standing guard against further attacks, there was an evacuation plan in place, and the local militia was training and marching.(2) 

Elizabeth had a farm to run and small children to raise. 

I am reminded of how carefully Abraham, Senior had provided for his wife, Mary Wise Perkins, in his will--making sure that she had a place to live, food to eat, firewood to keep her warm, and a means of income. It is doubtful if the younger Abraham, only 37, would have made a will. 

Apparently, the fathers of both Abraham, Jr. and Elizabeth stepped in to take guardianship of the little family. In this document, they set out a plan for the education and future of the children. (3) 







You will note that both Elizabeth and an Alexander Denham (or Dennum, spelling varies) make their mark on this document. After Abraham died in June, later that same year, on December 24, 1677,  Elizabeth Sleeper Perkins married Alexander Denham. At 57, he was much older than she. They had two daughters, Sarah and Abial.

Elizabeth Sleeper Perkins, now Denham, was widowed yet again and married for a third time. This time it was to Richard Smith. in 1685. Some family trees on Ancestry.com show that Elizabeth lived until 1713, but I have yet to find any  documentation for a death date. I hope that her later years, at least, were peaceful ones. 


*****
Sources


1. King Philip's War. The History Channel: http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/king-philips-war

2. History of the Town of Hampton, New Hampshire, from its settlement in 1638 to the autumn of 1892, by Joseph Dow. Salem Press, 1893. Page 221: play.google.com/books/reader?printsec=frontcover&output=reader&id=iZU3N3rAtlQC&pg=GBS.PA221

3. Abraham Perkins, Jr.; Inventory of Estate, June 1677. New Hampshire Probate Files. Ancestry.com

4. New Hampshire Marriage Records Index, 1637-1947. Ancestry.com

5. Descendants of Isaac Perkins, Generation Three. www.genealogy.com/ftm/n/e/l/Valerie-F-Nelson/GENE3-0003.html

6. New Hampshire, Death and Disinterment Records, 1754-1947. Ancestry.com.


How I am related to Abraham Perkins, Jr.:



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