Category: Colonial Women

Witchcraft in Connecticut Murder may be the surest ticket to the death chamber in Connecticut today, but 350 years ago, witchcraft was the crime most likely to result in a death sentence. Connecticut made witchcraft a capital offense as far back as 1642. Between 1647, when Alice Young of Windsor was hanged for witchcraft, to 1663, when the state’s taste for executing suspected witches began to wane, Connecticut convicted and executed more witches than anywhere else in colonial America. At least seven suspected witches were executed during that time.

The Year: 1638 Image: Sarah Kiersted Translating for Lenape chief Oratam Painting depicts Sarah Kiersted, a Dutch woman in New Netherlands who learned the Lenape language and served Chief Oratam as a translator in his negotiations with Dutch colonists. She was rewarded by him in 1666 with a gift of 2260 acres of land on the Hackensack River. The Lenape Nation When Verrazano sailed into Delaware Bay in 1524, and when Henry Hudson cast anchor at Sandy Hook in 1609, the land was occupied by Native Americans. The Lenape Nation lived throughout what would become New Jersey. They were farmers, hunters, and fishermen.

The Groton Witch Elizabeth Knapp was born in Massachusetts in 1655. At age 16, she was a servant in the household of Reverend Samuel Willard of Groton, Massachusetts when she first exhibited signs of being possessed by the Devil. As her symptoms intensified – she fell into violent fits, complained of being strangled, and attempted to throw herself into the fire – Reverend Willard observed that she began to “carry herself in a strange and unwonted manner,” saw apparitions, and experienced violent “fits” over a period of three months.

The Year: 1656 Image: Segregation The segregation of men and women in a Quaker meeting, as shown in this image, was linked to the idea of a role for each. The early history of attitudes toward gender in the Society of Friends, given the popular name Quakers, is particularly notable for providing for one of the largest and most equitable roles for women in the Christian tradition at the time. Their views of women have always been considered progressive. The Society of Friends originated in England in the seventeenth century and quickly spread to the English colonies. The most surprising aspect of Quakerism was the fact that ministry – the right to speak during a Quaker meeting – was open…

Calvert Presents Acts of Toleration to Governer Stone The Year: 1648 Verlinda Graves was born about 1618 in England. William Stone was born in England around 1603. He came from a well-known merchant family in London. William came to America in1628 with a group of Puritans who settled on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. Verlinda and William were married in the 1630s in Virginia, and they had seven children. The Stones were successful in the Chesapeake, and respected by their neighbors. William worked as a merchant and planter. He was appointed justice of the peace, and then sheriff in Accomack County, and a burgess in the Virginia Assembly. The settlement thrived there, but eventually came into conflict…

Accused Witch in Boston It seems that when we think of witches we automatically think of Salem, but colonial Boston experienced a number of witchcraft episodes during the seventeenth century. Witchcraft involves the use of supernatural powers such as clairvoyancy, invisibility, flying, and the ability to kill at a distance. A witch is usually viewed as one who manipulates unexplainable forces through spells and other rituals. Belief in witchcraft was prevalent in Europe, and scores of people had been convicted and put to death in England during the 1640s. Stories of those proceedings reached the New World, and led the people of Boston to fear for their own safety.