Josephs, Pearson, Paige & Vail ancestors
connected with accusations of witchcraft
| Beach, Thomas | V | New Haven CT | Sister-in-law, Mary Staples Beach, twice accused of witchcraft; arrested, tried, and found innocent |
| Bishop, John | V | Guilford CT | Brother James cited in 1653 witchcraft trial; a Mrs. Godman, jealous of his wife, said to have brought fits and miscarriages upon her |
| Bulkeley, Gershom (Rev.) | J | New London CT | Took in young Mercy Holbridge from her Puritan minister stepfather; found her “blameless & inoffensive”; later, as Mercy Disbrow, she was tried for witchcraft in Fairfield CT, twice sentenced to death, and got off after intervention by Rev. Timothy Woodbridge (see Hurlbutt, Thomas and Warren, Abigail) |
| Chatfield, Ann Higginson | V | Salem MA | Brother Rev. John Higginson may have opposed witch trials but his junior minister Nicholas Noyes actively pursued them; niece Ann Higginson Dolliver arrested for witchcraft but acquitted |
| Hawkins, Jane Angell | V | Portsmouth NH | Called a “witty crafty baggage” for preaching in England; as a midwife, accused of witchcraft for delivering deformed child of Quaker Mary Dyer (who was later hanged); banished, moved to RI |
| Holdridge, Isabella Craddock | Pr | Exeter NH | Principal witness against John Goddard (her landlord, to whom she owed money) at three Salem witch trials in 1659; murdered at Mast Swamp NH by Negro Jack in 1689 |
| Hurlbutt, Thomas III | V | Fairfield CT | Testified against Mercy Disbrow in 1692 witchcraft trial (See Bulkeley, Gershom and Warren, Abigail) |
| Goss, Richard | Pr | Portsmouth NH | Mother-in-law Jane Walford accused of witchcraft several times, sued twice, awarded damages |
| Ingersall, Nathaniel | Pr | Salem MA | Son Nathaniel was an accuser in at least seven Salem witchcraft trials; first hearings were held in his tavern |
| Mygatt, Sarah Webster | V | Hartford | Sister-in-law Mary Webster accused of witchcraft and tried in Boston in 1684; acquitted |
| Perkins, Mary | Pg | Salem MA | Accused as a witch; examined by Cotton Mather |
| Turpin, Thomas | Pr | Portsmouth NH | Accused of witchcraft after his death by drowning in 1649 |
| Vail, Jeremiah & Mary | V | Easthampton NY | Testifed in support of accused witch Goody Garlick, saying all the supposed supernatural events had simple, natural causes |
| Warren, Abigail | Pr | Fairfield CT | 2nd husband, Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, helped overturn death sentence for accused witch Mercy Disbrow, saying evidence wasn’t valid and she didn’t receive due process |
| Warren, John | Pr | Watertown MA | Granddaughter Elizabeth Knapp claimed possession by the devil; examined by Cotton Mather |
| Webster, John (Gov.) | V | Hadley MA | Daughter-in-law Mary Reeve Webster known as “Half-Hanged Mary”; accused by crowd, hanged and left for dead, cut down in the morning and lived another 14 years |
| Woodward, Elizabeth Mather | J | Northampton MA | Nephew Increase Mather was a force for moderation in the Salem trials; but her grand-nephew Cotton Mather was notorious for his prosecuting zeal |