History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 9

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1672

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 9

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

iron hand in the case of the roystering Morton, who tried to set up the Maypole festival at Merrymount, still asserted itself on such privileged occasions as house raisings and huskings. No vigor of Puritani- cal custom can wholly restrain the innocent joyous- ness of youth and healthful spirits, and in spite of their serious views of life, there is plenty of evidence that the magistrates and elders were wise enough not to attempt wholly to repress the natural and inno- cent enjoyments of country life and manners. The religious views of the people, though severe in doc- trine, were not gloomy in practical application to the life of the colony, and the faith which had led them into the wilderness brightened and cheered their hard and simple life on the rocky and unpromising farms which so many were forced to receive as their portion of the soil. They had a spirit which was above repining, and which noted hardship chiefly as a providential opportunity for the development of Christian character. They belonged to that rare class of men who are never dominated by their sur- ronndings, but who, by mental and spiritual vigor, rise superior to the most powerful forces with which they are obliged to cope. The short lapse of time in which farms were brought under cultivation, roads built, orchards planted, mills erected and churches and schools established, bears witness, both to the wisdom with which the authorities allotted their pub- lic lands, giving the large grants to those who were able to employ labor to improve them, and to the wonderful vigor and natural resources of the indi- vidual settlers.

Among the most remarkable men who lived in that part of the Farms within the limits of Peabody was Sir George Downing. His father, Emanuel Down- ing, had several grants of land, one of which in the town was bought of him by John Pickering, and is the site of the house on Broad Street, still standing, built by Pickering. Another, already referred to, near Procter's corner, was in the central part of Brooks- by, and, as Mr. Upham points out, George Downing spent his later youth and early manhood there. Hunting and fishing were doubtless his amusements, and we may imagine him, fowling-piece in hand, traversing the woods which then thickly environed the scattered farms. He was one of the first class graduated from Harvard College in 1642; studied di- vinity ; after various travels he was brought to the notice of Cromwell, having returned to England at a time when so many of the exiled Puritans seemed to see the promise of an ideal English Commonwealth, and from chaplain was promoted to scout-master gen- eral in Cromwell's army. He married a sister of the Earl of Carlisle, became a member of Parliament for Scotland, and undertook high diplomatic missions for the Commonwealth, going at one time as ambassador to the Hlagne. At the restoration he kept in favor with the new government, and received from his new sov- ereign the order of knighthood. On his return to

995

PEABODY.

England he became a member of Parliament for Mor- pethi, and soon assumed control of the exchequer, in the management of which he displayed financial ge- nius and statesmanship of a very high order. Mr. Upham ascribes to him the origin of the celebrated Navigation Act, and the credit of originating the principle of specific appropriations in Parliament, a principle which has been embodied in American con- stitutional law. His name is perpetuated in Down- ing Street, in London, and by the college in Cam- bridge, England, established by the gift of his for- tune. Of all the young men who have gone from the historic region of the farms of the middle precinct of Salem, no one has left a more romantic and bril- lian record of political success. A sister, Ann, married Governor Bradstreet in 1680.

The farmers of Brooksby continued to develop the agricultural resources of the region with little of the eventful in their history, except their share in the military operations of the time. The descendants of the first settlers exhibited much of that love of the home soil which has ever characterized the race ; new families came in from time to time, and remote as the region was from immediate danger of Indian invasion, its annals are a simple record of peace and thrifty confort, if not prosperity.

The witchcraft delusion found some of its victims in the farms of the middle precinct. John Procter, who lived on the the Downing farm, was one of the most prominent of those who lost their lives in that strange uprising of superstition. He originally lived in Ipswich, where he had a valuable farm. He was a man of great native force and energy, bold and fearless in language, impulsive in feeling and some- times rash and hasty in action. The vigorous train- ing of what was then frontier life while it did not tend to lawlessness, cultivated a marked independ- ence of mind and manners in many of the farmers. Procter was a man of good property. His name appears in connection with the establishment of the Salem troop of horse. Mary Warren, one of the "afflicted " girls, was a servant in his family, and it seems but too evident that she was affected by ma- licious feelings toward the family. He accompanied his wife, Elizabeth, the daughter of John Thorndike, who was first arrested, from her arrest to her arraign- ment, and stood bravely and resolutely by her side, trying to support her under the terrible trials which she had to endure, without regard to the conse- quences to himself. Mr. Upham says that it was probably his fearless condemnation of the nonsense and the outrage perpetrated by the accusers in the examination of his wife which brought the ven- geance of the girls down on him. The account of the preliminary examination of these two good and brave people, before the magistrates in the meeting- house at Salem, on the 11th of April, 1692, stirs the blood to indignation against the folly of the courts and the malignity of the accusers. No coun-

sel was allowed, however, to any of the accused. Every sort of irregular evidence, not to be excused by doubtful precedent in English courts, was freely made nse of; the afflicted children were permitted not only to testify to seeing the spectral semblances of Goodman and Goodwife Procter in their cham - ber, but even to declare that they saw Goody Proc- ter sitting in the rafters of the meeting-house in open court, while the awe-struck spectators gazed upward, straining their eyes to behold the witch. The most transparent trickery failed to be detected. Parris, in his report, quoted by Upham, says of the beginning of the accusation against Procter, which happened while his wife was being examined :

" (By and by, both of them [the accusing girls], cried out of Goodman Procter himself, and said he was a wizard. Immediately many, if not all of the bewitched had grievous fits.)"

" Ann Putnam, who hurt you ?- Goodman Procter and his wife too."

" (Afterwards some of the afflicted cried, -- 'There is Procter going to take up Mrs. Pope's feet !' and her feet were immediately taken up.)

" What do you say, Goodman Procter, to these things ?- I know not. Iam innocent."

" (Abigail Williams cried out,-' There is Goodman Procter going to Mrs. Pope!' and immediately said Pope fell into a fit.)"

Some member of the court, who was wholly infatu- ated by the delusion, said to Procter,-" You see, the Devil will deceive you : the children could see what you was going to do before the woman was hurt."

One of the girls pretended to strike Goodwife Proc- ter, and drew her hand back crying that her fingers burned.

On such evidence Procter and his wife, with Good- wife Corey and others, were held by the magistrates for trial, and sent to the jail in Boston. Procter and his wife were tried on the 5th of August, and Procter himself was executed on the 19th of the same month. Ilis wife, owing to her condition, was reprieved for the time, and before the time arrived for her execu- tion the storm had spent itself, and she was saved from the gallows. She gave birth to a child two weeks after her husband's execution. He made his will with the manacles on his hands. So bitter was the wrath of the perseentors against the Procters that they not only arrested and tried to destroy all the adult men- bers of the family, but even relatives in Lynn. The children were left destitute and the home swept clear of its provisions by the sheriff. In spite of the dan- ger of such a proceeding, upwards of thirty citizens of Ipswich and a considerable number of their neighbors at the Farms signed and sent in petitions for clemen- cy in their case, testifying to the high standing of the couple. Notwithstanding his efforts, an appeal having been made by him to the ministers of Boston to pro- tect him in his rights, he was condemned and executed,

996

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

and his body thrown into a hasty and dishonored grave, from which, Upham states, tradition says that, like some others of the more prominent victims, his body was taken secretly by his family and buried with the family dead. Years afterward, in 1711, the Gene- ral Court, in a distribution of money to those who suffered from the l'earful consequences of the wicked- ness of the accusers and the infatuation of the people, gave to John Procter and his wife, and those who represented them, the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds, the largest sum given to any of the suf- ferers.

in prayer, and her course was marked as peculiar and caused an estrangement between herself and her hus- band. As it happened in so many other cases, the accusers were quick to resent any opposition, and holding the power of life and death in their hands, crushed down opposition in a manner so unscrupu- lous and so remorseless that the arguments of Mr. Upham as to the deliberate character of the conspir- acy seem unanswerable.

The accusation of one of the girls set two of the citizens to call on Goodwife Corey, and her innocent and sprightly conversation was tortured into evidence against her. On her appearance at Thomas Putnam's one of the girls fell in a fit, and declared that Goody Corey was the author of her sufferings. Upon this conclusive evidence a warrant was issued for her ar- rest on the 19th of March, and on the 21st she was examined in the meeting-house at the village. Her examination is preserved by Mr. Upham, and shows that she was a bright, fearless old woman, who hardly seemed to realize the danger in which she stood. The ridiculous accusations in some instances made her laugh, which was thought a most convincing proof of devilish light-mindedness. She was bound over for trial by Justices Hathorne and Corwin. At her examination she requested to be allowed to " go to prayer," which was refused by the magistrates, though the Rev. Mr. Noyes, at the beginning of the proceedings, had put up what might be described as an exceedingly ex parte petition. It is probable that the managers of the excitement feared the effect which such a prayer might have on the spectators.

At that time attainder, including forfeiture of property to the State, was an incident of conviction for felony ; and it was doubless the desire to save his property for his children which chiefly induced Giles Corey to stand mute and refuse to plead to his indiet- ment; and so to submit himself to the horrible and barbarous form of death which has made his the most remarkable figure among the victims of that cruel conspiracy. Corey lived on a good farm of about one hundred and fifty acres, in what is now the north- western part of Peabody. He was a man of great in- dependence of character, careless of conventionalities, and hardened by the severities of farming life in that period to a cross-grained disregard for the opinions and talk of his neighbors. He was, throughout his life at the Farms, often in difficulties with others, sometimes seeking redress at law for injuries claimed by him, and sometimes dealt with for hard blows or unconcealed disregard of the rights of his neighbors. It is probable, as Mr. Upham thinks, that he was not nearly so bad as the reports of the day made him out, The criticisms of her husband for her failure to fall in with the current delusion were made use of against her, and a deposition of his, not directly accusing her, but evidently intended to weigh against her, is found on the records. On the 9th of September she was tried and condemned. Two days after, she was form- ally excommunicated from the Village church. Mr. Parris, with two deacons and Lieutenant Putnam, went to convey this sentence to her, and found her "very obdurate, justifying herself, and condemning all that had done anything to her just discovery or condemnation. Whereupon, after a little discourse (for her imperiousness would not suffer much), and after prayer-which she was willing to decline-the dreadful sentence of excommunication was pro- nounced against her." Calef says that " Martha Corey, protesting her innocency, concluded her life with an eminent prayer upon the ladder." She was executed September 22, 1692. and that he was not essentially a lawless or unprinci- pled man. He was once or twice arrested on suspi- cion of serions offences, but always cleared himself, and continued to live on in his own way, with a fair share of prosperity. He and John Procter figure on the records as opponents in various disputes ; indeed, Corey was examined at one time on suspicion of set- ting Procter's house on fire, but it appeared clearly that he was innocent, and he in turn instituted pros- ecutions for defamation against Procter and his ac- cusers, in which he recovered against them all. His third wife, Martha, was a woman notable for piety, and a member of the village church; and it may have been owing to her influence that Corey himself, only a year or two before the witchcraft times, when he was eighty years old, offered himself and was re- ceived into membership at the First Church in Salem ; and the records of that church state that though he was of a " scandalous life " he made a con- The dwelling-house of Corey was near the crossing of the Salem and Lowell and Georgetown and Boston railroads on the south side of the former road, a little distance to the west of the crossing. He had lived previously in the town of Salem, and sold his house there in 1659. fession of his sins satisfactory to that body. Ile was completely carried away by the fanaticism of the time, and frequented the examinations of the accused and believed all that he heard. Martha Corey, on the other hand, did not approve of the proceedings, and did not hesitate to express her want of faith in Giles Corey, as has been remarked, was indueed to the afflicted children. She spent much of her time ' give some sort of evidence concerning his wife, but it

997

PEABODY.

does not appear to be of much importance. It is very probable, as Upham suggests, that the hostility of the accusers was incurred by him for his luke- warm deposition against her. It is very likely, too, that when the accusation was brought home to his own family, and his wife, whom it is evident he knew to be a good and pious woman, was subjected to ex- amination and committed to prison, he began to see matters in their true light, and expressed himself with his usual freedom. He was examined April 19, 1692, in the meeting-house at the village. The usual performances of the accusers were gone through with; they fell into fits, and were afflicted with grievous pinches, at which the court ordered his hands to be tied. The magistrates lost all control of themselves, and flew into a passion, exclaiming, "What ! is it not enough to act witchcraft at other times, but must you do it now in the face of authority ?" He seems to have been dumbfounded by these inexplicable pro- ceedings, and could only say, " I am a poor creature, and cannot help it." Upon the motion of his head again, they had their heads and necks afflicted.

One of his hands was let go, and several were afflicted. He held his head on one side and then the heads of several of the afflicted were held on one side. Ile drew in his cheeks, and the cheeks of some of the afflicted were sucked in. Through all this out- rageous accusation he firmly asserted his innocence. His spirit is shown by the indignation with which he repelled one charge. Some of the witnesses testified that Corey had said that he had seen the devil in the form of a black hog, and was very much frightened. He denied the imputation of cowardice, and when " divers witnessed that he had told them he was frighted," he was asked "Well, what do you say to these witnesses ? What was it frighted you ?" He answered proudly, "I do not know that ever I spoke the word in my life."

He was much oppressed and distressed by his situ- ation, and the share that he had had in promoting the excitement in the case of his wife and others doubtless added to his distress of mind. His sons-in-law, Cros- by and Parker, were in sympathy with the crowd that pursued him, and he was accused of having meditated suicide.

He was bound over for trial and committed to jail. He was indicted by the grand jury upon spectral evi- dence chiefly, as appears by the few brief depositions on file.

What were his thoughts and feelings in his impris- onment there is little record to show, but there is reason to believe that in spite of his courage and fearlessness, he suffered greatly in mind. His eyes were fully opened to the wickedness, not only of his own acensation, but of that of all the other victims, and the utter injustice of the proceedings against him, and in the silence and gloom of his prison he made up his mind to that invincible determination which made his fate unique in the annals of legal

procedure in America and shocking even beyond that of any of his innocent fellow-sufferers.

He resolved to stand mute at his arraignment, and so not only save his property from the effects of the attainder, but make a protest against the injustice of the courts and juries and the malignity of his accus- ers, which should stand as long as history continued to record the awful deeds then done in the name of the law against innocent and God-fearing men and women. Ile meant, also, to attest the strength of his feelings towards those who had been true to him and to his wife, and his vengeance toward those who had sworn and acted against him and her. He caused to be drawn up a deed of conveyance while he was in the jail at Ipswich, by which he conveyed all his property to his two sons-in-law who had been faithful to him, and executed it in the presence of competent witnesses. It was not certain whether this deed, though executed before the time of his trial, would stand against the attainder consequent upon his con- viction ; he had looked upon conviction as a foregone conclusion, for he had no faith in the justice of court or jury. When he was called into conrt to answer to his indictment, whether he was guilty or not guilty, he refused to answer. We do not know how often he was called forth, but nothing could shake him,-he stood mute. As Mr. Upham says :

" He knew that the gates of justice were closed, and that truth had fled from the scene. He would have no part nor lot in the matter; re- fused to recognize the court, made no response to its questions, and was dumb in its presence. He stands alone in the resolute defiance of his attitude. He knew the penalty of suffering and agony he would have to pay ; but he freely and fearlessly encountered it. All that was needed to carry his point was ao unconquerable firmness, and he had it. Ile rendered it impossible to bring him to trial, aod thereby, iu spite of the power and wrath of the whole country and its authorities, retained his right to dispose of his property ; and hore his testimony against the wickedness and folly of the hour in tones that reached the whole world, and will resound through all the ages."

In modern law, the prisoner who stands mute is deemed to have pleaded not guilty. But the English common law, to which the colony was subject in criminal matters, knew of no means by which the trial could proceed unless the acensed answered to bis indictment in open court. It is obvious that if any light penalty had attended such refusal to plead, many would have availed themselves of it; and so the policy of the old law was to provide an ordeal so awful that no one would deliberately undergo it. The prisoner was to be three times brought before the court and called to plead; the consequences of his refusal being solemnly announced to him each time. If he remained obdurate, the terrible sentence of peine forte et dure was passed upon him ; and he would be laid on his back on the floor of a dungeon, mostly naked. A weight of iron would be put upon him, not quite enough to crush him. He would have no sustenance except on the first day, three morsels of the worst bread, and on the second day, three draughts of standing water from the pool nearest the prison door ; and, still oppressed by the weight, he should

998

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

thus on alternate days eat and drink till he died or till he answered. If he answered, he was at once re- lieved, and tried in the ordinary way. It may well be imagined that when the only object of endurance was to save property from confiscation, few, indeed, would ever long endure such torture. But Corey had an- other motive, which lent strength to his spirit such as ranks him with the most courageous souls of all history.

Just what happened in his prison was never re- vealed ; but according to tradition, Corey was at last taken out into an open field near Salem jail, some- where between Howard Street Burial-ground and Brown Street. He gave his executioners to under- stand that it was useless to prolong the ordeal, for he would never yield. They piled the heavy stones on his body, and Calef says that some inhuman specta- tor or official forced his tongue, protruding in the agony of his suffocation, back into his mouth with a cane. His indomitable courage endured to the end, and he died firm, as he had declared he would. Such a scene, if imagined ever so faintly, will serve to bring back to us the crushing effect of the supersti- tious fears of the people, who could see in this most pathetic and marvellous instance, in a man over eighty-one years of age, of the power of a resolute will over the extremest agony of body, only a proof of devilish and malignant power.

Ilis death produced a deep effect, and startled many into a feeling of growing repugnance and sus- picion towards the witcheratt proceedings. He was excommunicated from the First Church. by the ageney of the Rev. Mr. Noyes, at a meeting hurriedly called for that purpose, just before his death.

Such was the record of the victims of the witchcraft delusiou and conspiracy, for it may fairly be believed that it was both, in the farms of the middle precinct. With the exception of the Shafflin girl, whom a timely whipping brought to her senses before she did any harm, none of the accusers lived in the limits of Peabody. Ofthepublic excitement, the fear, first of the witches, and then of the aceusers,-the indignant sym- pathy of friends, the ready spirit of superstitious and credulous hatred toward the accused, which filled the region for so many long and awful months, little record remains. The Procters continued to live on their farms, and resumed their influential position in the society of the place ; but it may well be imagined that the ties that bound the people to either the First Church, presided over by Mr. Noyes, or the village, where Parris was trying to retain his hold against the heartfelt indignation of the relatives of those whom he had been so active in persecuting, were never afterward so binding or so attractive.

CHAPTER LXVII.

PEABODY-(Continued).

The Separation of the Middle Precinct.

IN February, 1709-10, a petition was laid before the selectment of Salem, signed hy Captain Samuel Gardner and others, requesting the town of Salem to set off as a new precinct that part of the town outside of the town bridge and below the line of Salem Vil- lage. The reasons given are the distance of some of the families from the First Church in Salem, and the difficulty of general attendance on divine worship, and the growth of the district indicated. The bound- aries of the proposed precinct were laid down in this petition, which was embodied in the warrant for a special town-meeting to be held March 6, 1709-10.

" Viz., on a streight line from ye towne bridge to ye Spriog Pond where ye brook Runs out and soe along ye northern shore of said Pond to Lyn line, and then northward on Lyn Tine to ye Village Line, and then east ward on yo Village line to ffrostfish River and then as ye Saltwater Leads to yo Towne bridge first named (Excepting ouly James Symonds, John Sy- monds, John Norton & Math. Whittimore), viz., for granting unto ye inhabitants Dwelling within ye limits above mentioned to be free from paying Rates to ye Minister within ye bridge Provided they do at their owne ('ost and ('harge build a Meeting-house for ye Publick Worship of God among them and sustaine an Orthodox Minister to Preach in ye same."

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 9

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1672

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1672