The Salem Witch Who Loved God: Mary Esty

The Salem Witch Who Loved God : Mary Esty by Ann Ransdell (2013, Hardcover)

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The couple had eight children, six of whom were born in England: The Towne family later came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony sometime between the years and They first lived in an area of Salem Village known as Northfields. In , they moved to Topsfield after William Towne purchased some property there. The name of Rebecca Nurse, who suffered the death of a martyr, will endure with time through the centuries yet to come, and they who are her descendants, and descendants of her martyr sisters, will look back with pleasure to the fact that she and they are their ancestors, for they were good, innocent and unoffending women, the victims of fanaticism as unjust in it accusations as it was cruel and barbarous in meting out its punishment.

This unfortunate episode in the history of the Towne family brought no disgrace upon the name, and there lives not one descendant of either Rebecca Towne Nurse or her sister Mary Towne Easty who cannot feel a just pride in the noble characters of those martyr mothers. The couple had seven children together and owned one of the largest farms in Salem Village.

However, local gossip during the infamous trials suggested that the witch profession was handed down from mother to daughter. Various sources on the subject indicate Joanna was never formally accused of the crime and instead was merely the subject of rumors of witchcraft after she came to the defense of a Topsfield minister, Rev. Thomas Gilbert, who had been brought to court on the charge of intemperance. The charge was the result of rumors and accusations made by the local Gould family.

The Goulds reportedly became angered when Joanna testified on behalf of Gilbert in court and later spread rumors that she was a witch, according to the book Currents of Malice: Such battles were endemic in early New England towns, and were to escalate to a terrible climax in neighboring Salem Village, twenty-two years later…. The first settled minister in Topsfield, the Reverend William Perkins, had been minister at Gloucester.

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His detractors on the other hand, did not hesitate to hail him into court on the charge of drunkeness…His replacement in was Reverend Thomas Gilbert, a Scotsman. It was not long before he too was in trouble, and for much the same reason. These families were on opposite sides of a quarrel involving the Reverend Gilbert…. At the time of the court trials in which Goodwife Towne appeared in , she had been a widow for two years.

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Joanna Towne set herself up against the whole Gould clan in her spirited defense of the Reverend Gilbert. It should be noted that the Gould family were actually close friends of the Putnam family, who later became some of the most active accusers in the Salem Witch Trials, and were the main accusers against Mary Easty and her sisters Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Cloyce. In a suit brought in , Isaac Easty sen.

John Putnam from cutting timber on their land; the said Capt.

According to the book Legal Executions in New England, Easty herself had a good reputation in Salem and had little reason to be accused of witchcraft. Many historians suspect the reason she was accused was most likely due to the bad blood between her and the Putnams and due to the fact that she was directly related to several suspected witches. Mary Easty was officially accused of witchcraft in April of and arrested on April 21, just a few weeks after her two sisters had been arrested on the same charge.

Doth this woman hurt you? What do you say, are you guilty? I can say before Christ Jesus, I am free. You see these accuse you.

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There is a God — [Magistrate to the afflicted girls]: Hath she brought the book to you? Their mouths were stopped. What have you done to these children? Would you have me accuse my self? Yes if you be guilty. How far have you complied with Satan whereby he takes this advantage against you? Sir, I never complied but prayed against him all my days, I have no compliance with Satan, in this. What would you have me do? Confess if you be guilty. I will say it, if it was my last time, I am clear of this sin.

Are you certain this is the woman? Never a one could speak for fits. Well Sir would you have me confess that that I never knew? Is this the woman? Goody Easty, Goody Easty you are the woman, you are the woman Put up her head, for while her head is bowed the necks of these are broken. What do you say to this? Why God will know. Nay God knows now. I know he does. What did you think of the actions of others before your sisters came out, did you think it was Witchcraft? Why do you not think it is Witchcraft?

It is an evil spirit, but wither it be witchcraft I do not know. On May 18, Easty was released on her own recognizance but one of her accusers, Mercy Lewis , continued to accuse Easty of tormenting her. As a result, Easty was arrested again only 48 hours later. There is no record of the original complaint against Easty or her first arrest warrant from April but court records indicate that another complaint was made against her on May 20 by John Putnam, Jr. There is no record of this examination. Easty was indicted on two charges of witchcraft and taken to the jail in Ipswich, and was later moved to the jail in Boston.

Other people testified as well, such as Samuel Smith who said five years earlier he had gotten into an argument with Mary Easty at her house and when he was returning home he suffered a blow to his shoulder from an invisible force and heard a nearby stone wall rattle. Another person, Margaret Reddington, told the court that three years earlier she was visiting Mary Easty and suddenly fell ill. According to the book More Wonders of the Invisible World, Easty was brought to trial on September 9 and found guilty. During the course of her trial, Easty filed two petitions.

One was filed jointly with her sister Sarah Cloyce while the other was filed by herself. In the petition, Easty accepts that although she is innocent she is to be put to death and asks the magistrates to reconsider their actions to spare any future victims the same injustice. As the book Puritans in America says about the petition: Governor and to the honoured Judge and Magistrates now setting in Judicature in Salem.

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Hale would stop afflicting her. Herrick was neither one of the original accusers in the Salem Witch Trials nor did she give testimony in any of the cases. It is not known if this is true but there are a lot of factors that helped bring the witch trials to an end and it is possible that the petition could have been one of them. In , the colony passed a bill clearing the names of some of the convicted witches and paid restitution to their families. Site of the Salem Witch Trials Executions: Former Site of the Salem Courthouse: Memorial plaque located on Masonic Temple.

More Wonders of the Invisible World.

A second warrant was issued that night for Eastey's arrest. She was taken from her bed and returned to the prison; Lewis ceased her fits after Eastey was chained. Eastey was tried and condemned to death on September 9. Robert Calef , in More Wonders of the Invisible World , described Eastey's parting words to her family "as serious, religious, distinct, and affectionate as could be expressed, drawing tears from the eyes of almost all present.

Cotton Mather , to his later embarrassment, denounced them as "eight firebrands of Hell".

Ann Ransdell (Author of The Salem Witch Who Loved God)

On the gallows she prayed for an end to the witch hunt. Of her two sisters, likewise charged with witchcraft, Rebecca Nurse was hanged on July 19, , but Sarah Cloyce was released in January Calef also published Mary Eastey's last petition to the Court, of which it has been said that no more moving document has ever been addressed to any judge. Mary pleaded not for her own life but for those of the others falsely accused: Herrick testified that she was visited by Eastey's ghost, who told her she had been put to death wrongfully and was innocent of witchcraft, and that she had come to vindicate her cause.

Eastey's family was compensated with 20 pounds from the government in for her wrongful execution. Her husband Isaac lived until June 11, Mary Eastey's grandson Daniel Eastey fled the country and changed his name during his grandmother's trial, and then moved to Miramichi, New Brunswick , Canada. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Salem Village , Province of Massachusetts Bay. Text of Mary Eastey's handwritten appeal of sentence [1] [2]. This section needs additional citations for verification.

The Salem Witch Who Loved God: Mary Esty by Ann Ransdell

Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. October Learn how and when to remove this template message. Retrieved 10 December The Salem Witchcraft Papers. Revised, corrected, and augmented by Benjamin C. Ray and Tara S. Archived from the original on 19 March

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