BOSTON — In 1648, Margaret Jones, a midwife, was the primary individual in Massachusetts — the second one in New England — to be done for witchcraft, many years earlier than the notorious Salem witch trials.
Nearly 4 centuries later, the state and area are nonetheless operating to come to grips with the scope of its witch trial legacy.
The newest effort comes from a gaggle devoted to clearing the names of all the ones accused, arrested or indicted for witchcraft in Massachusetts, whether or not or now not the accusations ended in putting.
The Massachusetts Witch-Hunt Justice Project, made up of historical past buffs and descendants, is hoping to convince the state to take a fuller reckoning of its early historical past, in accordance to Josh Hutchinson, the gang’s chief.
Hundreds of people had been accused of witchcraft in what would turn out to be the Commonwealth of Massachusetts between 1638 and 1693. Most escaped execution.
While a lot consideration has taken with clearing the names of the ones put to dying in Salem, maximum of the ones stuck up in witch trials all through the 1600s have in large part been neglected, together with 5 ladies hanged for witchcraft in Boston between 1648 and 1688.
“It’s important that we correct the injustices of the past,” mentioned Hutchinson, who famous he counts each accusers and sufferers amongst his ancestors. “We’d like an apology for all of the accused or indicted or arrested.”
For now, the group has been collecting signatures for a petition but hopes to take their case to the Statehouse.
Among those accused of witchcraft in Boston was Ann Hibbins, sister-in-law to Massachusetts Gov. Richard Bellingham, who was executed in 1656. A character based on Hibbins would later appear in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter,” published in 1850.
Another accused Boston witch, referred to as Goodwife Ann Glover or Goody Glover, used to be hanged in town in 1688. A plaque devoted to her is situated at the entrance of a Catholic church in town’s North End community, describing her as “the first Catholic martyr in Massachusetts.” It’s one of the few physical reminders of the city’s witch trial history.
The witch justice group helped successfully spearhead a similar effort in Connecticut, home of the first person executed for witchcraft in the American colonies in 1647 — Alse Young. The last witchcraft trial in Connecticut happened in 1697 and ended with the charges being dismissed.
Connecticut state senators in May voted by 34-1 to absolve 12 women and men convicted of witchcraft — 11 of whom were executed — more than 370 years ago and apologize for the “miscarriage of justice” that took place over a dismal 15-year-period of the state’s colonial historical past.
The solution, which lists the 9 ladies and two males who had been done and the only girl who used to be convicted and given a reprieve, handed the House of Representatives through a vote of 121-30. Because it’s a solution, it does not require the governor’s signature.
For many, the far away occasions in Boston, Salem and past are each attention-grabbing and private. That contains David Allen Lambert, leader genealogist for the New England Historic Genealogical Society.
Lambert counts his tenth nice grandmother — Mary Perkins Bradbury — some of the accused who used to be meant to be hanged in 1692 in Salem however escaped execution.
“We can’t change history but maybe we can send the accused an apology,” he mentioned. “It kind of closes the chapter in a way.”
Massachusetts has already made efforts to come to phrases with its historical past of witch trials — lawsuits that allowed “spectral evidence” in which victims could testify that the accused harmed them in a dream or vision.
That effort began almost immediately when Samuel Sewall, a judge in the 1692-1693 Salem witch trials, issued a public confession in a Boston church five years later, taking “the blame and shame of” the trials and asking for forgiveness.
In 1711, colonial leaders passed a bill clearing the names of some convicted in Salem.
In 1957, the state Legislature issued a kind of apology for Ann Pudeator and others who “were indicted, tried, found guilty, sentenced to death and executed” in 1692 for witchcraft. The solution declared the Salem trials “shocking, and the result of a wave of popular hysterical fear of the Devil in the community.”
In 2001, acting Gov. Jane Swift signed a bill exonerating five women executed during the witch trials in Salem.
In 2017, Salem unveiled a memorial for the victims. The ceremony came 325 years to the day when Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Wildes were hanged at a site in Salem known as Proctor’s Ledge. Nineteen were hanged during the Salem witch trials while a 20th victim was pressed to death.
In 2022, lawmakers exonerated Elizabeth Johnson Jr., clearing her name 329 years after she was convicted of witchcraft in 1693 and sentenced to death at the height of the Salem witch trials. Johnson is believed to be the last accused Salem witch to have her conviction set aside.
Other states have worked to confront similar histories.
In Pownal, Vermont, a town that borders Massachusetts and New York, a dedication ceremony was held last month for a historical marker recognizing the survivor of Vermont’s only recorded witch trial. Widow Krieger was said to have escaped drowning in the Hoosic River when tried as a witch in 1785, according to the Legends and Lore marker.
Accusers believed witches floated but Krieger sank and was saved, the marker states.
The Sept. 16 dedication ceremony included a witches’ walk, in which people dressed as witches walked across a bridge to the marker site along the Hoosic River.
“I am sure Widow Krieger would have been quite happy to join our witches’ walk today in defiance of those who feel they have the right to accuse someone they feel looks different, acts different or has a personality that they might find odd, of being a witch,” said Joyce Held, a member of the Pownal Historical Society, which worked with the Bennington Museum to get the marker.
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AP reporter Lisa Rathke in Marshfield, Vermont, contributed.
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