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Family Group View |
Pedigree View |
Gender |
Female |
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Date Of Birth
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ABT 1635 |
Date Of Death |
AFT 12 SEP 1696 |
Place Of Birth
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Place Of Death |
Fairfield, Fairfield County, Connecticut |
Date Of Baptism
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Date Of Christening
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Date Of Emigration |
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Fact Notes
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Death - Will of Mary Staples, 12 September 1696, sons Thomas, John and daughters Mary, wife of Josiah Harvey and Hannah, wife of John Beach, friend Widow Mary Slawsonk as a token of my love for her kindness to me, grandchild Hannah Harvey, grandchild Mehitabel Fanton. to Nathan Gold a book by Dr. Preston. |
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Individual Notes
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It is she, not her daughter who underwent trials for witchery.
"At a court of Magistrates held May 29, 1654(or 1653), the plaintiff
Thomas Staples claimed the Roger Ludlow had defamed his wife in
reporting to Mr. and Mrs. Davenport that firstly, she had causedKnapp's
wife to be "new searched" after she was hanged , and when she saw her
teats, said if they were the marks of a witch then she was one, orthat
she had such marks;
secondly, Mr. Ludlow said Knapp's wife told him that Goodwife Staples
was a witch;
thirdly, Mr. Ludlow had slandered Goodwife Staples in saying she madea
trade of lying.
The magistrate present, Th eophilus Eaton Esq.,Governor ofConnecticut,
Mr. Stephen Goodyear, Deputy Gover nor, together with Francis Newman,
William Fowler and William Leete found Goodwife Staples innocent of
being a witch and that Ludlow had truly slandered her, ordering him to
pay a fine of 10 pounds damages and 5 pounds for trouble caused .
Nearly 40 years later, after Mrs. Staples had been widowed, she found
herself accused again. On September 15,1692, in the height of theSalem
witch trials, Mary Staples along with four others were arrested and
tried in Fairfield Connecticut. While Staples was acquitted, two ofthe
women were subjected to the "Water test". It appears that none of the
women suffered capital punishment. As this was a time when thehysteria
was winding down and common sense began to take back it's place,
possibly reason found its place in Fairfield as well.
Mrs. Staples died four years later. Although her age at the time of
death is not known, she was likely in her seventies.[Archie.FTW]
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