Before Salem, there was Hartford, home to a multi-generational witch hunt, and the executor of the first witch in American history.
Alse (Alice) Young was born in New Windsor, Berkshire, England in 1615. At the age of 20, she traveled to the New World, and in Windsor Connecticut, she married John Young, and together they had a daughter named Alice Young.
In 1647, Alse was accused of witchcraft. Little is known about the initial reasoning for her accusation, however an influenza epidemic had swept through the area, including the town of Windsor, that same year. The mortality rate increased dramatically, and included many children, leading some to believe this was behind the accusation.
Witchcraft was punishable by death in the Connecticut Colony. It was considered a capital offense, backed with references from the King James version of the Bible.
Exodus 22:18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Leviticus 20:27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood (shall be) upon them.
On May 26, 1647, Alse Young was hanged at the Meeting House Square in Hartford, Connecticut on what is now the site of the Old State House. A journal has since been recovered that once belonged to then Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop. Inside, it is found, “One… of Windsor arraigned and executed at Hartford for a witch.”
The death of Alse Young was also recorded by the second town clerk of Windsor, Matthew Grant in his May 26, 1647 diary entry, “Alse Young was hanged.”
Most did not know, however about the story of Alse Young until December 3, 1904, when Annie Eliot Trumbull, the daughter of James Hammond Trumbull (Connecticut’s first librarian), revealed the identity of the first colonial witch hanging victim to the public in an article in the Hartford Courant entitled “One Blank of Windsor”.
“It would seem a marvellous panic, this that shook the rugged reasoners in its iron grasp, and led to such insanity as this displayed toward Alse Young, did we not know that it was but the result of a normal inhuman law confirmed by a belief in the divine, the direct legacy of England, the unquestionable utterance of Church and State.”
One Blank of Windsor,
Annie Eliot Trumbull.
Alse Young was first to be hanged, followed by 5 more that same year. But more was to come over the next 50 years.
Late March, 1662, Goodwife Ayers returned home with Elizabeth, the 8 year old daughter of her neighbors, John and Bethia Kelly in Hartford Connecticut. The following night, Elizabeth became ill, and exclaimed, “Father! Father! Help me, help me! Goodwife Ayres is upon me. She chokes me. She kneels on my belly. She will break my bowels. She pinches me. She will make me black and blue.”
John and Kelly were distraught. When Elizabeth died, they believed that it was the work of the devil, that she had been fatally possessed by Goody Ayres.
After the death of Elizabeth, Ann Cole became “afflicted,” shaking violently and spouting blasphemy. Ann was a pious woman, and was reportedly, “taken with strange fits, wherein she (or rather the devil, as ‘tis judged, making use of her lips) held a discourse for a considerable time.” Ann blamed her bewitchment on her neighbor, Rebecca Greensmith, who was described as being lewd, ignorant, and a considerably aged woman.
Hysteria swept over Hartford as accusations of bewitchment flew with fingers pointing at numerous townspeople. Goody Ayres and Rebecca Greensmith were the first accused, but as more were accused, the accused began to blame others, even their spouses. It was a vicious circle with neighbors testifying against neighbors. Even the husband of Goody Ayres joined in, accusing Greensmith of witchcraft.
In court, Rebecca Greensmith, reportedly admitted to having “familiarity with the devil” said that “at Christmas they would have a merry meeting” to form a covenant. She implicated her husband and said she had met in the woods with seven other witches, including Goody Ayres, Mary Sanford and Elizabeth Seager. Neighbors testified that they saw Seager dancing with other women in the woods and cooking mysterious concoctions in black kettles.
The Greensmiths were subjected to the swimming test in which their hands and feet were bound and they were cast into the water to test the theory that witches are unable to sink. After they were tried, the Greensmiths were indicted “for not having the fear of God before thine eyes; thou hast entertained familiarity with Satan the grand enemy of God and mankind and by his help hast acted things in a preternatural way. According to the law of God and the established law of this commonwealth, thou deserves to die.”
Although Rebecca Greensmith had confessed, her husband, Nathaniel, protested his innocence. But the damage had already been done, and both were hung, along with Mary Sanford, and Mary Barnes of Farmington Connecticut.
After their deaths, Ann Cole was miraculously “restored to health.”
Goody Ayres fled while Elizabeth Seager was convicted of witchcraft in 1665. She was spared the noose, however, as the governor reversed her verdict the following year.
The final witch trial in Connecticut was held in 1697. During the time of the Hartford witch hunts, there were 46 prosecutions and at least 11 executions.
Witch hunts continued however, in places such as Tennessee. There we have the story of the Bell Witch in 1817.