Record of the trial of Grace Sherwood in 1705, Princess Anne County, for Witchcraft.
Princess Anne ss.
At a court held the 3rd of January 1705/6, present gentlemen: Mr. Beno (Benedict?) Burro, Colonel Moseley, Mr. John Cornick, Captain Hancock, Captain Chapman, justices
Whereas Luke Hill and uxor5 summoned Grace Sherwood to this court in suspicion of witchcraft and she failing to appear, it is therefore ordered that attachment to the sheriff do issue to attach her body to answer the said summons next court.
Princess Anne ss.
At a court held the 6th February 1705/6, present: Colonel Mosely, Colonel Adam Thorrowgood, Captain Chapman, Captain Hancock, Mr. John Cornick, Mr. Richardson (came late), justices
Suit for suspicion of witchcraft brought by Luke Hill against Grace Sherwood is ordered to be referred till tomorrow.
Princess Anne ss.
At a court held the 7th February 1705/6, present gentlemen: Colonel Moseley, Lieutenant Colonel Thorrowgood, Mr. John Richardson, Mr. John Cornick, Captain Chapman, Captain Hancock, justices
Whereas a complaint was brought against Grace Sherwood upon suspicion of witchcraft by Luke Hill, et cetera, and the matter being after a long time debated and ordered that the said Hill pay all fees of this complaint and that the said Grace be here next court to be searched according to the complaint by a jury of women to decide the said Differ,6 and the sheriff is likewise ordered to summon an able jury accordingly.
Princess Anne ss.
At a court held the 7th March 1705/6, Colonel Edward Mosely, Lieutenant L. Adam Thorrowgood, Major Henry Sprat, Captain Horatio Woodhouse, Mr. John Cornick, Captain Henry Chapman, Mr. William Smith, Mr. Jon Richardson, Captain George Hancock, justices
Whereas a complaint has been to this Duq court by Luke Hill and his wife that one Grace Sherwood of the county was and has been a long time suspected of witchcraft and has been as such represented wherefore the sheriff at the last court was ordered to summon a jury of women to the court to search her on the said suspicion, she assenting to the same. And after the jury was impaneled and sworn and sent out to make due inquiry and inspection into all circumstances, after a mature consideration, they bring in your verdict. Whereof the jury has searcheth Grace Sherwood and has found two things like teats with several other spots. Elizabeth Barnes, forewoman, Sarah Norris, Margaret Watkins, Hannah Dimis, Sarah Goddard, Mary Burgess, Sarah Sargent, Winifred Davis, Ursula Henley, Ann Bridges, Exable Waplies—Mary Cotle.
At a court held the 2nd May 1706, present: Mr. Jonathan Richardson, Major Henry Spratt, Mr. John Cornick, Captain Henry Chapman, Mr. William Smith, justices
Whereas a former complaint was brought against Grace Sherwood for suspicion of witchcraft, with by the attorney general’s report to his excellency in counsel was too general and not charging her with any particular act therefore represented to them that Princess Ann Court might if they thought fit have her examined de novo7 and the court being of opinion that there is great cause of suspicion does therefore order that the sheriff take the said Grace into his safe custody until she shall give bond and security for her appearance to the next court to be examined de novo and that the constable of that precinct go with this sheriff and search this said Grace’s house and all suspicious places carefully for all images and such like things8 as may any way strengthen the suspicion and it is likewise ordered that the sheriff summon an able jury of women. Also all evidences as can give in anything against her in evidence in behalf of our sovereign lady the queen to attend the next court accordingly.
Princess Ann ss.
At a court held the 6th June 1706, present, Mr. Jonathan Richardson, Captain Horatio Woodhouse, Mr. John Cornick, Captain Henry Chapman, Captain William Smith, Captain George Hancock, justices
Whereas Grace Sherwood of the county has been complained of as a person suspected of witchcraft and now being brought before this court in order for examination, they have therefore requested Mr. Maxmt. Bonah to present information against her as counsel in behalf of our sovereign lady the queen in order to her being brought to a regular trial.
Whereas an information in behalf of Her Majesty was presented by Luke Hill to y. court in pursuance to Mr. General Attorney Thomson’s report on his excellency’s order in Council the 16th April last about Grace Sherwood being suspected of witchcraft have thereupon sworn several evidences against her by which it doth very likely appear.
Princess Anne ss
At a court held the 7th of June 1706, Mr. Jonathan Richardson, Major Henry Spratt, Mr. John Cornick, Captain Chapman, Captain William Smith, Captain George Hancock, justices
Whereas at the last court an order was passed that the sheriff should summon an able jury of women to search Grace Sherwood on suspicion of witchcraft, which, although the same was performed by the sheriff, yet they refused,9 and did not appear. It is therefore ordered that the same persons be again summoned by the sheriff for their contempt to be dealt with according to the utmost severity of the law and that a new jury of women be by him summoned to appear next court to search her on the aforesaid suspicion and that he likewise summon all evidences that he shall be informed of as material in the complaint and that she continue in the sheriff’s custody unless she give good bond and security for her appearance at the next court and that she be of good behavior toward Her Majesty and all her liege people in the meantime.
Princess Ann ss
At a court held the 10th July 1706, present, Colonel Moseley, Captain Moseley, Captain Woodhouse, Mr. John Cornick, Captain Chapman, Captain William Smith, Mr. Richardson (came late), justices
Whereas Grace Sherwood being suspected of witchcraft has a long time waited for a fit opportunity for a further examination and by her consent and approbation of the court it is ordered that the sheriff take all such convenient assistance of boats and men as shall be by him thought fit to meet at Jonathan Harper’s plantation in order to take the said Grace forthwith and put her into above man’s depth and try her how she swims therein, always having care of her life to preserve her from drowning,10 and as soon as she comes out that he request as many ancient and knowing women as possible he can to search her carefully for all teats, spots and marks about her body not usual on others and that as they find the same to make report on oath to the truth thereof to the court and further it is ordered that some women be requested to shift and search her before she go into the water that she carry nothing about her to cause any further suspicion.
Whereas on complaint of Luke Hill in behalf of Her Majesty that now is against Grace Sherwood for a person suspected of witchcraft and having had sundry evidences sworn against her, proving many circumstances and which she could not make any excuse or little or nothing to say in her own behalf, only seemed to rely on what the court should do and hereupon consented to be tried in the water and likewise to be searched again with experiments, being tried and she swimming when therein and bound contrary to custom and the Judgments of all the spectators and afterward being searched by five ancient women, who have all declared on oath that she is not like them nor no other woman that they knew of, having two things like teats on her private parts of a black color, being blacker than the rest of her body all with circumstance the court, weighing in their consideration, does therefore order that the sheriff take the said Grace into his custody and to commit her body to the common jail of this county, there to secure her by irons or otherwise, there to remain till such time as he shall be otherwise directed in order. For her coming to the common jail11 of the county to be brought to a future trial there.
J. J. Burroughs, county clerk.
Princess Anne County Clerk’s Office, 15 September 1832
MOB JUSTICE IN THE SOUTH 1712
As the eighteenth century proceeded, witchcraft continued to recede from the legal realm and grew more arcane and anecdotal. The following account suggests a small frisson of witchcraft in South Caro
lina, citing as evidence the continuation of anti-witchcraft laws on the books, and an anecdote about suspected witches being seized by a mob and burned. While impossible to substantiate, the persistence of the anecdote nevertheless indicates the passage of witchcraft from the realms of legal legitimacy to the hazy category of offenses to be addressed by the mob, or to whispered rumor and social sanction. But, crucially, mob justice is brought to bear when popular perception holds that a problem will not receive sufficient redress in the courts. Witchcraft had not vanished from North American consciousness. Far from it; witchcraft had merely changed venue from the courthouse to the street.1
In South Carolina, as late as 1712, the law “against Conjuration, Witchcraft, and dealing with evil and wicked Spirits,” was declared to be in force. It is quite probable that some cases of witchcraft had occurred among some of the South Carolinians, which caused the revival of the act of James the First; but what they were and how extensive, we have no means at hand to determine, as their chroniclers are silent upon the subject. But this is very certain, and that is, if they did not raise witches down there, they raised the Devil very early.
About this period some suspected of witchcraft were seized upon by a sort of ruffianly vigilance committee and condemned to be burned, and were actually roasted by fire, although we do not learn that the injuries thus inflicted proved fatal. The parties so tortured, or their friends, brought in action in the regular courts for the recovery of damages, but the jury gave them nothing!
LITTLETON, MASSACHUSETTS 1720
After Salem, belief in witchcraft persisted, though it tended to be met with rather more incredulity and caution than it had previously. The following account, a footnote to Governor Thomas Hutchinson’s broader discussion of Salem in The History of the Province of Massachusetts-Bay: From the Charter of King William and Queen Mary in 1691, Until the Year 1750, published in Boston in 1767, suggests in no uncertain terms that the afflicted girls were malingering. However, a large part of Hutchinson’s project in addressing witchcraft was concerned with drawing explicit lines between his own rational time and the superstitious days of his forebears. Hutchinson’s skepticism offsets the fact that in the following anecdote, the afflicted girls were universally believed until driven by their own Christian guilt to confess.1
In the year 1720, at Littleton in the county of Middlesex, a family was supposed to be bewitched. One J. B. had three daughters, of 11, 9, and 5 years of age. The eldest was a forward girl, and, having read and heard many strange stories, would surprise the company where she happened to be with her manner of relating them. Pleased with the applause, she went from stories she had heard to some of her own framing, and so on to dreams and visions, and attained the art of swooning and of being to appearance for some time breathless. Upon her revival, she would tell of strange things she had met with in this and other worlds. When she met with the words, God, Christ, the Holy Ghost, in the Bible, she would drop down with scarce any signs of life in her. Strange noises were often heard in and upon the house; stones came down the chimney and did great mischief. She complained of the specter of Mrs. D—y, a woman living in the town; and once, the mother of the girl struck at the place where the said D—y was, and the girl said, You have struck her on the belly, and upon enquiry it was found, that D—y complained of a hurt in her belly about that time. Another time, the mother struck at a place where the girl said there was a yellow bird, and she told her mother she had hit the side of its head, again it again appeared that D—y’s head was hurt about the same time. It was common to find her in ponds of water, crying out she should be drowned, sometimes upon the top of the house, and sometimes upon the tops of trees, where she pretended she had flown, and some fancied they had seen her in the air. There were often the marks of blows and pinches upon her, which were supposed to come from an invisible hand.
The second daughter, after her sister had succeeded so well, imitated her in complaints of D—y, and outdid her in feats of running up on the barn, climbing trees, et cetera, and, what was most surprising, the youngest attempted the same feats, and in some instances went beyond her sisters. The neighbors agreed they were under an evil hand, and it was pronounced a piece of witchcraft, as certain as that there ever had been any at Salem, and no great pains were taken to detect the imposture. Physicians had been at first employed but to no purpose. And afterward ministers were called to pray over them but without success. At length D—y, not long after the supposed blows, took to her bed, and after some time died, and the two eldest girls ceased complaining. The youngest held out longer, but all persisted in it, that there had been no fraud. The eldest, not having been baptized, and being come to adult age, desired and obtained baptism, and the minister then examined her upon her conduct in the affair, and she persisted in her declarations of innocency. In 1728, having removed to Medford, she offered to join the church there, and gave a satisfactory account of herself to the minister of the town; but he knew nothing of the share she had had in this transaction. The Lord’s day before she was to be admitted, he happened to preach from this text, “He that speaketh lies shall not escape.”2 The woman supposed the sermon to be intended for her and went to the minister, who told her nobody had made any objection against her; but being determined to confess her guilt, she disclosed the fraud of herself and her sisters, and desired to make a public acknowledgment, in the face of the church; and accordingly did so. The two sisters, seeing her pitied, had become actors also with her, without being moved to it by her, but when she saw them follow her, they all joined in the secret and acted in concert. They had no particular spite against D—y, but it was necessary to accuse somebody, and the eldest having pitched upon her, the rest followed. The woman’s complaints, about the same time the girl pretended she was struck, proceeded from other causes, which were not then properly enquired into. Once, at least, they were in great danger of being detected in their tricks; but the grounds of suspicion were overlooked, through the indulgence and credulity3 of their parents. Manuscript of the Reverend Mr. Turell, minister of Medford.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 1728
This letter in a Boston newspaper describes a witch trial in Austria, and is remarkable because of the assumptions that the letter writer made about its readership. In this context, the witch trial was presented as something exotic and foreign, a proceeding with customs that must be explained to rational Bostonian readers. However, the witch ducking described very closely mirrors the practice undertaken in Grace Sherwood’s trial in Virginia a scant twenty years earlier; it is not so very foreign after all. Further, the description of accused witches as including at least two prominent members of society, with allusion to their membership in a secret coven, would have inevitably stirred comparisons with Salem. To New Englanders hovering on the cusp of the Great Awakening,1 beginning to engage with God on a more personal level, this account would have been both intriguing and reassuring, marking as it does the difference between their own religious outlook and those of their immediate predecessors.2
From a Written Letter, Vienna, August 25
Letters from Segedin in Hungary, of the 26th of July, import that several persons of both sexes convicted of witchcraft have been condemned to be burned alive, but before they were executed, they put them upon the following trials (according to the custom of the country). The first was to tie their hands and feet and throw them into the water, who as sorcerers used to do, swam like a piece of wood, after which they were put into scales when it appeared that a large woman weighed but an ounce, and her husband but 5 drams, and the other still lighter,3 whereupon they were burned alive the 23rd past. There was among them a midwife who had baptized 2,000 children in the name of the Devil, and a man of 82 years old who was formerly a judge of that town.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 1737
Attitudes about witchcraft had been changing in Britain as well, culminating in the passage of the Witchcraft Act of 1735, referenced in the following New York newspaper article.
While witchcraft laws varied in North America from state to state, in Britain the 1735 law repealed the “Act against Conjuration, Witchcraft, and dealing with evil and wicked spirits” passed under King James I in 1604, which had established witchcraft as a felony under common law. For the first time, witchcraft was no longer to be held to be against the law as such, as it was now popularly thought to be a nonexistent crime. Instead, the new act would prosecute anyone who pretended to be practicing witchcraft, including dowsing for water, conjuring to find lost objects, or summoning spirits.
Such witch pretenders would be prosecuted as con artists and charlatans, rather than being charged with a felony punishable by death. What is remarkable about the passage of this law, however, is that the content of the supposed offenses stays essentially the same. Witchcraft, if we understand it to be a set of practices or beliefs, continues to exist under the 1735 law. In effect, the belief in witchcraft—its content, its reality, the existence of its practitioners—stays consistent, but the areas of perceived risk have changed.1
From the White-Hall Evening-Post.
London, July 21, 1737
SIR,
I send you enclosed a very remarkable letter concerning the late cruel usage of a poor old woman in Bedfordshire, who was suspected of being a witch. You will see by it that the late law for abolishing the act against witches has not abolished credulity of the country people; but I hope it has made proper provision for punishing their barbarity on such occasions. I am, sir, yours, et cetera, A. B.
Extract of a Letter about the Trial of a Witch.
OAKLEY, THREE MILES FROM BEDFORD
SIR,
The people here are so prejudiced in the belief of witches, that you would think yourself in Lapland, were you to hear their ridiculous stories. There is not a village in the neighborhood but has two or three. About a week ago I was present at the ceremony of ducking a witch, a particular account of which may not perhaps be disagreeable to you.