EUNICE COLE, HAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS, LATER NEW HAMPSHIRE 1647–1680
Eunice Cole battled suspicion of being a witch for most of her life. She was repeatedly tried for witchcraft and ultimately imprisoned, though not put to death. Cole spent a good portion of her life in jail in Boston. Her repeated appearances in the Essex County court records paint a portrait of a quarrelsome woman whose life took a precipitous turn for the worse following her husband’s death. Possibly the most notorious moment in Cole’s many decades of suspicion is the 1673 escapade in which she attempted to entice a young girl, nine-year-old Ann Smith, into living with her. On many different occasions the relationship between witchcraft and children draws special attention. Often infants and children are the supposed victims of interference by witches or the objects of their covetous envy.1 Eunice Cole demonstrates the delicate relationship between class status, economic security, and reputation for women in this region during the first several decades of settlement, in which she served as both a foil and a potential cautionary tale to the other women in her community.
Complaint Against Eunice Cole2
Seventh month, 1647
Presentments made by the grand jury at the court holden at Ipswich upon 28th day of 7th month, 1647.
[ . . . ]
We do present Eunice Cole, the wife of William Cole of Hampton, for crying Murder! Murder! when as the constable did go to serve the execution (upon that which he had formerly differed on) witnesseth: William Fuller, William English, and Jack Perkins of Hampton affirm it on their oath.
We do present William Cole of Hampton for offering to rescue goods out of the constable’s hands being legally proceeded against for the same as also [illegible] himself and wife for the biting the constable by his hands at the same time. Witness:—William Fuller, William English, and Jack Perkins of Hampton affirm it on their oaths. William English affirmeth he saw them pull the constable down and pull the swines from him.
We do present the wife of William Cole of Hampton for saying that there was thieves there in the town and that William Fuller who is the constable was as bad as any of them. Witness: Wife [fuller?] csh: Jack Perkins of Hampton affirms on oath she said I do not know but he may be as bad as any of them.
We do present the wife of William Cole of Hampton for saying there was some persons in the town of Hampton which did forswear themselves and so did William Fuller forswear himself against his witness. William English and Jack Perkins of Hampton, William Fuller affirmeth this presentment on his oath.
Deposition of Goody Maston3
The deposition of Goody Maston and Goodwife Palmer, who, being sworn, saith that Goodwife Cole said that she was sure there was a witch in the town and she knew where he dwelt and who they are and that thirteen years ago she knew one bewitched as Goodwife Maston’s child was and she said she was sure that party was bewitched for it told her so and it was changed from a man to an ape as Goody Maston’s child was and she had prayed this thirteen years that God would discover that witch and further that deponent saith not.
Taken upon oath before the commissioners of Hampton
The 8th of the 2nd month, 1656 William Fuller Henry Dow
Vera copia per me4 Thomas Bradbury
Sworn in court rec 4 September, 1656, per Edward Rawson, secretary
Deposition of Thomas Philbrick
The deposition of Thomas Philbrick. This deponent saith that Goodwife Cole said that if this deponent’s calves if they did eat any of his grass she wished it might poison them or choke them and one of them I never see it more and the other calf came home and died about a week after.
Taken upon oath before me, Thomas Wiggin
Vera copia per me, Thomas Bradbury rec
Sworn in court 4 September, 1656, Edward Rawson, secretary
The Deposition of Thomas Mouton’s Wife, Sobriety,5 and Goodwife Sleeper
These deponents testifieth that were being talking about Goodwife Cole and Goodwife Marston’s child and on the sudden we heard something scrape against the boards of the window and we went out and looked about and could see nothing and then we went in again and began to talk the same also again concerning she and Goodwife Marston’s child and then we heard the scraping again and then we went out again and looked about and could see nothing, and the scraping was so loud that if a dog or a cat had done it we should have seen the marks in the boards and we could see none. The house where we were was Thomas Sleeper’s house and further these deponents saith not. Taken upon oath [torn] the commissioners of Hampton the 10th 2nd month, 1656.
Vera copia per Thomas Bradbury received William Fuller Henry Dow
Sworn in court 4 September, 1656, Edward (smeared) Rawson, secretary
Deposition of Mary Coleman
The deposition of Mary Coleman, the wife of Thomas Coleman
This deponent witnesseth that Goody Cole came to her house and said that her husband had made a great complaint against this deponent to Nathaniel Boulton of some words that were spoke betwixt this deponent and her husband in their own house in private and Goody Cole did repeat the words6 to this deponent that she and her husband spake together which words of discontent but those words were never spoken to any person neither by this deponent nor her husband as he saith and to this they will take their oaths of. Thomas Coleman also affirms that he never spake the words to any person.
Sworn in court, Thomas Bradbury
Vera copia per me, Thomas Bradbury received
Sworn in court 4 September, 1656, Edward Rawson, secretary
Deposition of Richard Ormsbey7
The deposition of Richard Ormsbey, constable of Salisbury
That being about to strip Eunice Cole to be whipped (by the judgment of the court at Salisbury) looking upon her breasts under one of her breasts (I think her left breast) I saw a blue thing like unto a teat hanging downward about three quarters of an inch long not very thick and having a great suspicion in my mind about it (she being suspected for a witch), desired the court to send some women to look of it and presently hereupon she pulled or scratched it off in a violent manner, and some blood with other moistness did appear clearly to my apprehension and she said it was a sore. Jon Goddard doth testify that he saw her with her hand violently scratch it away. Sworn in the court at Sudbury 12th 2nd month, 1656, Thomas Bradbury.
Vera copia per me, Thomas Bradbury
Sworn in court 4 September, 1656, and Abraham Perkins and Jon Redman8 affirmed I stood by saw the constable rip her shift down and saw the place raw and fresh blood where Goody Cole9
The court presently stepping to her saw a place raw with some fresh blood but no appearance of any old sore, Thomas Bradbury received in the name of the court.
Sworn in court 4 September, 1656, I, Richard Ormsbey, Edward Rawson, secretary, also Abraham Perkins and Jon Redman affirmed on oath that they stood by (torn) her shift and saw the place raw and where she had tore of her teat and fresh blood came from it and saw her (illegible) her hand to tear off that was torn off.
The Deposition of Abraham Drake
This deponent saith about this time twelve month my neighbor Coles lost a cow and when we had found it I and others brought the cow home to his house and he and she desired me to flea10 this cow, and presently after she charged me with killing her cow and said they should know he had killed the cow for the just hand of God was upon my cattle and forthwith I lost two cattle and the latter end of summer I lost one cow11 more. Sworn in court, Thomas Bradbury received.
Sworn in court 4, September, 1656
Edward Rawson, secretary12
Deposition of Thomas Coleman and Abraham Drake13
The deposition of Thomas Coleman and Abraham Drake
These deponents saith about a year and a half ago, they being at Robert Drake’s house at a meeting with the selectmen, Eunice Cole came into the said house and demanded help of the select
men for wood or other things and the selectmen told her she had an estate of her own, and needed no help of town, whereupon Eunice answered they could help Goodman Robert, being a lusty14 man and she could have none, but Eunice said all could not or should not do and about two or three days after this said Robert left a cow and a sheep very strangely and one of the men then present told Eunice Cole she should look at a hand of God in it, for withdrawing the people’s hearts from helping of her.15 Eunice Cole answered, no, twas the Devil did this. Deposed in court, 5 September, 1656, Edward Rawson, secretary. Thomas Coleman and John Redman deposed to the evidence and particularly to the words “should not do,” 5th September, 1656 Edward Rawson, secretary.
Deposition of Ann Higgins16
The Deposition of Ann Higgins, aged about 14 years
This deponent testifieth that as she and this other girl were a coming by the place where Goody Cole lives, she came out of her house and asked this Ann Smith to live with her, and she said that there was a gentleman within would give her some plumes17 and the girl not being willing to go with her, she laid hold on her to pull her to her and then this deponent said that she should go about her business for she had nothing to do with her.18 And Goody Cole said that she would ask her mother if she would let her live with her, and further this deponent saith not. Given the 12th 8th month, 1672.
Before me
Samuel Dalton Com
Deposition of Sarah Clifford19
The Deposition of Sarah Clifford, aged about 30 years
This deponent testifieth that she heard Ann Smith cry and she going out found this Ann in the orchard with her mouth bloody and blood on the paths, and this deponent asked her several questions and asked her how she came so and Ann answered she knew not how and after she came into the house those that were with her asked her whether she knew any body and by what they did perceive she knew none there and after this deponent took her in her arms and carried her into another house, and then she child told her that there came an old woman into the garden with a blue coat and a blue cap and a blue apron and a white neck cloth and took this girl as she told us up by the hand and carried her into the orchard and threw her under a pearmain20 tree, and she was asked to live with this old woman and she said if she would live with her she would give her a baby and some plumes,21 and the girl told her that she would not, and then this old woman said that she would kill her if she could, and then the old woman took up a stone and stroke her on the head, and when she had so done she turned into a little dog and ran upon this pearmain tree, and so then she was like an eagle, and further this deponent saith that this girl as we thought very ill on the last sixth day at night, and we asked her what she ailed and the girl complained of cats and she said that she was pricked with pins. Sworn the 12th day 8th month, 1672, before me Samuel Dutton Comiss.
Deposition of Ann Smith22
The Deposition of Ann Smith, about the age of 9 years
This deponent testifieth that when she went in the cabbage yard that there came a woman to her in a blue coat and blue cape and blue apron and a white neck cloth, and she woman took her by the hand and carried her into the orchard under the pearmain tree, and there she took up a stone and knocked her on the head, then she turned into a little dog and ran upon the tree, then she flew away like an eagle, and further this deponent saith that if she came again she would kill her, and at another time since that, she sitting in the corner that there came a thing like a gray cat and spake to her and said to her that if she would come to her on the verily23 day she would give her fine things and further this deponent saith not. Ann Smith affirmed to this above written the 12th day, 8th month (illegible), 1672, before me Samuel Dalton C.
Court Record, Salisbury24
At the county court held at Salisbury 29th of April, 1673
Second Sessions
The court upon the hearing of the evidence against Eunice Cole now presented, and consideration of former things against her, do judge that she shall be committed to Boston Jail there to be kept in order to her further trial. And the constable of Hampton is ordered by this court to carry down Eunice Cole by the first opportunity to Boston Jail to be secured according to the court’s order.
This is a true copy as attested
Thomas Bradbury, received
The presents of the grand jury of Norfolk at Hampton 1672, October the 9th
We present Eunice Cole, widow, for enticing Ann Smith to come to live with her, for Jon Clifford senior who hath the charge of her by her father. Witness: Jon Clifford senior and Ann Huggins and Ann Smith. Vera copia per me, Thomas Bradbury received.25
MARY PHILIPS, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 1659
The case of Mary Philips demonstrates aspects of both witchcraft in seventeenth-century New England and of the early practice of witchcraft scholarship. Many early accounts of witchcraft, particularly those from outside of the unusually well-documented Essex County in Massachusetts, survive not in their original state but as transcriptions copied down by nineteenth- and early twentieth-century witchcraft scholars. George Kittredge, who would go on to pen one of the best-known accounts of witchcraft at Salem, kept a notebook of witchcraft records that he copied down while an undergraduate. What follows illustrates the suspicions attached to Quakers in the predominantly Puritan realm of New England, but it derives from a source that Kittredge described only as a “Quaint Old Pamphlet of 1659,” and so is difficult to otherwise support. Kittredge’s early scholarship, while respectful, nevertheless treats witch belief as a bizarre “curio,” a remnant of medieval superstition that has nothing to do with reality.
Kittredge’s Notes on Mary Philips1
Strange and terrible news from Cambridge, being a true relation and trial of some Quakers who bewitched Mary Philips out of the bed, from her husband, and having transformed her into a mare, rode her from Dinton2 toward Cambridge, with the manner how she became visible again, in her own likeness and shape, with all her sides rent and torn, as if she had been spur-galled.3
JOHN GODFREY, HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS 1659–1665
John Godfrey’s presence in the Essex County court records extends well beyond these readings, beginning in the 1640s and extending all the way to his death in 1675.1 While early New Englanders were notable for their litigiousness, Godfrey presents a special case, not only for his repeated appearances, but also for the substance of his various legal troubles. Whereas men appeared as accused witches from time to time, they almost universally were affiliated with—most often were married to—women who themselves had been accused. John Godfrey emerges as a unique character within the history of North American witchcraft for the simple reason that he was male, with a witchy reputation of his own, and no wife.
Employed sporadically for much of his life as a herdsman who also was unusually mobile, suggesting rootlessness and economic difficulty, Godfrey seemed to enjoy being a provocateur. He was known to speak often of the power of witches or to allude to his own association with the Devil. Like Eunice Cole and other New Englanders with long-standing poor reputations, Godfrey dodged conviction for much of his adult life. He was tried and acquitted three different times.
Another unusual aspect of the suspicion surrounding Godfrey is that after his 1659 trial, he rejoined the same community, with very little change in his circumstances.2 However, Godfrey’s quarrelsome nature and complex financial entanglements with his neighbors would result in his subsequent trial for witchcraft in 1665–1666, a trial during which he was acquitted on a technicality, though the court left little doubt as to their private opinions on his guilt.
Court List of Witnesses Against Godfrey3
To the honored court to be holden at Ipswich this twelfth month, 1658 or 1659
Whereas diverse of esteem with us and as we hear in other places also have for some times have suffered losses in their estates and some affliction on their bodies also, which as they suppose doth not arise from any natu
ral cause or any neglect in themselves but rather from some ill-disposed person, that upon differences had betwixt themselves and one John Godfrey, resident at Andover or elsewhere at his pleasure we whose names are underwritten do make bold to sue by way of request to this honored court that you in your wisdom will be pleased if you see cause for it to call him in question and to hear at present or at some after sessions what may be said in this respect.
James Davis, senior, in the behalf of his son Ephraim Davis
John Heseltine and Jane, his wife
Abraham Whittaker for his ox and other things
Ephraim Davis in the behalf of himself
Some things we hear of and it may be they may be of consequence
Benjamin Sweet in the case of his child
Isabell Holdred hearing a voice and being afflicted in her body
Job Tyler of Andover for a bird coming to suck his wife
Charles Browne’s son for what he did see, although we say no more at present
Widow Ayres’s daughter and Goodman Procter’s daughter for a pail with something in it
Testimony Against Godfrey4