Samuel Wardwell
Samuel Wardwell | |
---|---|
Samuel Wardwell's memorial marker | |
Born | (1643-05-16)May 16, 1643 Boston, Massachusetts |
Died | September 22, 1692(1692-09-22) (aged 49) Salem Village, Province of Massachusetts Bay |
Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
Nationality | English |
Known for | Convicted of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials |
Spouse | Sarah Wardwell |
Children | Thomas Wardwell Tailer, Samuel Wardwell Jr., Mercy Wardwell |
Samuel Wardwell (May 16, 1643 – September 22, 1692) was a man accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials of 1692. He was executed by hanging on September 22, 1692, along with Alice Parker, Martha Corey, Mary Eastey, Ann Pudeator, Mary Parker, Wilmot Redd, and Margaret Scott.
Biography
Wardwell was born on May 16, 1643, to Thomas Wardwell and Elizabeth Woodruff in Boston, Massachusetts. His father had been a follower of John Wheelwright and Anne Hutchinson. Wardwell had a son out of wedlock, Thomas Wardwell, with Mercy Playfer (Bridget Bishop's sister.) Samuel's son later adopted the last name Tailer when the Wardwells were convicted of witchcraft.
Samuel's wife, Sarah, controlled a one hundred and eighty-eight-acre estate, which she had inherited from her first husband, Adam Hawkes, upon his death. The Province of Massachusetts Bay passed a law which provided attainder for "conjuration, witchcraft, and dealing with evil and wicked spirits", which meant the loss of civil, inheritance, and property rights of those accused.[1]
William Baker Jr., 14 years old, accused the Wardwell family of witchcraft. The accusation targeted Samuel, Sarah, and their 19-year-old daughter Mercy Wardwell (named after her father's first love and the mother of her half brother, Thomas). All three confessed the very day they were interrogated.[2]
Samuel was executed at Proctor's Ledge in Salem after retracting a forced confession.[3] Eventually his widow, Sarah Wardwell, was reprieved and released. In 1712, after Sarah died, their son, Samuel Wardwell Jr., was left destitute and later sued the Colony, winning some compensation for the family's ordeals.[1][4]
Per the TV show Who Do You Think You Are?, actor Scott Foley is a direct descendant of Samuel Wardwell.[5]
References
- ^ a b Carol F Karlsen (1987) Devil in the Shape of a Woman New York: W.W. Norton and Co. pp. 105–06
- ^ Mary Beth Norton (2002) In the Devil's Snare. Alfred A. Knopf
- ^ Elizabeth Wardwell Stay (1906) Wardwell, Sketch of the Antecedents of Solomon Wardwell .. E.A. Hall & Co (via Internet Archive)
- ^ "History of Massachusetts. Samuel Wardwell, his wife and his 19 year old daughter Mercy". 13 October 2018.
- ^ "Scott Foley – Who Do You Think You Are – "God Knows I Am Innocent"". April 9, 2016.
Further reading
- Upham, Charles (1980). Salem Witchcraft. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 2 vv., v. 2 pp. 324, 384, 480.
- "Samuel Wardwell". Retrieved 2009-03-02.
- v
- t
- e
court officials
- Jonathan Corwin
- Bartholomew Gedney
- John Hathorne
- Joseph Herrick
- George Herrick
- John Richards
- Nathanial (or Nathaniel) Saltonstall
- Samuel Sewall
- William Stoughton
- Waitstill Winthrop
- William Griggs
- Thomas Barnard
- George Burroughs (convicted of witchcraft and hanged)
- Francis Dane
- John Hale
- John Higginson
- Deodat Lawson
- Cotton Mather
- Increase Mather
- William Milbourne
- Nicholas Noyes
- Samuel Parris
- Edward Payson
- Samuel Phillips
- Samuel Willard
and public figures
- Thomas Danforth
- James Russell
- William Phips
- Thomas Brattle
- Robert Calef
- Thomas Maule
- Benjamin Abbot
- Ebenezer Babson
- William Barker Sr.
- Thomas Barnard
- James Best Jr.
- James Best Sr.
- Elizabeth Booth
- John Bly Sr. and Rebecca Bly
- Thomas Boreman
- Thomas Chandler
- Nathaniel Coit
- Mary Daniel
- John DeRich
- Joseph Draper
- John Emerson
- Ralph Farnum Sr.
- Hannah Foster
- Joseph Fowler
- Mary Fuller
- Mary Herrick
- John Howe
- Elizabeth Hubbard
- Joseph Hutchinson
- John Indian
- Nathaniel Ingersoll
- Thomas and Mary Jacobs
- Henry Kinney
- Margaret Wilkins Knight
- Mercy Lewis
- Abigail Martin Jr.
- Jeremiah Neale
- Sarah Nurse
- Betty Parris
- Edward Payson
- Samuel and Ruth Perley (or Pearly)
- Samuel Pickworth
- Thomas Preston
- Ann Putnam Jr.
- Ann Putnam Sr.
- Edward Putnam
- Hannah Putnam
- John Putnam Jr.
- John Putnam Sr.
- Jonathan (or Johnathan) Putnam
- Nathaniel Putnam
- Thomas Putnam
- Nicholas Rist
- Margaret Rule
- Susannah Sheldon
- Mercy Short
- Martha Sprague
- Timothy Swan or Swann
- Christian Trask
- Peter Tufts
- Moses Tyler
- Jonathan Walcott
- Mary Walcott
- Richard Walker
- Mary Warren
- Joseph Whipple
- Bray Wilkins
- John Wilkins
- Samuel Wilkins
- Abigail Williams
- Daniel Wycom or Wicom or Wycombe
- Frances Wycom or Wycome or Wycombe
- Arthur Abbot
- Nehemiah Abbot Jr.
- John Alden
- Abigail Barker
- Katerina Biss
- Edward Bishop
- Edward Bishop III
- Mary Black
- Anne Bradstreet
- Dudley Bradstreet
- John Bradstreet
- Mary Bridges Sr.
- Sarah Bridges
- Sarah Buckley
- John Busse (or Buss)
- Andrew Carrier
- Richard Carrier
- Sarah Carrier
- Thomas Carrier Jr.
- Bethiah Carter Jr.
- Bethiah Carter Sr.
- Rachel Clinton
- Sarah Cloyce
- Elizabeth Colson
- Mary Colson
- Francis Dane
- Phoebe Day
- Elizabeth Dicer
- Rebecca Dike
- Ann Dolliver
- Mehitable Downing
- Mary Dyer
- Daniel and Lydia Eames
- Rebecca Blake Eames
- Esther Elwell
- Martha Emerson
- Joseph Emons
- Thomas Farrar Sr.
- Abigail Faulkner Jr.
- Abigail Faulkner Sr.
- Dorothy Faulkner
- Elizabeth Fosdick
- Eunice Frye
- Dorothy Good
- Mary Green
- Sarah Noyes Hale (wife of John Hale)
- Elizabeth Hutchinson Hart
- Margaret Hawkes
- Sarah Hawkes Jr.
- Dorcas Hoar
- Deliverance Hobbs
- William Hobbs
- Elizabeth Johnson Sr.
- Stephen Johnson
- Rebecca Jacobs
- Jane Lilly (or Lillie)
- Mary Marston
- Sarah Morey
- Sarah Murrell
- Robert and Sarah Pease
- Joan Penney (or Penny)
- Sarah Phelps
- Lady Mary Phips
- Mary Post
- Susannah Post
- Margaret Prince
- Elizabeth Proctor
- Sarah Proctor
- William Proctor
- Sarah Davis Rice
- Sarah Rist
- Sarah Root
- Susanna Rootes
- Abigail Rowe
- Mary Rowe
- Elizabeth Scargen
- Ann Sears
- Abigail Somes
- Sarah Clapp Swift
- Mary Harrington Taylor
- Margaret Thacher
- Job Tookey
- Margaret Toothaker
- Mary Toothaker
- Hannah Tyler
- Mary Lovett Tyler
- Hezekiah Usher II
- Rachel Vinson
- Mary Whittredge (or Witheridge)
- Sarah Wilson Jr.
- Sarah Wilson Sr.
- Edward Wooland
accused others
- Mary Barker
- William Barker Jr.
- William Barker Sr.
- Sarah Bibber
- Mary Bridges Jr.
- Sarah Churchwell
- Deliverance Dane
- Rebecca Eames
- Abigail Hobbs
- Margaret Jacobs
- Mary Lacey Jr.
- Mary Lacey Sr.
- Joanna Tyler
- Martha Tyler
- Mercy Wardwell
- Sarah Wardwell
- Mary Warren
- Candy
- Tituba
- Bridget Bishop
- George Burroughs
- Martha Carrier
- Martha Corey
- Mary Eastey
- Sarah Good
- Elizabeth Howe
- George Jacobs Sr.
- Susannah Martin
- Rebecca Nurse
- Alice Parker
- Mary Ayer Parker
- John Proctor
- Ann Pudeator
- Wilmot Redd
- Margaret Scott
- Samuel Wardwell
- Sarah Wildes
- John Willard
- John Durrant
- Lydia Dustin
- Ann Foster
- Mercy, infant child of Sarah Good
- Sarah Osborne
- Infant child of Elizabeth Scargen
- Roger Toothaker
otherwise fled
- John Alden
- Daniel Andrew
- Mary Bradbury
- Elizabeth Cary
- Phillip and Mary English
- Edward Farrington
- Mary Green
- George Jacobs Jr.
- Ephraim Stevens