_William Allred _____
| (1525 - 1594)
_John Allred ________|_____________________
| (1550 - 1594) m 1569
_John Allred ________|
| (1571 - 1633) m 1589|
| | _____________________
| | |
| |_Helen Unknown ______|_____________________
| (1553 - 1572) m 1569
_William Allred _____|
| (1594 - 1660) m 1625|
| | _____________________
| | |
| | _____________________|_____________________
| | |
| |_Anne Taylor ________|
| (1571 - 1638) m 1589|
| | _____________________
| | |
| |_____________________|_____________________
|
|
|--Mary Allred
| (1635 - 1636)
| _____________________
| |
| _____________________|_____________________
| |
| _____________________|
| | |
| | | _____________________
| | | |
| | |_____________________|_____________________
| |
|_Alice Tongue _______|
(1595 - 1660) m 1625|
| _____________________
| |
| _____________________|_____________________
| |
|_____________________|
|
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|_____________________|_____________________
______________________
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________________________|______________________
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_Thomas Bliss _______|
| (.... - 1636) m 1582|
| | ______________________
| | |
| |________________________|______________________
|
_Thomas Bliss _______________|
| (1585 - 1649) m 1614 |
| | ______________________
| | |
| | ________________________|______________________
| | |
| |_____________________|
| |
| | ______________________
| | |
| |________________________|______________________
|
|
|--Mary Bliss
| (1625 - 1711)
| ______________________
| |
| _Henry Huling __________|______________________
| | (1540 - 1609)
| _John Hulines _______|
| | (1565 - 1639) m 1588|
| | | ______________________
| | | |
| | |_Joane _________________|______________________
| | (1544 - 1613)
|_MARGARET Lawerence Hulines _|
(1595 - 1684) m 1614 |
| _William Lawrence ____+
| | (1517 - 1572)
| _William Lawrence ______|_Margaret Kaye _______
| | (1542 - 1584) m 1559 (1527 - ....)
|_Margaret Lawrence __|
(1559 - 1621) m 1588|
| _Richard De Beaumont _+
| | m 1527
|_Katherine De Beaumont _|_Katherine Neville ___
(1532 - 1582) m 1559 (1513 - 1550)
[13647]
In 1656 Mary was accused of witchcraft by some of her neighbors who were envious of their prosperity and endeavored in this was to disgrace them. She was vigorously defended by her mother, Margaret, but in 1674 a formal charge was made. She was sent to Boston for trial, where the jury gave her a full acquittal of the crime, and she returned home to Northampton. She and her husband removed back to Springfield in 1679. Soon after her acquttal in Boston, her son Ebenezer, was killed by the Indians at Northfield on 8 Sept 1675. Those who had been instrumental inbringing her to trial said, "Behold, though human judges may be bought off, God's vengeance neither turns aside nor slumbers". It is said that she possessed great beauty and talents, but was not very amiable. She died 29 Jan 1712. For a more complete description of the witchcraft case see Trumbull's History of Northampton, Vol 1, pp 43-50 and 228-234, and for the descendants of Joseph and Mary Parsons see Parsons Family Genealogy, by Henry Parsons, A.M., Frank Allaben Genealogical Co., New York, 1912, reprinted by the Parson's Family Assoc., 58 Bridge St., Northhampton, Mass 1981.
THE WITCH OF NORTHAMPTON
The first case of witchcraft in Northampton came to trial in 1674. Mary Parsons, wife of Coronet Joseph Parsons, one of the first settlers in town, who had disembarked as a child in Plymouth and moved to the wilds" to become one of Northampton's most prominent citizens, was accused.
She was...a woman of more than ordinary intelligence, and of unquestioned respectability. Her accusers were also persons of high standing and good reputation. How much revenge, jealously, or spite may have influenced the prosecutors is not known, but there is reason to believe that the imputation grew out of an old quarrel of some eighteen years standing. (Trumbull's History of Northampton). Mary was different: rich, beautiful, high strung, argumentative. One man[...literally stalked her, so obesssed was he. He testified about how he waited and followed her at night (she was an insomniac). He said she walked through swamps and he saw her chemise never get wet. He had many stories about her walks while he covertly observed her--- sometimes with other men for company. He reports her conversations with her husband in their yard. He was hiding in the bushes.] complained, "I cannot have my mind from this woman yet if she be not right this way, she may be a cause of these things, though I desire to look to ye overwhelming hand of God in all."
For eighteen years she was suspected as being the cause of unexplainable events and sicknesses of people and animals, and was brought to trial three times for the charge of practicing witchcraft. Finally she was taken to Boston and jailed for three months, her body searched for devil marks. In court she was called upon to speak for herself, which she did effectively. The jury found her innocent. Mary Parsons returned home to Northampton.
Not content to let the business end, the villagers took up calling her son, John Parsons, a warlock. He had angered "witch-finders," the Bartletts and Bridgemans, by defending the innocence and dignity of his mother.
When Mary's younger son was killed in a battle at Northfield by Indians, it was said to be God's judgement on the family. Cornet Joseph Parsons and Mary and some of their children retreated to Springfield. John Parsons remained, held town offices in Northampton, and was a Captain in the King Philip's War.
As for the "wrath of God," two of Capt. Parson's children were killed by Indians, two drowned in the Connecticut River. A surviving son, William, married his cousin, Mary Ashley(Parsons). Lieut. William Parsons lost all but two of his children in infancy or to drowning. His only surviving son, Samuel Parsons, served as a Lieut. in the 2nd Mass. Rgt. in the Revolution; was wounded and lame the rest of his life. His daughter, named Mary Parsons, wed and moved to upstate New York and prospered.
Three generations later, a single son left Niagara County, took a wife, named Mary, and moved to Ohio. Their daughter now lives in Wendell, Kathy Becker, multiple-granddaughter of the "Witch of Northampton", Mary Parsons.
Footnote: The person Mary Parsons was accused of killing by witchcraft was one of her in-laws, John Stebbins, likely an ancestor of Wendell's Stebbins family, who were prominent in Northampton at the time.
Presently[1996} descendants of both these families live side by side on Locke Hill Rd. by coincidence, with graves of the earlier Stebbins family not too far away in the Jennison/Locke Hill intersection cemetery.
[13646] Tried for witchcraft and acquitted by jury
_Matthew Hopkins ____+
| (1772 - 1820) m 1795
_William Augustus Hopkins _|_Mercy Mead _________
| (1796 - 1861) m 1816 (1779 - 1800)
_Matthew Alexander Hopkins _|
| (1820 - 1911) m 1840 |
| | _____________________
| | |
| |_Ruinda Dunn ______________|_____________________
| (1798 - 1886) m 1816
_Richard Henry Hopkins _|
| (1848 - 1907) m 1873 |
| | _____________________
| | |
| | ___________________________|_____________________
| | |
| |_Permelia Northrup Merritt _|
| (1823 - 1910) m 1840 |
| | _____________________
| | |
| |___________________________|_____________________
|
|
|--Gurney A Hopkins
| (1878 - ....)
| _____________________
| |
| ___________________________|_____________________
| |
| ____________________________|
| | |
| | | _____________________
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| | |___________________________|_____________________
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|_Lovica Whitney ________|
m 1873 |
| _____________________
| |
| ___________________________|_____________________
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|____________________________|
|
| _____________________
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|___________________________|_____________________
__________________________
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_William Henry Lawrence _|__________________________
| (1842 - 1926) m 1881
_John W. Lawrence ___|
| (1838 - 1950) m 1908|
| | _Leander Alexander Parks _
| | | (1819 - 1907) m 1848
| |_Mary Melvina Parks _____|_Emily Louisa Henderson __
| (1854 - 1950) m 1881 (1817 - 1893)
_Elmer Northrup Lawrence _|
| (1912 - 1988) |
| | __________________________
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| | _________________________|__________________________
| | |
| |_Edith May Clark ____|
| m 1908 |
| | __________________________
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| |_________________________|__________________________
|
|
|--David Clark II Lawrence
|
| __________________________
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| _________________________|__________________________
| |
| _____________________|
| | |
| | | __________________________
| | | |
| | |_________________________|__________________________
| |
|_Gladys Cole _____________|
|
| __________________________
| |
| _________________________|__________________________
| |
|_____________________|
|
| __________________________
| |
|_________________________|__________________________
_John Martin ________
| (1585 - 1637) m 1610
_John Martin ________|_Susan Hemertin _____
| (1619 - 1687) m 1646 (1592 - 1628)
_Benjamin Martin ____|
| (1659 - 1732) m 1680|
| | _Thomas Roberts _____
| | | (1600 - 1674) m 1625
| |_Hester Roberts _____|_Rebecca Unknown ____
| (1628 - 1687) m 1646 (1602 - 1673)
_Benjamin Martin ____|
| (1685 - 1757) m 1707|
| | _____________________
| | |
| | _Nicholas Reynolds __|_____________________
| | | (1635 - 1688) m 1664
| |_Margaret Reynolds __|
| (1661 - 1687) m 1680|
| | _John Alston ________
| | | (1614 - 1687) m 1634
| |_Dorothy Alston _____|_Dorothy Lee Temple _
| (1637 - 1694) m 1664 (1616 - 1668)
|
|--Zerviah Martin
| (1722 - ....)
| _____________________
| |
| _Nicholas Slater ____|_____________________
| | (1624 - ....) m 1643
| _Edward Slater ______|
| | (1644 - 1702) m 1694|
| | | _____________________
| | | |
| | |_Mary Unknown _______|_____________________
| | (1625 - 1683) m 1643
|_Philoreta Slater ___|
(1690 - 1755) m 1707|
| _George Bonham ______
| | (1604 - 1704) m 1629
| _Nicholas Bonham ____|_Mary Bishop ________
| | (1630 - 1684) m 1659 (1611 - 1635)
|_Elizabeth Bonham ___|
(1666 - 1740) m 1694|
| _Samuel Fuller ______
| | (.... - 1683) m 1635
|_Hannah Fuller ______|_Jane Lathrop _______
(1636 - 1683) m 1659 (1614 - 1678)
__
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_THOMAS Ursewick ____|
| (1300 - ....) |
| | __
| | |
| | __|__
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| |__|
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| | __
| | |
| |__|__
|
|
|--ELLEN De Ursewick
| (1364 - ....)
| __
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| __|__
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| __|
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| | |__|__
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|_JOHANNA Hertforth __|
(1345 - ....) |
| __
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