Thread by @wintersweet

I'm at my in-laws' place. We just showed them "The Witchfinders", and we've been talking New England genealogy (see also: my ancestor Preserved Fish).

So, anyone want to hear a story about witches, alchemy, and creepy-ass New England colonizers?

My crystal ball says YES.

John Winthrop Jr. was governor of the then-colony of Connecticut, 1657-1671. But he's probably not quite the guy you're imagining. Winthrop was a renowned doctor, a scientist, a member of the Royal Society...

AND an alchemist. He founded New London partly as an alchemist colony.

As far as everybody was concerned, Winthrop was an expert on magic. And as governor, he was chief magistrate in witchcraft cases.

“lol *that’s* not witchcraft AMATEUR NIGHT *losers* byeeeee!” — Gov. Winthrop, probably

From 1655-1661, no one in CT was convicted of witchcraft.

In 1661, doing his job, Winthrop went to England to try to get the colony of CT a royal charter. And pretty much as soon as he turned his back?

"*FINALLY* we can GET BACK to some good ol' WITCH-HUNTING without that KILLJOY cramping our STYLE!” — everyone in Hartford, apparently

and thus began the Hartford witch panic of 1662-1663.

There were EIGHT TRIALS in EIGHT MONTHS.

Four people were executed.

Five (extremely relatable) people just up and got out of Dodge--uh, Hartford.

Because the good people of Hartford JUST COULDN'T FUCKING WAIT to get back to killing people they were vaguely irritated by for no good reason.

Here we have actual footage of Governor Winthrop over in England catching up with the news from back home.

The main point of this story to me is how all this bloodthirstiness was just on pause, and came roaring back the instant Winthrop looked away. With the participation of many of Hartford's upstanding* founders, too.

*to be clear, we're talking about colonizers anyway, soooo

The secondary point is that however often anyone says "well they were men of their time 😔" there were pretty much always exceptions. Winthrop headed back once he heard about the murderous shenanigans and returned just in time to acquit a woman on her second trial for witchcraft.

Then an “independently wealthy widow” was accused of a whole smorgasbord of fancy sorcery. I'm not totally clear on this part, but it sounds like dozens of townspeople signed a totally cool, totally legal petition asking for an independent prosecutor—I guess not Winthrop.

The Gov headed this off by putting together a ministerial synod, and he put his buddy Rev Bulkeley in charge. The Rev was a doctor and alchemist, too, and he upped the standards for evidence. You now needed 2 witnesses "to the same act at the same time."

The widow went free.

Between precedents and rules, this meant a critical mass of changes in the requirements for convicting anyone of witchcraft in CT.

Execution of witches in CT? CANCELLED. Over. Done with. There was never another person executed for witchcraft in the colony/state.

Two final notes:

1. This all happened a good 30 years before the Salem Witch Trials in neighboring Massachusetts.

2. No exoneration, posthumous pardons, or official memorials have ever been made for the Connecticut victims of witch trials.

CITE YOUR SOURCES: Connecticut Genealogy News, Fall 2018, vol. 11 no. 3, one article by Richard C Roberts and another by Anthony Griego. csginc.org

(Apologies for any misinterpretations on my part or errors I may have introduced.)