July 14, 2023
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry provides more stories about out-of-wedlock births in colonial America, focusing on Topsfield, Massachusetts. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
The court cases are listed in Melinde Lutz Sanborn’s book Lost Babes: Fornication Abstracts from Court Records, Essex County, Massachusetts, 1692-1745, and the original court documents are on the FamilySearch site Court Records, 1686-1726.
Hanna Blye
In one case, on 13 April 1697, Hanna Blye of Salem, daughter of John Blye and Rebecca Gott/Gault, was charged with fornication.
Blye was originally charged in 1695, and accused John Lawther of Salem (who married Elizabeth Curtis in 1686).
The year Blye had named him as the father of her child, Lawther and his wife had a daughter Elizabeth (who married John Callum).
The 1697 court date was to determine whether Lawther was guilty of fathering Blye’s child. Lawther gave testimony “providing several evidences” that when Blye was a servant working at the Exchange Tavern in Boston she was keeping company with Captain Sadler.
The court dismissed all charges against Lawther and ordered that Blye be whipped 10 stripes on her naked back and pay court costs.
In tracking the Sadler males in the area, I found Anthony Sadler (who married Martha Cheney) of Newbury. They had a son, Captain Abiel Sadler (who married Rebecca Dike). Abiel and Rebecca, in turn, had a son, Captain Richard Sadler (who married Elizabeth Gourding in Boston in 1707). Richard died within a few years of the marriage at age 35.
I could not locate a birth record for Hannah’s child. Further research is needed. Her father John and her brother William both testified against Bridget Bishop in the 1692 witch trials, and their characters are portrayed in Cry Innocent: The People Versus Bridget Bishop.
Elizabeth Dunwell
The next two cases involve the same mother: Elizabeth Dunwell, daughter of Michael Dunwell/Dunell of Topsfield. She never married and had three children born out of wedlock. What happened to the babes I do not know.
On 28 December 1698, Elizabeth Dunwell was charged with fornication. She accused Zaccheus Perkins, son of Deacon Thomas Perkins and Phebe Gould.
In that session the judge ordered both parties to return to appear in the next session. Dunwell was attended in court by her brother Dr. Michael Dunwell.
For Perkins, his brother Elisha Perkins and Capt. John How paid sureties of £50. When the next session came, on 1 March 1699, daddy Perkins did not appear.
It was not until 26 September 1699 that Dunwell and Perkins were back in court. Dunwell was ordered to be whipped 10 stripes on her naked back and pay a fine of £40.
Perkins was ordered to make weekly payments to Elizabeth of £2 and 6s for maintenance of the child plus court costs. Capt. How and Thomas Perley secured a £50 bond.
But the plot thickens…
Zaccheus Perkins had a slew of charges for stealing and other criminal acts which he confessed to in May of 1680. He was sentenced to be whipped and was branded on the forehead with a “B” for burglary.
The cases can be viewed in the Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts. Among his victims were: Thomas Maule; Michael Dunnell/Dunwell/Dwinnell (Elizabeth’s father); and his own father Deacon Thomas Perkins.
In the 1692 witch trials, Perkins testified against the wife of his neighbor John Wilds. (See Deposition of John Gould & Zaccheus Perkins v. Sarah Wilds.) Perkins’ aunt, Priscilla Gould, was married to John Wilds and died in 1663. Wilds’ second marriage was to Sarah Wilds. (Note these alternate spellings: Wildes, Wild, Wilde.)
Zaccheus Perkins married Rebecca (purported Bradbury) and had three sons: Zaccheus Jr. (who married Priscilla Jewett); Thomas (who married Susanna Prescott); and William (who married Elizabeth Nelson).
Elizabeth Dunwell was charged again for fornication on 26 December 1710, and her punishment for having a third bastard child was ten stripes on her naked back and having to pay court costs. I could not locate the case of her second fornication charge.
On this third charge she named Thomas Goodale as the father. But since no birth witnesses confirmed the charge, Goodale was dismissed, the court noting “that this is the third bastard child which she hath had and so become a common strumpet or little better.”
Here is the twist on this one: Thomas Goodale/Goodell/Goodhall was married to Phebe Perkins, daughter of Katherine Towne and Elisha Perkins – the brother to Zaccheus Perkins, the father of Elizabeth’s first child.
Katherine Towne, the daughter of Jacob Towne, was the niece of Rebecca Nurse and Mary Towne Esty. Both women were convicted of witchcraft and hanged during the Salem witch trials. Sarah Towne Cloyes was accused, condemned, jailed, and released after January 1693 when the charges were dismissed.
Only one Dunwell appears in the Salem witchcraft papers. That is Elizabeth’s father Michael (see the deposition of Joseph Herrick Sr. & Mary Herrick v. Sarah Good).
Sarah Perkins
In another case, on 26 September 1704, Sarah Perkins was charged with fornication and named Simon Bradstreet as the father of her child, Simon Bradstreet Jr., who was born on 9 August 1704. The court accepted her claim via the midwife Sarah Fairfield, who testified.
From records gathered, Sarah Perkins was the daughter of Thomas Perkins and Sarah Wallis, and married William Makittrick.
The father of Sarah’s child, Simon Bradstreet, married Elizabeth Capen, daughter of Rev. Joseph Capen and Priscilla Appleton. The couple named one of their sons Simon Bradstreet, who was born in 1714 and later married Anna Flint of Salem.
Simon Bradstreet (the child born out of wedlock) married Susannah Hobbs, daughter of William Hobbs and Mary Knight. The Hobbs family had a role in the 1692 witchcraft trials.
One thing is for sure: this little chap had quite a pedigree. He was the grandson of poetess Anne Dudley Bradstreet, dubbed the “Empress Consort of Massachusetts,” and the great grandson of Governor Thomas Dudley.
To be continued…
Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial
Note on the header image: exterior of the Parson Capen House, 1 Howlett Street, Topsfield, Massachusetts. Courtesy of the Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Samuel Chamberlain Collection.
Related Articles:
I have a colonial paternity drama for you! I am a direct descendant of Faithy Drew of Surry county, Virginia. She was charged with bastardization of a child. She absconded from the court hearing, moving away where she had a second child. Both her two sons were listed in the census as “mulattos.”
Darius,
Thanks for sharing! Sounds like a drama to report! I will email you soon.
I also had a relative who was a victim of the witch hunt in Massachusetts during 1692. Her name was Rebecca Shelley Chamberlain. She was the daughter of Robert Shelley, b. 1625 in England, d. 1692 in Massachusetts. Rebecca was married to William Chamberlain Sr. in approx. 1648. William was b. 1 July 1619 in Norfork, England, and d. 31 May 1706 in Massachusetts. Together they had 13 children. Rebecca was tried and convicted and confined to prison in Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, where she died on 26 September 1692 before they could carry out her sentence. I would love to hear from anyone who is also related to Rebecca or who may know any more about her story.
Hi Joyce, thank you for sharing. I will have to check out your ancestor Rebecca Shelley Chamberlain. She may be the topic of a future story! And I suggest contacting historian Margo Burns https://www.nhhumanities.org/programs/teacher/13/margo-burns