| Name |
Foster, Mary |
| Birth |
9 Jul 1652 |
Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA  |
|
| Gender |
Female |
| imprisoned |
Between 22 Sep and Oct 1692 |
Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, USA |
| for witchcraft. Mary Foster Lacey, Sr. would be released in 1693 after the trials were discredited and ended |
- Both mother and daughter were found guilty, and both were sentenced to execution. Though there were several others who were also tried that day and their executions carried out on September 22, 1692, the Foster women were not among them. All three were imprisoned. Mary Lacey, Jr. was released on bond in October 1692 and later found not guilty. Mary Foster Lacey, Sr. would be released in 1693 after the trials were discredited and ended. But, for Ann Alcock Foster, it was too late. After spending 21 weeks in prison, she died there on December 3, 1692. Mary Foster Lacey, Sr. would continue to live in Andover until her death on June 18, 1707.
Mary Lacey, Jr. (1674-17??) – Born to Lawrence and Mary Foster Lacey in Andover on May 24, 1674, Mary, Jr. was 18 years old at the time she was accused of witchcraft. Her mother Mary Foster Lacey, Sr. and grandmother, Ann *Alcock Foster were also accused. Both of her elders were found guilty and sentenced to be executed. However, they were not. Her mother was released in 1693 after the witch hysteria had ended. Unfortunately, her grandmother, Ann *Alcock Foster died in prison in December 1692. Mary Lacey, Jr. was released on bond in October, 1692 and later found not guilty. She went on to marry Zerubbabel Kemp on January 27, 1703/04, in Groton, Massachusetts."
|
| inheritance |
18 Apr 1685 |
Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA |
| mentioned his eldest son Andrew, daughter Sarah, daughter Hannah, daughter Mary, "deare and loving wife Ann Foster," and son Abraham |
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The name of Andrew Foster of Andover appear in the list of first settlers who came about 1640. There are twelve "items" of grants to him. Only one is dated, a grant of two acres "on west side of Shawshen River, 10th July 1682." The first grant, a house lot, was probably among those of the first settlers on Cochickewick Brook, between the Great Pond and the Merrimac River. His grants, as a whole, appear to be widely scattered in different parts of the town. Most of them, however, were in the extreme southerly corner, hear Wilmington, and around Foster's Pond, which was named for him, no doubt.
We do not find him in official station, simply probably because he was located so far from the town center, from town offices. The probate inventory of his estate shows him a diligent man, a good citizen; his will exhibits his Christian spirit and submission. He was made freeman in 1669. His will is dated 18 April 1685. In it he speaks of himself as "very aged," and names his wife Ann his executrix. He died in Andover 7 May, 1685, and his will was proved 30 June, 1685. He is thought by one of the Andover historians, to have been, at death, more than a score of years younger. He could hardly have been so old, unless there was a great disparity in the ages of himself and wife, which, to be sure, very often occurs. His wife died 3 Dec. 1692.
His will says, "I give my soul into the hands of my blessed Lord Jesus Christ who has purchased the same with his precious blood. And my body I leave to my relatives and friends to be decently interred by them. I give my eldest son, Andrew Foster, besides the five acres of meadow I have formerly given him, four acres of meadow more or less, lying at the southeast end of my home meadow which I formerly bought of Andrew Allen lying without the meadow which was fenced and five acres of swampland lying near his house. Also I give unto him forty acres of land to be the same more or less called by the name of polehill ground and one acre of land in Cocneckek field.
I give my daughter Sarah besides what she hath of me, two sheep.
To my daughter, Hannah, I have given her portion already.
To my daughter, Mary, I give twenty acres of land lying in Shawshen Field lying near the land called Copers land."
To his "deare and loveing wife Ann Foster" he gave the end of the house they occupied, three cows, twelve sheep and his household goods for her disposal at death among his children.
He gave his son, Abraham, "my farme of about one hundred acres of upland with all the meadow adjoining or neare adjoining," also the house and home lot and orchard, and all the land adjoining, and the remainder of the home meadow bought of Andrew Allen, and the remainder of his stock." Abraham was, during the natural life of his mother, to winter her cows and sheep, to deliver her half the "corn, English and Indian, grown upon the home lot threshed and winnowed," half the fruit of the orchard made into "fydar," and sufficient firewood.
He named his "loveing wife, Anne Foster, executive" and his son Abraham executor. His will is signed with "the mark of Andrew Foster" and is witnessed by Thomas and William Chandler. It is recorded in Probate Records. It was proved June 30, 1685.
Mrs. Ann Foster was the executrix of her husband's will, she was in court, June 30, 1687, and made oath to the inventory of her husband's estate. She attended to the probate in person, and of course understood the methods and the reason of the law. She had business experience, and was certainly a woman of acknowledged integrity and of average capacity and ability. Nevertheless, seven years later, she was accused, tried, and condemned as a witch. Her case, with others, is spread upon Miss Bailey's excellent History of Andover. Miss Bailey says, "Several women who confessed, accused Marther Carrier as the cause of their being led into witchcraft. Three of them were Ann Foster, her daughter, Mary Lacey, and her granddaughter Mary Lacey Jr. Ann Foster said she rode on a stick with Martha Carrier to Salem Village (now Danvers), that the stick broke and she saved herself by clinging around Martha Carrier's neck. She said they met 300 witches at Salem Village. The story was confirmed by the daughter and granddaughter.
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|
| Trial |
17 Sep 1692 |
Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, USA |
| witchcraft.Both mother and daughter were found guilty, and both were sentenced to execution. Though there were several others who were also tried that day and their executions carried out on September 22, 1692, the Foster women were not among them. All three were imprisoned. Mary Lacey, Jr. was released on bond in October 1692 and later found not guilty. Mary Foster Lacey, Sr. would be released in 1693 after the trials were discredited and ended. But, for Ann Alcock Foster, it was too late. After spending 21 weeks in prison, she died there on December 3, 1692. Mary Foster Lacey, Sr. would continue to live in Andover until her death on June 18, 1707. |
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The Lovejoy genealogy with biographies and history, 1460-1930
by Lovejoy, Clarence E. (Clarence Earle), 1894-1974
Publication date 1930
The examination of Ann Foster, 1692
July 21, 1692
Salem , MA
This is a transcript of the examination and confession of Ann Foster and her daughter, Mary Lacey and her daughter, Mary Lacey Jr. as originally transcribed in Abbott's History and reproduced in The Lovejoy Genealogy by Clarence Earle Lovejoy, pub 1930. The wife of their accuser, Joseph Ballard is mentioned in the last question on the bottom of p 40. It is true as stated at the end of this passage that none of the three women were executed, but Ann Foster, the mother of Mary Lacey Sr. was in her 80's when imprisoned in Salem in 1692, did not survive the winter and died in Salem jail.
Image TranscriptBeta
40 THE LOVEJOY GENEALOGY
... mitted were women of good character, and among the most respectable in Andover. The following is the examination and confession of Ann Foster, her daughter, Mary Lacey, and her granddaughter, Mary Lacey, Jr., on July 21, 1692, before Major Gidney, Mr. Hawthorne, Mr. Corwin and Captain Higginson. Ann Foster is an ancestor of many Lovejoys, she having been a grandmother of the wife of Ebenezer (13), a great grandmother of the wife of Hezekiah Lovejoy (29) and a great great grandmother of Captain Abiel Lovejoy (96).
The following testimony appears on pages 154 to 157 of Abbot's History:
QUESTION--Goodly Foster! You remember we have three times spoken with you, and I will now remember what you are referred to us? You have been exposed in very great danger, and you have been left to your own heart to deny; but it seems that God will give you more favor than others, inasmuch as you relen. But your daughter here hath confessed some things that you know of. Your answer?
ANSWER--I did not know it.
QUESTION--Did you know your daughter was to be engaged?
ANSWER--I cannot tell, nor have I any knowledge of it at all.
QUESTION--Did you see your daughter at the meeting? ANSWER--Yes.
QUESTION--Your daughter said she was at the witches' meeting, and that you yourself stood by her and saw her there at that meeting; and you said so also, give me relation from the beginning until now?
ANSWER--I know none of their names that were there, but only Goody Carrier. Goody Carrier, did you know her face?
ANSWER--I cannot tell.
QUESTION--Were there two or more in the field at the same time?
ANSWER--I cannot remember no more. Mary Warren, one of the afflicted, said that Goody Carrier's shape told her, that Goody Foster had made her daughter a witch. Goody Carrier said she knew nothing about that meeting. ANSWER--No, and I know no more of my daughter's being a witch, than what day I shall die upon.
QUESTION--Are you willing your daughter should make a full and free confession? ANSWER--Yes.
QUESTION--Are you willing to do so too? ANSWER--Yes.
QUESTION--You cannot expect peace of conscience without a free confession.
ANSWER--If I knew anything more I would speak it to the utmost.--(Goody Lacey, the daughter called Mary Lacey, and her mother, Mary Lacey.) We have no Christ and the devil hath got hold of us. How shall I get rid of this evil one? I desire God to break my rocky heart, that I may get the victory this time. Goody Lacey, did you not fear you cannot get rid of this snare; your heart and mouth is not open.
ANSWER--I did not see the devil, I was praying to the Lord.
QUESTION--What Lord? ANSWER--To God.
QUESTION--To whom do witches pray to? ANSWER--I cannot tell, the Lord help me.
QUESTION--Do you remember any discourse with your mother when falling? ANSWER--No, I think I had not a word.
QUESTION--Who rid foremost on that stick to the village?
ANSWER--I suppose my mother. Goody Foster said, that Goody Carrier was foremost.
QUESTION--Goody Lacey was many years ago since they were baptized?
ANSWER--Three or four years ago, I suppose.
QUESTION--Who baptized them? ANSWER--The minister.
QUESTION--How did he do it?
ANSWER--He dipped their heads in the water, saying they were his, and that he had put them into the water.
QUESTION--Where was this? ANSWER--In the church.
QUESTION--How many were baptized that day? ANSWER--Some of the chief; I think there were six baptized. ANSWER--I thin they were of the higher powers.--(Mary Lacey, the grand- daughter of Goody Lacey,) I think they fell into a violent fit. QUESTION--How dare you come in here, and bring the devil with you, to afflict these poor creatures?--(Lacey laid her hand on Warren's arm, and she recover'd.)
QUESTION--You are here accused of practising witchcraft upon Goody Ballard; which way do you do it?
THE LOVEJOY GENEALOGY 41
ANSWER--I cannot tell. Where is my mother that made me a witch, and I knew it not?
QUESTION--Can you look upon that maid, Mary Warren, and not hurt her? Look upon her in a friendly way. (She, trying to do so, struck her down with her eyes.)
QUESTION--Do you acknowledge now you are a witch? ANSWER--Yes.
QUESTION--How long have you been a witch? ANSWER--I cannot tell.
QUESTION--Did the devil appear to you? ANSWER--Yes.
QUESTION--In what shape? ANSWER--In the shape of a horse.
QUESTION--Did you ever say you?
ANSWER--He bid me not be afraid of anything, and he would not bring me out; but has proved a liar from the beginning.
ANSWER--I know not, above a week.
QUESTION--Did you set your hand to the book? ANSWER--No.
QUESTION--Did he bid you worship him?
ANSWER--He bid me worship persons.--(You are now in the way to obtain mercy, if you will confess and repent. She said, the Lord help me!)
ANSWER--Yes.
QUESTION--Do you not you desire to be saved by Christ?
ANSWER--I know not, I know not, I know not, I know in this matter.-- (She then proceeded: I was in bed, and the devil came to me, and bid me obey him and do his bidding, and he would not bring me out.)
QUESTION--But how long ago? ANSWER--It was more than a year.
QUESTION--Was it more than a month? ANSWER--Yes.
QUESTION--How long was you gone from your father, when you ran away? ANSWER--Two days.
QUESTION--When had you your food? ANSWER--At Marion Stone's.
QUESTION--Did the devil appear to you then, when you was abroad?
ANSWER--Yes, he bid me obey him, and he took my mind as not to obey my parents.
QUESTION--Who did the devil bid you affix?
ANSWER--Timothy Swan. Richard Carrier comes often a-nights and has me to affix.
QUESTION--Where do ye go? ANSWER--I know not, sometimes.
QUESTION--How many of you were there at a time?
ANSWER--Richard Carrier and his mother, and my mother and grandmother.-- (Upmore, the minister, and so on,) Goody Lacey, the mother, owned this last particularly.
QUESTION--How many more witches were there in Andover?
ANSWER--I know no more, but Richard Carrier
Carrier at first, denied all, but was followed until he was brought to accuse his mother, much in the same manner with Foster's daughter and granddaughter. Ann Foster was convicted but not executed, probably because of her confession, although during the witchcraft delusion nineteen persons in the vicinity were hanged and one pressed to death.
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Salem witches on tryle _wiki
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Painting of two alleged witches being tried in Salem, Massachusetts as part of the infamous witchhunts. Oil on canvas board en grisaille.
Date 1892
Source Brandywine River Museum of Art, Accession number: 2007.9
Author
Howard Pyle (1853–1911) wikidata:Q525713 s:en:Author:Howard Pyle q:en:Howard Pyle
Other versions File:Salem… |
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Walcott, Mary Salem witch tryal _wikip
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Mary Walcott at the Salem witch trials
John Whetton Ehninger - "Giles Corey of the Salem Farms" (1868), in The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth
Mary Walcott (July 5, 1675 – c. 1752) was one of the "afflicted" girls called as a witness at the Salem witch trials in early 1692-93.
Life
Born July 5, 1675, she was the… |
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genealogy witches executed 20260120GHLn
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List of people executed for witchcraft
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"List of witches" redirects here. For witches in fiction, see List of fictional witches.
Three people lie on a large fire, watched by several men.
Artistic depiction of the execution by burning of three alleged witches in Baden, Switzerland in 1585
This is a… |
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Screenshot (361)
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History of the town of Conesus, Livingston Co., N.Y.
by Boyd, William Philip, 1849- [from old catalog]
Publication 1887
Topics
Conesus, N.Y. -- History. [from old catalog], Conesus, N.Y. -- Genealogy. [from old catalog]
Publisher
Conesus, N.Y., Boyd's job printing establishment
Collection
library_of_congress;… |
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Salem Gallows Hill Witch watertower FB260115MarkLotterhand
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Mark Lotterhand
15 January 2026
· Gallows Hill - Salem, Massachusetts
Near the base of this hill (Proctor's Ledge) 19 people accused of witchcraft were hung in 1692 during the Salem witch trial hysteria.
In depth posts soon to follow if you are interested
#salemmassachusetts #witch |
| FSID |
LCXN-QD9 |
| Death |
18 Jun 1707 |
Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA |
|
| Person ID |
I114033 |
WETZEL-SPRING |
| Father |
FOSTER, Andrew Jr, b. 1579, Wickham, Suffolk, England d. 7 May 1685, Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA (Age 106 years) |
| Relationship |
natural |
| Mother |
ALCOCK, Anna, b. 7 May 1617, England d. 3 Dec 1692, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, USA (Age 75 years) |
| Relationship |
natural |
| Marriage |
1640 |
Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA |
|
| residence jt |
Bef 1685 |
Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA |
| More About Ann Foster Home, Site of |
- 20260121GHLn-
More About Ann Foster Home, Site of
Widow Ann Foster was around 75 years old and very frail when she was accused of witchcraft in 1692.
The first person to be accused in Andover was Martha Carrier, who was arrested by South End constable John Ballard on May 31. Ballard’s brother Joseph was married to Elizabeth (Phelps), who had been ill all summer. Joseph Ballard invited two afflicted girls (believed to be Ann Putnam Jr. and Mary Walcott) from Salem Village to visit his wife. He thought the girls might be able to confirm if witchcraft was behind his wife’s sickness. The girls’ first targets were the elderly Ann Foster, her daughter Mary Lacey, and her granddaughter Mary Lacey Jr. Joseph Ballard was likely the one who filed the complaint against Ann.
Ann Foster was interrogated by the magistrates four times over a week, starting on July 15. Perhaps her age and fragility made her especially vulnerable. She confessed to witchcraft immediately, only the eighth person to do so. The devil came to her in the form of a bird on three occasions, she said. She could afflict people by merely looking at them. She had been made a witch six years earlier by Martha Carrier (already in jail), had ridden to a witch meeting in Salem Village on a stick with Carrier, and she had seen Reverend George Burroughs in attendance at the meeting (he was also already jailed). The most astounding claim was that there were 305 witches operating in the area. It was their mission, Ann Foster said, to create the devil’s kingdom in Essex County.
By July 21, Ann’s daughter, 40-year-old Mary Lacey, and granddaughter, 18-year-old Mary Lacey Jr., were also arrested for witchcraft. Mary Sr. had moved to the North End of Andover when she married Lawrence Lacey in 1673, but it was common for relatives of accused witches to fall under suspicion. Both Laceys confessed to witchcraft, and implicated Ann Foster and each other. Ann, for her part, did not accuse her family members.
Accusing and jailing Ann Foster and her family did not help Elizabeth Ballard, who died on July 27. Had she been killed by witchcraft?
The Court of Oyer and Terminer condemned Ann Foster to death by hanging on September 17. Five days later, on September 22, eight people were hanged. Ann Foster was not among them. September 22 turned out to be the last execution day of the witchcraft trials. Governor William Phips dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer in October, and a new court would not address the accused and condemned until early in 1693. It was too late for Ann Foster. On December 3, still condemned, she died in Salem jail after five months of imprisonment.
What brought a charge of witchcraft to Ann, and why did she confess? Family tragedies from the past may have been part of it, surmises author Richard Hite in his book In the Shadow of Salem: The Andover Witch Hunt of 1692. Ann and her husband Andrew Foster’s daughter Hannah married a man named Hugh Stone in 1667. The Stones had seven children by 1686. Also by that year, Hugh Stone had been fined in court on three separate occasions for drunkenness. In 1689, Stone murdered Hannah by slashing her throat. When he was hanged for the crime in January of 1690, Stone’s last words implied some blame was due his wife’s family for his terrible act, even if alcohol also played a role. Later in 1690, Hannah and Hugh Stone’s 19-year-old son Simon was wounded by natives in New Hampshire, something that apparently affected Simon’s health for years. Ann’s granddaughter Mary ran away from home for a time after the murder, which she claimed was at the suggestion of the Devil. Hite suggests Ann may have thought her family troubles could have been caused by witchcraft. All three generations – Ann Foster, her daughter Mary Lacey, and her granddaughter Mary Lacey, Jr. were accused. “The witch hunters of 1692 showed a propensity to attack those already suffering adversity,” says Hite.
It remains a mystery where Ann Foster lived in 1692, or where her remains are buried. There is a lot of conflicting information. Ann’s husband, a Scot named Andrew, was one of the “original proprietors of Andover.” He died seven years before the witchcraft hysteria took hold, in 1685, at the reported age of 106 years. In his will, he said he was “leaving to my deare and loving wife Ann Foster, the use and the sole liberty of living in that end of my house I now live in.” Where was that house? According to Charlotte Helen Abbott’s Early Records of the Foster Families of Andover, “Under the grandstand at the track at the Richardson training stables on Elm Street, is the site of what was known as the “witch’s cellar,” a part of Ann’s home.” However, according to the Plan of Andover in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Essex County, 1692, a map created by the Andover and North Andover Historical Societies in 1992, the accused Sarah Wilson is more likely the “witch” whose cellar stood near the stables grandstand. It is Joseph Wilson’s house that is located on the map at the spot where Merrimack College meets Route 114 today.
Also according to the Plan of Andover, one of the Foster sons lived north of Foster’s Pond in 1692. While the Plan of Andover identifies the son as Andrew, the Foster’s Pond Corporation says it was son Abraham who lived there. It was Abraham who “had to pay £2 10s to get his mother’s body from the prison” when she died in December, according to Charlotte Helen Abbott. Perhaps Ann Foster lived with her son north of Foster’s Pond, and perhaps she is buried there. The pond was named after her husband Andrew, according to the Foster’s Pond Corporation. In 1692, it was much smaller in size, covering approximately 50 acres. After a dam was built in the early 1850s, the pond started to increase in size. Today, its area has more than doubled, covering 120 acres.
Another theory about the location of Ann Foster’s final resting place is suggested by Char Lyons, historian of the South Church in Andover. She points out Foster Circle, off of Elm Street, as an area once owned by the Foster family and a possible location for Ann Foster’s burial place.
North of Foster’s Pond, near the intersection of Rattlesnake Road and Pinetree Lane, is a possible location of former Foster property. Another possibility is Foster Circle, off of Elm Street.
https://salemwitchmuseum.com/locations/ann-foster-home-site-of/
|
| Family ID |
F64128 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
1652 - 1707 (54 years)
