| Name |
Bell, Hopestill [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17] |
| Birth |
2 Aug 1644 |
Boston, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA  [1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15] |
| Gender |
Female |
| Deposition |
EUNICE COAL WITCHCRAFT TRIAL REVEALS THE BIRTHYEAR OF HOPESTILL AUSTIN |
- 20260119GHLn-
Hopestill Bell
Female
1644-1673
• LBZM-YMR
Contributed By
L
Linda Bailey
3 September 2015
Upload File Name
Bell, Hopestill deposition article.pdf
EUNICE COAL WITCHCRAFT TRIAL REVEALS THE BIRTHYEAR OF HOPESTILL AUSTIN
by Glenn Matthew Austin
Editor’s Note: The following article concerns Hopestill Austin, the wife of Samuel Austin of Boston (see Austins of America pages 8ff), and establishes her approximate birthyear as 1644, a date which was previously unknown to Austin family genealogists. Along with
Hopestill’s deposition which establishes her age, we also publish here the other papers of the trial, for they provide valuable insight into the period during which Samuel and Hopestill Austin were raising their small sons Samuel and Thomas Austin.
While brousing through old volumes in a bookshop, I
discovered a June 1914 magazine Colonial Wars, published by the Society of Colonial Wars In the Common wealth of Massachusetts, Boston, Mass. On page 171 of Volume I No. 3, an article entitled ‘‘Birth-Dates of Many Early Colonists as Given in the Court Files at Boston’’
included a most intriguing line:
Austin, Hopestill 29 1673
Having learned from page 8 of Austins of America that
Samuel & Hopestill had sons Samuel and Thomas born in
1669 and 1671 in Boston, and that nothing further was known of what subsequently became of Samuel and Hopestill, I speculated that perhaps Hopestill had died in
1673 while bearing a third child, and that the ‘Court Files’ referred to were perhaps involved with settling her estate.
Searching through the records of the Massachusetts
Superior Court and its predecessors (today preserved in the
New Court House at Courthouse Plaza in Boston) for the
years circa 1673, I soon learned that my speculation had
been entirely wrong, and that Hopestill was still very much
alive in 1673! She was giving her deposition in Case 1228- a most interesting case of a woman named Eunice Coal
(or Coale), who was on trial for Witchcraft.
The papers presented here have been carefully
transcribed directly from excellent photocopies of the
original court papers. ‘Translated’ might be a better
description of the tedious process, for these papers were
hand written in distinctively seventeenth-century script,
which sometimes proved most difficult to interpret.
Wherever the interpretation is dubious, I have placed
question marks to indicate the uncertainty. My own
additions and comments are included in square brackets.
Because of its particular interest to Austin family re
searchers, the original deposition of Hopestill Austin is
reproduced here. The papers are presented in the same
order in which they appear in the Massachusetts Court
records, and are not necessarily in chronological order.
First Paper
To William Salter Goale Keeper of Boston prison: You are
herby requiered in his Maties name by order of ye County
Court held att Salisbury ye 29th: Aprill 1673 by adjoemt: to
take into yor Costody ye body of Eunice Cole & then safely
to keepe her untill shee come to a legall tryall upon
suspition of haveing familliarty wth ye devill, as apears by
former & latter evidences & hereof you are not to faile att
yor perrill: dat: ye 1st of May 1673 by ye Court Tho:
Bradbury rec[order].
Second Paper
Abraham Perkins Senr testifieth thatt when William Fifield
now Constable 24 Nov on the night befor thatt he caried
Unis Coule Down to boston this Deponent being one of ye
Sehst? men was deliver to Coule a payr of Kniting pins to
Unis Coule - and when I came thear I heard a disrouseing
in her house and Harkening I hird the voyse of Unis Coule
& a Greatt Hollow Voyse answer her & the sd Unis seemed
to lauff & to bee displeased with something finding falt &
the sd Hollow Voyse spake to her again & in a Avange &
unworld manner butt I could nott understand any sentuns
butt as if one had spoken outt of the Earth or in sid Hollow
Vestile itt being an inslouishing? voyse thatt Answered
her, & I being much Amased to hear the voyse: I wentt &
called Abraham Drake & Allexsander Dunnum and wee
three wentt to Her house and Harkned and heard the sd
Unis Cole speake & the sd Strang voyse answer her divers
times, and the sd Unis Coule went up & down in the House
& claterrd the Doors to & against? and spake as she wentt
& the sd voyse made her Answer in a Shr?ing manner as is
above sd and ther was the shimerring of a Kirs Culler in
that chimney corner & upon thatt wee wentt & informed Mr
Dalton of whatt wee had heard & seene & so wee went to
her house again & Called & asked who it was that did talke
to her & she sd thatt there was no body there & wee Asked
her if there had bin no body with her that night & she sd no
there had bin nobody thatt night & wee Asked her who itt
was that she spake to & discussed with & she Answered
thatt she did nott talke to any body. Abraham Perkins Sen
& Alexsander Dunnum under oath to this as above written
ye 7 [ ? ] 1673 Before me
Samll Dutton, Comissr
Sworn by Abraham Drake, Marshall before County Court
held at Salisbury ye 29th day of Aprill 1673 by adjormt.
Thos. Bradbury, Recd
They further witness on the reverse sid
[REVERSE SIDE OF SECOND PAPER]
The said Abraham Perkins & Alexander Dennum on their
oath affirmed that the hol[low] voyse they mentioned wch
PAGE 92
Austins of America
FEBRUARY 1984
they heard was a distinct voyse from Unice Cole wch they
knew well & that the said Unice Cole was violent whene
Jethero? Goms? ons eford? Voome nike another & often
Comming to the chimney did having? yt way speake
something louder & somthing more mildly and though they
cannot sweare to the word spoken by ye hollow voyse yett
are certaine weu?an Pecuular voyse & that the glimering
in the corner seemed to them to be a substanse & further
saith not. Ye whole euvent were this ted?disa? sworne unto
in open Court this 5th of September 1673. Ye prisoner at
the Barr. as Attest Edward Rawson, Secrey
The prisoner at the barr swore in Court once & Againe that
there nor had Bin no body w[ith] her yt night spoken of
minzvdiet? Lin?.
Attest Edw Lawson Secrety
Third Paper
The Deposition of Ephraim Winsley who sayth yt att that
time when Goodwife Cole was whipt at Salisbury in Capt
Wiggins time Rich Ormsby being Constable as he was
taking of her clothes when she was naked about her breasts
Rich Ormsby spake after this maner: ye shere no good
woman will come hither - she turning her about from ye
magistrates ward did take hold of something about her
brest and with her fingers did wring of something and it did
bled and drop blod I saw it when she was a whiping to bled
there and her brest yeill collored as it had ben beatten
black and bluish
Some yearres after in Capt Wiggins time I saw her whipt
att Hampton by John Huggin and I did take good notise of
her breast and then it was not of that collor butt clear as ye
other or ye rest of her body yt was naked: farther when she
puld yt of her brest she sayd it was auold sorre.
Sworn before ye Court held att Salisbury ye 29th April 1673
2 Session: Tho Bradbury rec
Sworn in Court 3d Sept 73 Attest Edw Rawson Secret
Fourth Paper
The Deposition of John Mason aged about aboutt 20 years
who saith thatt Coming upon the watch the last sumer on
Sabath day att night Coming near the house of Unis Coule
where she dwelleth, and hearing of her mutter in the House
I went to the Door with James Bruse the sd Unis Coule
called mee Divill & said she would splitt out my Brains and
the next day I felt sick & lay sick aboutt a fortnight after.
Sworne ye 7 : 2 mo 1673 befor mee
Samll Dutton Conistible
Fifth Paper
Elizabeth Person aged about therty n[ine years] Testifieth
& sayth yt: I Laying in of [the house of Widow] Iester
Naneye my Neece come & to[torn]f me thereould goodwife
Cole of hampton desired to [torn] & ye women yt was In ye
Chamber was not w[torn] shee should come up. Sd niece
tould me yt she gave this answer yt I was not willing she
should come up[.] That night or ye next I fell into anague
& fever & ye child was tacken sick in an unusiall maner &
at six weeks End Dyed & furder sayeth not.
Deposed in Court 5 September 1673 ye prisoner at the
Barr - as Attest Edward Rawson Secrety
Sixth Paper
Johanathan Thinge aged about 56 years testifieth that
about 16 or 17 years agone I goinge in ye street at hampton
I saw one yt did Judge was Unice Colle, about 20 rod:
behind: or in a triangell sid ways of mee & in a short time
sooner yn aney man could posibly goe it I saw, her as I did
Judge was she about 20 rods or more before mee upon yt I
went apece wondring at ye thing & when I Come to her as I
did Judge was shee I talked with her & found her to be
Unice Coale Also about yt time coming out of my gate I saw
no body nor there was no body neare: as I could see &
presently shee ye sd Unice Cole was before mee loking into
ye house amonge my cattell, I askeed her what shee did
there she answered what is yt to you, Jawsboxe, I hasted to
come up to her & shee semed as it weare to swime away I
could not catch her I yn Goinge stronge & in health I
followed her 20 or about 30 rod
Sworne to in Court 5 Sept 1673 ye prisoner at ye Barr
Edw Rawson Secret
HOPESTILL AUSTIN DEPOSITION
Seventh Paper
The Deposition of Hopestill Austin Aged Twenty nine
yeares or therein about saith that about Tenne years agoe:
Liveing in the house of Mrs Nanneye: defnt Goody Coale at
the said Mrs Nanneye house: whearas the said Goody
Coale heareing that Mrs Pearson was lately brought to bed
in the said house: had a desire to goe se the said Mrs
Pearson & her litle one, wheare upon Mrs Pearsons Nurse
replyed yt her Mrs was not Doeng well: & did not desire
any more Company: But she the said Goody Coale presed
to goe up the staires: but this Deponent pulled her downe
againe sayinge that she should not goe up: wheare upon
the said Goody Coale replyed that it had benne better she
had Gonne up: said went away mutteringe; what she said
this deponent cannot tell: but in a very Litle time both Mrs
Pearson and her Child was tacken very ill; and in a very
sad manner: wheare ofe the Child Died: Goody Coale said
is theire Gentle folks above: this deponent said, Gentle or
Simple ye shall not Goe up: wr upon she went a way
muttering as above sd & further saith not. Deposed in
Court 5 September 1673. ye prisoner at the Barr:
Edward Rawson Secretary.
The deposition of Hopestill Austin, given 5 September 1673 during the witchcraft trial of
Eunice Coal. This is the only known document which reveals the birth year of Hopestill
as being circa 1644. A recent transcription of the deposition appears on page 92.
PAGE 94 Austins of America
FEBRUARY 1984
Eighth Paper
The Deposityon of Abraham Perkins Sen aged 60. This
Deponantt wittnesseth yt divers cases first being att
Salsbery Courtt when Unise Cole had her triall when
goodman Ormsby was Constabell and sawe her breste
plucked of as hee Sath and I myself saw ye blud run downe
whear ye said Constaboll saw ye teatt and caled others to
see it and att ye same time Unis Cole being whiped: ye next
nygt after as goodman ormsby was in bed as he saith
somthing like a catt hoped opon his fase and very much
scrached him ye next morning coming to courtt Captin
wigins asked him how his fase came to bee so scraced hee
said somthing in ye night came and scrated him and told ye
courtt all ye story and they all wondred att itt and further
saith yt About nine or tenn yeares agon he had severall of
his lambs lying dead- Unise Coale coming by & would hem
& when she depart looking up said utder you #$%@#xe
she would say it is so & shall be so doe what you will. Also
about the same time he had 3 or 4 swine a fatting yt at first
they fed on the corne well but after whine would eate no
corne meale pease or els but during wch I Pild them &
bring opeenig of them my self & wife D-ar-ly buried them
notgnigbuty that during in Cifenupld year ??? Goody
Unice Coale coming bye Quig a emily d it must be so
Stshange so do wt you will and further saith that his wife &
family was present & heard the words of Henniget.
Deposed in Court 5t Septr 3. Attest ERS
Ninth Paper
The Deposition of Elizabeth Shaw ye wife of Joseph Shaw
who saith thatt ye latter end of ye Last Sumer the secund
Day thatt the wife of Joseph Dow was Brought to bed of her
last child being the sabath Day & the same day in the
afternoon this Deponantt being in the same seatt whear
Unis Coule did sitt: and Mr Cotton being att prayer this
Deponantt did hear a noyse like to the whining of pupies
when they have a mind to sriek & this Deponantt sitting
next to Unis Coule did to her Best discrning judg thatt the
noyse of whineing was under the sd Unis and the sd Unis
being sitting in ye seatt this deponantt hearing such a noyse
for some time to Gether did turne her head & looke on Unis
Coule & then the sd Unis did stir her selfe or nessell a little
as she satt & I heard no more of the noyse of whining which
I had heard Befor and this deponatt looked diligently
aboutt in the seatt to see yt there were any dog butt could
see none nor any other creature yt should make such a
noise there being nobody in the seatt att thatt time butt
Unise Coule & this deponantt & the wife of Jacob Perkins
and after yt this Deponant had turned her head from Unis
Coule she turned to the wife of ye sd Jacob Perkins and she
was stooping to looke towards Unis Coule & she smiled on
this Deponent whereby I confirmed that she might also
Heare the noyse as I did. Sworne ye 28: 1 mo 1673 Befor
mee Samuell Dalton Constable. Mary Perkins ye wife of
Jacob Perkins doth testified thatt she did hear ye same
noise above mentioned when Unis Cole went by her into
the seat and att yt time when she smiled on Goody Shaw &
could se no creature in or aboutt ye seatt yt could make
such a noise: Sworne ye 8: 2 mo 1673 upon oath in open
Befor mee Samll Dalton Constabil 5 Septebr 73: ye
prisoner & Elizabeth Shaw only being present [at the]
Barr Edw. Rawson Secrety
Tenth Paper
This is to Certify all whom it may Conserne ordinary
Peepel of ys Jurisdicton: that the psons here under
expressed have theire semple creditte on The Tresurer who
is to sattisfy them theire semple expenses do ye semple
value here expressed as being ye Remaynder of wh was
allowed them for theire time expended in wittnessing agt
Eunise Cole on triall for witchcraft
as To Thomas Coleman & his wife
To Goodwife Hobs
___________
_____________________
To widdow wedgewoode
_________________
14 s 00 p
07 00
15 08
___________________
By the Court Edw. Rawson Secrety
1 : 16 08
???????????????????????????
Austins of America is intended to serve present and
future genealogists researching Austin family lines. Read
ers are encouraged to submit Queries, genealogical and
historical articles for publication. Previously published
books, pamphlets or articles containing Austin genealogi
cal data are also sought for reprinting or review.
EDITOR
DR. MICHAEL EDWARD AUSTIN
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
ANTHONY KENT AUSTIN
PATRICIA BIEBUYCK AUSTIN
PAULINE LUCILLE AUSTIN
JANET AUSTIN CURTIS
CONCORD, MA
PROSPECT, KY
CONCORD, MA
MARION, IA
ALBUQUERQUE, NM
CAROL LEIGHTON HULL
SUDBURY, MA
Austins of America is published each February and August
by The Austin Print, 23 Allen Farm Lane, Concord, Mas
sachusetts 01742. All correspondence, including sub
scriptions, articles and responses to queries, should be sent
to this address. Subscriptions are $2.50 per year postpaid.
COPYRIGHT ? 1984 BY THE AUSTIN PRINT
|
 |
Bell Austin, Hopestill LDS
20260119GHLn-
Hopestill Bell
Female
1644-1673
• LBZM-YMR
Contributed By
L
Linda Bailey
3 September 2015
Upload File Name
Bell, Hopestill deposition article.pdf
EUNICE COAL WITCHCRAFT TRIAL REVEALS THE BIRTHYEAR OF HOPESTILL AUSTIN
by Glenn Matthew Austin
Editor’s Note: The following article concerns Hopestill Austin, the wife of Samuel… |
| LDS |
• LBZM-YMR Bell, Hopestill deposition article.pdf |
- 20260119GHLn-
Hopestill Bell
Female
1644-1673
• LBZM-YMR
Contributed By
L
Linda Bailey
3 September 2015
Upload File Name
Bell, Hopestill deposition article.pdf
EUNICE COAL WITCHCRAFT TRIAL
REVEALS THE BIRTHYEAR OF
HOPESTILL AUSTIN
by Glenn Matthew Austin
Editor’s Note: The following article concerns Hopestill Austin, the wife
of Samuel Austin of Boston (see Austins of America pages 8ff), and
establishes her approximate birthyear as 1644, a date which was
previously unknown to Austin family genealogists. Along with
Hopestill’s deposition which establishes her age, we also publish here
the other papers of the trial, for they provide valuable insight into the
period during which Samuel and Hopestill Austin were raising their
small sons Samuel and Thomas Austin.
While brousing through old volumes in a bookshop, I
discovered a June 1914 magazine Colonial Wars, pub
lished by the Society of Colonial Wars In the Common
wealth of Massachusetts, Boston, Mass. On page 171 of
Volume I No. 3, an article entitled ‘‘Birth-Dates of Many
Early Colonists as Given in the Court Files at Boston’’
included a most intriguing line:
Austin, Hopestill 29 1673
Having learned from page 8 of Austins of America that
Samuel & Hopestill had sons Samuel and Thomas born in
1669 and 1671 in Boston, and that nothing further was
known of what subsequently became of Samuel and
Hopestill, I speculated that perhaps Hopestill had died in
1673 while bearing a third child, and that the ‘Court Files’
referred to were perhaps involved with settling her estate.
Searching through the records of the Massachusetts
Superior Court and its predecessors (today preserved in the
New Court House at Courthouse Plaza in Boston) for the
years circa 1673, I soon learned that my speculation had
been entirely wrong, and that Hopestill was still very much
alive in 1673! She was giving her deposition in Case 1228- a most interesting case of a woman named Eunice Coal
(or Coale), who was on trial for Witchcraft.
The papers presented here have been carefully
transcribed directly from excellent photocopies of the
original court papers. ‘Translated’ might be a better
description of the tedious process, for these papers were
hand written in distinctively seventeenth-century script,
which sometimes proved most difficult to interpret.
Wherever the interpretation is dubious, I have placed
question marks to indicate the uncertainty. My own
additions and comments are included in square brackets.
Because of its particular interest to Austin family re
searchers, the original deposition of Hopestill Austin is
reproduced here. The papers are presented in the same
order in which they appear in the Massachusetts Court
records, and are not necessarily in chronological order.
First Paper
To William Salter Goale Keeper of Boston prison: You are
herby requiered in his Maties name by order of ye County
Court held att Salisbury ye 29th: Aprill 1673 by adjoemt: to
take into yor Costody ye body of Eunice Cole & then safely
to keepe her untill shee come to a legall tryall upon
suspition of haveing familliarty wth ye devill, as apears by
former & latter evidences & hereof you are not to faile att
yor perrill: dat: ye 1st of May 1673 by ye Court Tho:
Bradbury rec[order].
Second Paper
Abraham Perkins Senr testifieth thatt when William Fifield
now Constable 24 Nov on the night befor thatt he caried
Unis Coule Down to boston this Deponent being one of ye
Sehst? men was deliver to Coule a payr of Kniting pins to
Unis Coule - and when I came thear I heard a disrouseing
in her house and Harkening I hird the voyse of Unis Coule
& a Greatt Hollow Voyse answer her & the sd Unis seemed
to lauff & to bee displeased with something finding falt &
the sd Hollow Voyse spake to her again & in a Avange &
unworld manner butt I could nott understand any sentuns
butt as if one had spoken outt of the Earth or in sid Hollow
Vestile itt being an inslouishing? voyse thatt Answered
her, & I being much Amased to hear the voyse: I wentt &
called Abraham Drake & Allexsander Dunnum and wee
three wentt to Her house and Harkned and heard the sd
Unis Cole speake & the sd Strang voyse answer her divers
times, and the sd Unis Coule went up & down in the House
& claterrd the Doors to & against? and spake as she wentt
& the sd voyse made her Answer in a Shr?ing manner as is
above sd and ther was the shimerring of a Kirs Culler in
that chimney corner & upon thatt wee wentt & informed Mr
Dalton of whatt wee had heard & seene & so wee went to
her house again & Called & asked who it was that did talke
to her & she sd thatt there was no body there & wee Asked
her if there had bin no body with her that night & she sd no
there had bin nobody thatt night & wee Asked her who itt
was that she spake to & discussed with & she Answered
thatt she did nott talke to any body. Abraham Perkins Sen
& Alexsander Dunnum under oath to this as above written
ye 7 [ ? ] 1673 Before me
Samll Dutton, Comissr
Sworn by Abraham Drake, Marshall before County Court
held at Salisbury ye 29th day of Aprill 1673 by adjormt.
Thos. Bradbury, Recd
They further witness on the reverse sid
[REVERSE SIDE OF SECOND PAPER]
The said Abraham Perkins & Alexander Dennum on their
oath affirmed that the hol[low] voyse they mentioned wch
|
| FSID |
LBZM-YMR [18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28] |
| Residence |
Aft 2 Aug 1644 |
Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA |
| Death |
28 Nov 1673 |
Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA [14] |
|
| Person ID |
I114067 |
WETZEL-SPRING |
1644 - 1673 (29 years)
