Where Was the First Woman Condemned for Witchcraft (in colonies)? Not in Salem

CT Witch Memorial. The middle word of the organization’s name is an acronym for Witch Interrogations, Trials & Colonial Hangings.

Where Was the First Woman Condemned for Witchcraft? Not in Salem




Alse Young of Windsor, Conn., was the first person who was recorded as being executed for witchcraft in New England. Some accounts say she was hanged in Hartford’s Meeting House Square, which is now the site of Connecticut’s Old State House. Credit Jessica Hill for The New York Times

As Halloween approaches, crowds will head to Salem, Mass., the longtime epicenter of witch-related tourism. But few will visit Connecticut, where practicing witchcraft became a crime punishable by death in 1642, decades before it was outlawed in Salem. The Connecticut Colony sent colonial America’s first condemned witch — Alse Young, a resident of Windsor — to the gallows in 1647. A total of 11 people, nine women and two men, were executed by 1662. The men were the husbands of the convicted women. In total, 35 residents were accused of witchcraft. Fearing for their lives, many left their communities.

By 1750, witchcraft was no longer on the books as a crime.
“Not much comfort to those hanged,” said Anthony Griego, a retired New Haven police officer who lives in Hamden, Conn., and is a member of a group called CT Witch Memorial. The middle word of the organization’s name is an acronym for Witch Interrogations, Trials & Colonial Hangings. Mr. Griego said he learned of Connecticut’s witch trials 20 years ago and was surprised that no one had sought to clear the names of the victims, who he said were treated unfairly “by a judicial system made of men who felt divinely inspired.” Scant documentation of the trials remains, and Beth Caruso, a Windsor resident and a founder of CT Witch Memorial, said Ms. Young’s name had been unknown until old diary entries mentioning her surfaced in the early 20th century.



The notebook of Matthew Grant, first surveyor and second town clerk of the colony of Windsor, Conn. Grant’s entry on this page of Alse Young hanged is the first recorded entry of a person executed for witchcraft in New England. Credit Jessica Hill for The New York Times

Ms. Caruso, who lectures about the Connecticut trials at libraries and historical societies, wrote the novel “One of Windsor: The Untold Story of America’s First Witch Hanging.” She and Mr. Griego created the CT Witch Memorial page on Facebook in 2016 to share stories about the trials and spread word of relevant events.

Walter Woodward, a Connecticut state historian who is an associate professor of history at the University of Connecticut, said the state’s witch history has been overlooked. “Historians of New England have long treated events in Massachusetts as if they represented the entire history of New England,” he said. “This has only begun to change significantly in recent years.” Professor Woodward believes that another reason for Salem’s prominence is that its witch trials were much more condensed, spanning just 15 months, compared with the decades of less frequent trials in Connecticut.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/nyregion/connecticut-witchcraft-trials.html