A deposition in a case of witchcraft concerning Mary Hale - photo 1
A deposition in a case of witchcraft concerning Mary Hale - photo 2

A deposition in a case of witchcraft concerning Mary Hale

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Auction dateClassic
17.01.2024 11:00UTC -04:00
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CHRISTIE'S
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USA, New York
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ID 1119142
Lot 93 | A deposition in a case of witchcraft concerning Mary Hale
A deposition in a case of witchcraft concerning Mary Hale

Simon Bradstreet, January-February 1681

WITCHCRAFT – BRADSTREET, Simon (1603⁄4-1697). Autograph endorsement signed ("S. B. Gr") as Governor of Massachusetts Bay 24 February 1680⁄1, on the verso of a manuscript document signed ("S. Bradstreet Govr"), [Boston,] 7 January 1680⁄1.



One leaf, 160 x 206mm (mild toning at folds and extremities, slighly rough at left and right margins).



Governor Simon Bradstreet endorses a deposition in a witchcraft accusation against Mary Hale, who holds the distinction of being the first of three generations of women in her family to be accused of the practice. Hale ran a boarding house in Boston and was known to practice herbal medicine. In early 1681, she was accused of witchcraft by Michael Smith, a Boston Mariner. Smith had courted Hale's granddaughter Joanna Benham but she spurned his advances on several occasions and Smith eventually gave up the chase and began courting another woman. However, it appears that Mary Hale was not through with Smith and began stalking the house where he was boarding which eventually led to charges of witchcraft against Hale. She was implicated in his death after he consumed a caudle, or warm drink, prepared by Hale.



The present deposition was made by her granddaughter, Joanna Benham, in support of a complaint by Mary Hale against Roger and Jane Browne, who had publicly denounced Hale as a witch. In her deposition, Joanna relates that when she confronted Jane Browne, she responded that she "widdow Hale came to her and tould her that she was bewitched (meaning Jane Browne is bewitched) and that if ever shee suckled the child againe it would dye…" On the verso, Governor Bradstreet wrote out a bond for five pounds as surety "that the sd Roger Browne and Jane his wife shall psonally appear att the next County Court to be holden att Boston to answer the complnt of the widdw Hale for his wife calling of her witch and for scratching of her face, ec. and for himselfe affirming her to be a witch."



In the end, Mary Hale was acquitted of all charges of witchcraft, but she wouldn't be the last in her family to stand accused. Both her daughter, Winifred Benham, and her granddaughter bearing the same name would also be accused, and both acquitted of charges of witchcraft. See Michael J. Leclrec and D. Brenton Simons, "Origin of Accused Witch Mary (Williams) (King?) Hale of Boston and her Brothers Hugh, John, and Possibly Nathaniel Williams," The American Genealogist, Vol 82 (July 2007), pp. 161-171; D. Brenton Simons, Witches, Rakes and Rouges: True Stories of Scam, Scandal, Murder and Mayhem in Boston 1630-1775. (Beverly: Commonwealth, 2005), pp. 16-19.

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