My Great Grandmother was a witch!

I recently discovered that my great grandmother, on my dad’s side, Mary Barnes, was the last victim of the Connecticut Witch Trials, which had preceded the infamous Salem Witch Trials by four decades. After doing some online research (which was surprisingly easy to find) this is what I learned.

Who is MARY BARNES?

She was born in 1631 England and was married to Thomas Barnes in 1648. Her and her husband moved from Hartford Connecticut and became the first two settlers of Farmington Connecticut, where they resided with their four children: Sara, Benjamin, Joseph and Hanna Barnes.

Accusation and Trial

On January 6 1662, was taken from her Farmington home and accused of witchcraft by the town sheriff John Andrews. She was around the age of 32 and at that time (There are not a lot of historical records regarding Mary Barnes) During this event Mary’s children were ages 16 to 6 years old and there is no record of them attending the trail either. Unfortunately Mary’s daughter Hanna had passed a few months after her mothers hanging.

Mary Barnes' indictment and death had occurred on January 25, 1663. There is no record of Barnes defending herself.

Who killed Mary Barnes?

As I've been researching about my great grandmother, I've started to wonder who exactly was responsible for the accusation of witchcraft against Mary, as most likely she was not involved in witchcraft.

Most likely her trial was due to her non complicity with the rules of the church, as records of this trial the indictment states she was intimidated for “not having the fear of God and for “entertaining familiarity with the devil.

Full indictment here:https://digitalfarmington.org/digital-farmington-project/mary-barnes-last-witch-hanged-in-connecticut/

One of Mary’s accusers was Rebecca Greensmith who Mary had known prior to the trial, but there is no record of what exactly led to Mrs. Greensmith accusation against Barnes. Barnes was hanged along with Mrs. Greensmith. Though Mrs. Greensmith herself was also accused of witchcraft and hung alongside Mary.

My final suspect is Mary’s husband, though Thomas might have been directly responsible for Mary’s accusation of witchcraft, I did find some odd details in regards to her husband at the time she was put on trial. First of all there is no record of Thomas Barnes attending the trial (which I believe is normal, as who would want to watch your spouse be accused as a witch and murdered), but what is strange is that during the trial Mary Barnes was not identified as the wife of Thomas Barnes nor was Thomas himself indicated. There is also no record of Thomas attempting to defend his wife.

Finally there are records stating that Thomas did pay the jail keeper 21 shillings to keep in jail for the three weeks between the trial and the execution.

Overall I found this piece of my family’s history to be quite interesting and hope to find and share more stories of my ancestors and the lives they had lived.