Convicted of Witchcraft and Afraid for Her Family: A Petition Filled with Fear and Fury
Abigail Dane Faulkner: 1652-1729 (7th Great-grandaunt)
I recently
blogged about John Dane’s role as a juror in the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.
Among John Dane’s cousins who were convicted of witchcraft—possibly by John
himself—was his cousin Abigail Dane Faulkner. She was sentenced to death, but
thankfully her execution was delayed due to her pregnancy—even the judgmental
Puritans could not justify killing an innocent unborn child along with its
mother. Thus Abigail was still in prison when Massachusetts Governor William
Phips disbanded the Court of Oyer and Terminer and forbade the use of spectral
evidence in October 1692.
To provide
some background, Abigail Dane was one of Reverend Francis Dane’s daughters. She
married Francis Faulkner in 1675, and they had six children and were expecting
a seventh when she was “examined” by the witchcraft court in August of 1692
after claims from girls, one only twelve years old, that she had bewitched them.
She was encouraged to confess but she told the court that “God would not have
her confess that yt she was not guilty of.”
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| Engraving of Salem Witch Trial scene--Wikimedia Commons |
While
Phip’s action basically brought a halt to the witchcraft trial proceedings, it
did not lead to the release of those charged or convicted of witchcraft. They
were still in the Salem prison as winter set in. Conditions were horrible.
Several of those charged or convicted died from disease and the elements in the
jail before they could be tried or executed. Desperate, afraid and angry,
Abigail Faulkner wrote a petition to Governor Phips on December 3, 1692, begging
to be released. It is an amazing document. Her despair and anger are obvious in
every stroke of the pen. The transcript of her petition follows:
The
humblee Petition of Abigall: Falkner unto his Excellencye S'r W'm Phipps knight
and Govern'r of their Majestyes Dominions in America: humbly sheweth
That your poor and humble Petitioner having been this four monthes in Salem Prison and condemned to die having had no other evidences against me but the Spectre Evidences and the Confessors w'ch Confessors have lately since I was condemned owned to my selfe and others and doe still own that they wronged me and what they had \said against me was false: and that they would not that I should have been put to death for a thousand worldes for they never should have enjoyed themselves againe in this world; w'ch undoubtedly I shouled have been put to death had it not pleased the Lord I had been with child. Thankes be to the Lord I know my selfe altogether Innocent & Ignorant of the crime of witchcraft w'ch is layd to my charge: as will appeare at the great day of Judgment (May it please yo'r Excellencye) my husband about five yeares a goe was taken w'th fitts w'ch did very much impaire his memory and understanding but w'th the blessing of the Lord upon my Endeavors did recover of them againe but now through greife and sorrow they are returned to him againe as bad as Ever they were: I having six children and having little or nothing to subsist on being in a manner without a head to doe any thinge for my selfe or them and being closely confined can see no otherwayes but we shall all perish Therfore may it please your Excellencye your poor and humble petition'r doe humbly begge and Implore of yo'r Excellencye to take it into yo'r pious and Judicious consideration that some speedy Course may be taken w'th me for my releasement that I and my children perish not through meanes of my close confinement here w'ch undoubtedly we shall if the Lord does not mightily prevent and yo'r poor petitioner shall for ever pray for your health and happinesse in this life and eternall felicity in the world to come so prayes
from
Salem Prison Your poor afflicted humble sevants Petition'r
Decem[ber]
the 3d: 1692 *Abigall: Falkner
Abigail Dane Faulkner's petition to Gov. Phips
Abigail’s
frustration and anger at her accusers is obvious in her opening statements. She
notes that she was convicted based only on “spectral evidence”, the type of
evidence Phips had just decreed would no longer be accepted. She noted that all
the witnesses’ confessions against her had been withdrawn: “w'ch Confessors
have lately since I was condemned owned to my selfe and others and doe still
own that they wronged me and what they had \said against me was false: and that
they would not that I should have been put to death for a thousand worldes.”
The people who testified against her had admitted to herself and to others that
they lied at her trial. Thus there was no legitimate evidence that she was a
witch. She stated that “I know my selfe altogether Innocent & Ignorant of
the crime of witchcraft…as will appeare at the great day of Judgment.”
Abigail’s words ring with sincerity and her conviction that God recognizes her
innocence.
The
details she provides about her family situation are heart-breaking. She is in
despair over her husband’s illness. She confesses, “my husband about five
yeares a goe was taken w'th fitts w'ch did very much impaire his memory and
understanding but w'th the blessing of the Lord upon my Endeavors did recover
of them againe but now through greife and sorrow they are returned to him againe
as bad as Ever they were…” It is hard to diagnose Francis Faulkner from the
distance of 334 years, but it sounds as if he might have had a stroke, or that
he suffered from debilitating depression or mental illness. Whatever the cause
of his illness, in the past Abigail had been forced to take charge of providing
for the children. Now there was no one to earn money, provide food, or do the
backbreaking work required to just keep children alive in the unforgiving
weather of a Massachusetts winter.
Her terror
and desperation are obvious in the next line: “I having six children and having
little or nothing to subsist on being in a manner without a head to doe any
thinge for my selfe or them and being closely confined can see no otherwayes
but we shall all perish…”
As a
woman, she knows that she is considered less important than a man in the Puritan
world. She closes her letter with flattery and kind words to the Governor,
obviously trying to emphasize her respect and obedience to him as a man and a
person of power. She begs him as “your poor and humble petition'r” to “take it into yo'r pious and Judicious
consideration” to free her. She
closes with the following prayer for Phips: “yo'r poor petitioner shall for
ever pray for your health and happinesse in this life and eternall felicity in
the world to come…”
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| Governor's address on Abigail Faulkner's petition |
It appears
that her petition had effect. She was released at some point late in December
1692 after Phips received the document. The date of the release order is
unknown. She was back home in Andover well before her baby was born in March of
1693.
I do not
know if Abigail wrote the petition herself, or if she dictated it to a
relative. Since her father was Cambridge-educated, he probably taught all his
children to read and write, so it is possible she may have hand-written the
document. What I do know is that her feelings, personality and strength of will are apparent in each sentence, no matter who prepared the final document.
Sources:
Salem
Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project. Salem Witchcraft
Papers: SWP No. 052: Abigail Faulkner, Sr.. University of Virginia. https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/n52.html
Historical
Sketches of Andover.
Chap. 3, Witchcraft at Andover. Pg. 217-218. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/21636/images/dvm_LocHist007471-00133-0?usePUB=true&_phsrc=FrD715&_phstart=default&usePUBJs=true¤tPageIsStart=&useCurrentPageInfo=&showinfopanel=true&pId=248
Salem With
Trial Engraving. Wikimedia Commons. https://picryl.com/media/salem-witch-trial-engraving-444cbd
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